Who was the greater cricketer overall-Imran Khan or Malcolm Marshall?

[Harsh Thakor]

Both Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall were simply a collosus amongst cricketers .Both were equally determined and fierce revealing agression of a tiger on the cricket field field.Few fast bowling all-rounders were more impactful in their eras who virtually defined them.

Marshall was in my opinion the more talented,creative versatile or complete pace bowler.Imran swung the ball more prodigiously and may have even been a fraction quicker but Marshall was the more deceptive bowling inswing and outswing with the same action.He disguised his delivery with the ingenuity of a magician.Arguably Imran was a better performer on the sub-continent but he also played much more cricket on flat tracks at home than Marshall.Marshall resembled the perfect bowling machine or posessed the perfect pace bowling package more than anyone with his subtle variations and mastery of the slower ball.Arguably no right arm bowler defined pace bowling bio-dynamics to the height of Marshall.Above all he stood out as a component of the greatest pace attack ever which is all the more remarkable.Neverthless it is Imran who was still the greater master of reverse swing.Marshall also had the advantage of greater support from other members of the West Indies pace attack.Arguably it was Imran who was the greater trier when the chips were down .

No doubt Imran was the better batsmen with a better technique,more composure and sounder defence.Marshall could have been more effective in attacking strokeplay.Imran overshadowed Marshal as a batsmen in a crisis.Statistically he was a street ahead as a batsmen over Marshall.,averaging twice more and having 6 test centuries to his name.Marshall never scored a test hundred but scored some scintillating fifties all over the world.I believe that Marshall would have shaped into a genuine all-rounder and been more effective as batsmen if he played for a weaker team.

Where Imran had a distinct edge was his contribution as a skipper with his leadership resembling that of a military commander.

What boosts Marshall is his being a major component of what was arguably the best test team ever and being a major architect of its great wins.




Statistically Marshall overshadowed Imran as a pace bowler.Statistically in peak era Imran may have been ahead but overall Marshall had better statsMarshal overshadowed Imran in games won with far greater percentage of scalps in tests which West Indies won .Overall Imran by a margin of 7 balls had a better strike rate and also averaged around 2 runs less.However Imran unlike Marshall captured 7 or more wickets 5 times ,including 2 5 wicket hauls.Imran also had more 5 and 10 wicket hauls.Imran's best bowling spells were marginally ahead of Marshal's best like his 8-60 v India at Karachi and 7-49 v England.Marshall also had the advantage of greater support from other members of the West Indies pace attack.




Some experts ranked Marshal ahead of Imran in their ranking of 100 best cricketers of all time like David Gower,John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins.However I disagree taking into account Imran's achievements as a captain and prowess as a batsmen.In an all-time X1 still I would choose Marshall to accompany Wasim,Warne and Lillee rather than Imran.Malcolm literally took the art of fast bowling to regions unexplored.Arguably Marshall as pace bowler was more effective than Imran as an all-rounder as Imran was not at his best with both bat and ball.Marshall is a strong contender for the best fast bowler of all -time.Still by a whisker it was Imran who in my view was the more impactful and better cricketer overall. Being the best all-rounder in the world from 1981-87 speaks for itself.Imran shaped Pakistan cricket more than Marshall shaped West Indian cricket and was more deserving in joining the Tendulkar's or Viv Richards.

STATISTICS-MALCOLM MARSHALL FROM S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO

Malcolm Marshall's Test career Period Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Before 1983 12 34 31.88 65.2 0/ 0
1983 onwards 69 342 19.85 44.9 22/ 4
Career 81 376 20.94 46.7 22/ 4

Best Test bowlers between 1983 and 1991 (Qual: 125 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Richard Hadlee 48 262 19.64 47.4 23/ 6
Malcolm Marshall 69 342 19.85 44.9 22/ 4
Joel Garner 30 135 21.28 48.3 5/ 0
Imran Khan 42 156 21.49 50.5 10/ 3


STATS OF IMRAN KHAN BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO.

Top bowlers in the world between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 150 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Imran Khan 48 236 17.77 43.6 18/ 5
Richard Hadlee 51 284 19.03 47.0 28/ 7
Malcolm Marshall 58 297 20.20 44.7 18/ 3
Joel Garner 49 210 20.62 51.8 7/ 0
Michael Holding 45 184 23.38 50.3 9/ 1
Dennis Lillee 35 171 24.07 52.3 11/ 3


Top allrounders between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 1500 runs, 100 wickets) Player Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Wickets Average 5WI/ 10WM Diff in ave
Imran Khan 48 2028 39.76 4/ 10 236 17.77 18/ 5 21.99
Richard Hadlee 51 1987 31.04 2/ 10 284 19.03 28/ 7 12.01
Ian Botham 72 3989 34.38 10/ 19 255 31.83 15/ 2 2.55
Kapil Dev 72 3103 31.98 5/ 16 242 30.05 14/ 2 1.93

Edited October 15, 2019 by Harsh Thakor

[TheWall]

Another tagdu thread....

[Suhaan]

[rtmohanlal]

Imran was the greatest ball tamperor & the beneficiary ever in the history of the game. Even he was the beneficiary of his own captaincy  by which he could chose  when to play or not , when to bowl of not thru the course of a match  for his own sake etc etc. If he was playing today  , going by the fate of poor Steven Smith he would have been banned for life time. Never can accept the credentials of a certified chronic ball tamperor and drug addict. Imran is the Ben Johnson of cricket  with the only difference that he escaped to survive

[Norman]

20 minutes ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Where Imran had a distinct edge was his contribution as a skipper with his leadership resembling that of a military commander

 

He got that from his uncle Niazi who was a military commander and a POW for Indian army in '71. 

[raki05]

1 hour ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Both Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall were simply a collosus amongst cricketers .Both were equally determined and fierce revealing agression of a tiger on the cricket field field.Few fast bowling all-rounders were more impactful in their eras who virtually defined them.

Marshall was in my opinion the more talented,creative versatile or complete pace bowler.Imran swung the ball more prodigiously and may have even been a fraction quicker but Marshall was the more deceptive bowling inswing and outswing with the same action.He disguised his delivery with the ingenuity of a magician.Arguably Imran was a better performer on the sub-continent but he also played much more cricket on flat tracks at home than Marshall.Marshall resembled the perfect bowling machine or posessed the perfect pace bowling package more than anyone with his subtle variations and mastery of the slower ball.Arguably no right arm bowler defined pace bowling bio-dynamics to the height of Marshall.Above all he stood out as a component of the greatest pace attack ever which is all the more remarkable.Neverthless it is Imran who was still the greater master of reverse swing.Marshall also had the advantage of greater support from other members of the West Indies pace attack.Arguably it was Imran who was the greater trier when the chips were down .

No doubt Imran was the better batsmen with a better technique,more composure and sounder defence.Marshall could have been more effective in attacking strokeplay.Imran overshadowed Marshal as a batsmen in a crisis.Statistically he was a street ahead as a batsmen over Marshall.,averaging twice more and having 6 test centuries to his name.Marshall never scored a test hundred but scored some scintillating fifties all over the world.I believe that Marshall would have shaped into a genuine all-rounder and been more effective as batsmen if he played for a weaker team.

Where Imran had a distinct edge was his contribution as a skipper with his leadership resembling that of a military commander.

What boosts Marshall is his being a major component of what was arguably the best test team ever and being a major architect of its great wins.




Statistically Marshall overshadowed Imran as a pace bowler.Statistically in peak era Imran may have been ahead but overall Marshall had better statsMarshal overshadowed Imran in games won with far greater percentage of scalps in tests which West Indies won .Overall Imran by a margin of 7 balls had a better strike rate and also averaged around 2 runs less.However Imran unlike Marshall captured 7 or more wickets 5 times ,including 2 5 wicket hauls.Imran also had more 5 and 10 wicket hauls.Imran's best bowling spells were marginally ahead of Marshal's best like his 8-60 v India at Karachi and 7-49 v England.Marshall also had the advantage of greater support from other members of the West Indies pace attack.




Some experts ranked Marshal ahead of Imran in their ranking of 100 best cricketers of all time like David Gower,John Woodcock and Cristopher Martin Jenkins.However I disagree taking into account Imran's achievements as a captain and prowess as a batsmen.In an all-time X1 still I would choose Marshall to accompany Wasim,Warne and Lillee rather than Imran.Malcolm literally took the art of fast bowling to regions unexplored.Arguably Marshall as pace bowler was more effective than Imran as an all-rounder as Imran was not at his best with both bat and ball.Marshall is a strong contender for the best fast bowler of all -time.Still by a whisker it was Imran who in my view was the more impactful and better cricketer overall. Being the best all-rounder in the world from 1981-87 speaks for itself.Imran shaped Pakistan cricket more than Marshall shaped West Indian cricket and was more deserving in joining the Tendulkar's or Viv Richards.

STATISTICS-MALCOLM MARSHALL FROM S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO

Malcolm Marshall's Test career Period Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Before 1983 12 34 31.88 65.2 0/ 0
1983 onwards 69 342 19.85 44.9 22/ 4
Career 81 376 20.94 46.7 22/ 4

Best Test bowlers between 1983 and 1991 (Qual: 125 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Richard Hadlee 48 262 19.64 47.4 23/ 6
Malcolm Marshall 69 342 19.85 44.9 22/ 4
Joel Garner 30 135 21.28 48.3 5/ 0
Imran Khan 42 156 21.49 50.5 10/ 3


STATS OF IMRAN KHAN BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO.

Top bowlers in the world between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 150 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Imran Khan 48 236 17.77 43.6 18/ 5
Richard Hadlee 51 284 19.03 47.0 28/ 7
Malcolm Marshall 58 297 20.20 44.7 18/ 3
Joel Garner 49 210 20.62 51.8 7/ 0
Michael Holding 45 184 23.38 50.3 9/ 1
Dennis Lillee 35 171 24.07 52.3 11/ 3


Top allrounders between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 1500 runs, 100 wickets) Player Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Wickets Average 5WI/ 10WM Diff in ave
Imran Khan 48 2028 39.76 4/ 10 236 17.77 18/ 5 21.99
Richard Hadlee 51 1987 31.04 2/ 10 284 19.03 28/ 7 12.01
Ian Botham 72 3989 34.38 10/ 19 255 31.83 15/ 2 2.55
Kapil Dev 72 3103 31.98 5/ 16 242 30.05 14/ 2 1.93

Gawd this man what's up with him hyping Pakistani so much....every other thread is about Pakistani and terrorist Khan.

[Khota]

Marshall. Marshall was the better bowler and sharing work load with the greatest bowlers. His stats were better and if you assign weightage to his stats his quality of wkts were better. Let us not overlook the fact that Imran tampered and marshall did not. That goes against the spirit of the game. Short answer - Marshall as a bowler and Imran overall as a team leader. Wrong  people are being compared here but if common denominator is bowling than it is Marshall.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Khota

[Straight Drive]

Imran Khan was only good in early 1980's. His wickets column is inflated due to ball tampering.

 

Marshall was much better bowler than Imran throughout most of career and his wickets were legitimate.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Straight Drive

[maniac]

WTF no Majid Khan comment yet

 

Answer: Majid Khan was better than both

[R!TTER]

2 minutes ago, maniac said:

WTF no Majid Khan comment yet

 

Answer: Majid Khan was better than both

Came here to say this, kiski jurrat 

[Rightarmfast]

No comparison between Imran and Marshall. Despite resorting to ball tampering, Imran has an average heavily influenced by his performances in Pakistan. Please check his series by series averages and you will find that it is a result of him playing in Pakistan and a series in Sri Lanka. He did have a good record against West Indies though, but I think Kapil is better in that respect.

 

So, despite cheating and resorting to unfair means, Imran had to turn to one more influencer of the game - The umpires. What Marshall didnt have was  a Shakoor Rana and the likes. Imran definitely should thank the Pakistani umpires.

 

You may get hyper responses on the padosi forum, but the fact remains that without ball tampering and umpires, Imran would have been a slightly above average bowler with decent pace of about 140-142k's, but without any doubt, one of the most handsome men to have ever played the game!

[Khota]

8 hours ago, Rightarmfast said:

No comparison between Imran and Marshall. Despite resorting to ball tampering, Imran has an average heavily influenced by his performances in Pakistan. Please check his series by series averages and you will find that it is a result of him playing in Pakistan and a series in Sri Lanka. He did have a good record against West Indies though, but I think Kapil is better in that respect.

 

So, despite cheating and resorting to unfair means, Imran had to turn to one more influencer of the game - The umpires. What Marshall didnt have was  a Shakoor Rana and the likes. Imran definitely should thank the Pakistani umpires.

 

You may get hyper responses on the padosi forum, but the fact remains that without ball tampering and umpires, Imran would have been a slightly above average bowler with decent pace of about 140-142k's, but without any doubt, one of the most handsome men to have ever played the game!

That is all they did. Myth that every delivery was 100 mph is just that, a myth.

[express bowling]

1 hour ago, Khota said:

That is all they did ( 140 - 142 k )  Myth that every delivery was 100 mph is just that, a myth.

 

Biggest myth.  I don't know how it was formed.

 

Imran could not even touch 140 kph in the 1979 speed competition.

 

 

 

[rkt.india]

The word great must be replaced by Majid in the dictionary. So question should be who is bigger Majid between Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan?

Edited October 16, 2019 by rkt.india

[R!TTER]

1 hour ago, rkt.india said:

The word great must be replaced by Majid in the dictionary. So question should who is bigger Majid between Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan?

What are we measuring btw 

[Mariyam]

3 hours ago, rkt.india said:

The word great must be replaced by Majid in the dictionary. So question should be who is bigger Majid between Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan?

Not far. "Majid" actually means glorious.

[Khota]

8 hours ago, rkt.india said:

The word great must be replaced by Majid in the dictionary. So question should be who is bigger Majid between Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan?

Majid.

[Khota]

7 hours ago, R!TTER said:

What are we measuring btw 

Greatness.

[Muloghonto]

Malcolm Marshall I’ve seen and he is still, easily, the best fast bowler I’ve ever seen. Had everything in stellar category, except the reverse swinging Yorker but seeing him bowl in India, he didn’t need it either: if you got a deceptive pace that can hurry batsmen with the same delivery from time to time, you can bowl quick and fullish and get them trapped in front, bowled or nicking off to the keeper. One bowler who bowls this way on dead pitches is Bumrah. And to top it off, Marshall didn’t have a bad team against or a bad country, except for the farce that was his only series in NZ. 

Marshall had the elusive quality of being a very smart and thinking bowler and it’s no coincidence that it’s immediately spotted by a fellow great pacer who bowled with Macco: Andy Roberts. 

 

Imran is however, a significantly greater bat and captain and while he could be rendered impotent from time to time even during his peak, he is not far off as a bowler. The difference to me, is the difference between Sachin and Ponting to be honest. I’d say Macco was the greater cricketer, being the #1 bowler of all time and because in an all time XI I’d pick Macco before anyone else in the lower order. However if you mean who offers greater value to the regular, non fantasy teams they actually played for, Imran has clearly greater value.

[rkt.india]

1 minute ago, Muloghonto said:

Malcolm Marshall I’ve seen and he is still, easily, the best fast bowler I’ve ever seen. Had everything in stellar category, except the reverse swinging Yorker but seeing him bowl in India, he didn’t need it either: if you got a deceptive pace that can hurry batsmen with the same delivery from time to time, you can bowl quick and fullish and get them trapped in front, bowled or nicking off to the keeper. One bowler who bowls this way on dead pitches is Bumrah. And to top it off, Marshall didn’t have a bad team against or a bad country, except for the farce that was his only series in NZ. 

Marshall had the elusive quality of being a very smart and thinking bowler and it’s no coincidence that it’s immediately spotted by a fellow great pacer who bowled with Macco: Andy Roberts. 

 

Imran is however, a significantly greater bat and captain and while he could be rendered impotent from time to time even during his peak, he is not far off as a bowler. The difference to me, is the difference between Sachin and Ponting to be honest. I’d say Macco was the greater cricketer, being the #1 bowler of all time and because in an all time XI I’d pick Macco before anyone else in the lower order. However if you mean who offers greater value to the regular, non fantasy teams they actually played for, Imran has clearly greater value.

Bumrah is yet to play test on dead pitches.