Dhoni is catching up with Imran: Wasim Akram

[Cricket Tragic]

Dhoni is as cool as a cucumber and no doubt is a very smart captain. Best in the cricket world right now. Though not to belittle Dhoni, but I will beg to differ the Imran Khan comparison. That dude is just at another level when it comes to leadership. His vision, self belief, determination, etc were simply awesome. That man had an eye to pick and see the future of players. He brought Wasim, Waqar, Inzy, Mushtaq, asked Anwar to open the day he saw him in the nets etc. You listen to him right now and he makes the most sense out of all cricket pundits.

Great player but he is one of the worst analysts out there. He clearly doesn't follow the game and has no clue about world cricket now. He also talks the same garbage that he did 15 years back. He has nothing new to say. Wrt picking people, captains around the world can't do that since there are systems in place unlike what Pakistan had back in the 80s.

[Homerus_Unus]

Imran Khan - inventor of soda bottle technique ... one good thing he did was to manage the bigots like Javed miandad. He was great in a different sense.

Miandad may have been a d!ck, but I don't see any evidence of him saying anything bigoted. BTW, you like such d!cks as long as they play for you. I compare Miandad to the Averys, Otts, Hartnells, of the NHL. Great players with innate abilities to get under your skin.

[rkt.india]

Actually he is worse than mediocre.

Dhoni is also an allrounder if you consider he does two jobs keeping and batting...back then wicketkeepers were specialist keeper not batsman...he is a wicketkeeper alrounder in tests..second best after Gilchrist and has an average of 40 at no. 7...that is not bad for an allrounder i think

[cricketlover]

hahahaha @ this thread.. People think that Imran is mediocre and then they have the nerve to calL Kapil Dev a great allrounder! keep living in your fantasy worlds. truth is that every one who has played international cricket says that imran is among the best cricketers ever whereas you guys are just some random people sitting behind a computer screen

[cricketlover]

This sounds a typical Paki thinking of nitpicking stats according to there requirements ' date=' Imran averaged 22 with the ball and averaged 50 odd with bat in last 10 Years . [b']By the same notion Tendulkar can come out as being the best odi All Rounder of All Time if we only choose to see the era in which he was regularly used as a bowler and took wickets everytime . The fact is Imran averaged 37 with the bat thanks to so many Not Out Big Inning his career , even a fluke player like Afridi averaged 36 with the bat in Tests and probably all the All-Rounder of Imran's era be it Botham , Hadlee , Imran averaged close to 30+ with the bat nothing extraordinary

give me any 10 year period of sachin's career where he has averaged under 25 and taken around 100 wickets....

[ravishingravi]

Lets put the comparison in context and what Wasim meant by it. Imran Khan took over the team when the team was in turmoil, there was no structure, there were factions within the team and galvanized them to play as a team. They were the only side in 80s that consistently competed against the WI. He was able to unearth and give chances to talents that redefined the next generation of Pak cricket be it wasim, waqar, Anwar, Haq, Javed, Mushtaq and many more. He was really a one man show. Now as far as Dhoni is concerned, he is tactically better than Imran even with his weaknesses. He is a gambler like Imran. He has probably already achieved more than Imran did in terms of wins and trophies. But he had a good team in place when he took over. India had better systems in place. The only reason this comparison was made because like Imran Dhoni led from teh front. In a tight situation he took the lead. Both are very different. So, no question of comparison

[ravishingravi]

Now I am reminded of dumbfounded Pakistani fans who keep going on like a broken taperecorder for why Sachin is not so great when I read some of the posts on Imran's captaincy. His legacy has lasted for more than 2 decades after his captaicy. We have to grow up and accept the greatness of the man.

[vvvslaxman]

Dhoni can make any team win. That is his strength. CSK was a hopeless team with bowling. He has twice taken them to final. Won once. Won Champions League. He took bunch of noobs world T20. He won again. Then he led a completely different set of team in Tests with lots of seniors. He made some bold moves like setting 8-1 field, promoting himself up the order. There also he won. He now has mix of youth and seniors in one dayers. Here also he wins. Imran Khan's captaincy skills is applicable only for Pakistan cricket. Nobody else. He cannot lead a random team and make them win. Dhoni has that natural ability to get the job done with out much fuss.

[Baad Indian]

Now I am reminded of dumbfounded Pakistani fans who keep going on like a broken taperecorder for why Sachin is not so great when I read some of the posts on Imran's captaincy. His legacy has lasted for more than 2 decades after his captaicy. We have to grow up and accept the greatness of the man.

..........

[Baad Indian]

Now I am reminded of dumbfounded Pakistani fans who keep going on like a broken taperecorder for why Sachin is not so great when I read some of the posts on Imran's captaincy. His legacy has lasted for more than 2 decades after his captaicy. We have to grow up and accept the greatness of the man.

Those are typical ones across the border who hate India and India's pride : Tendulkar . And Imran was not really a one man show , he had Miandad , Zaheer Abbas by his side through his career with good bowlers & spinners . And what did he achieved so much for having this overhyped legacy? Just one Series win outside the subcontinent thats all . If Afridi had somehow led the team to victory in this world cup then the same Pakis would have gone on and on like a broken record chanting the same praises for Afridi as well , the team was going through a bad patch , Afridi united us , made us play like a team and won us the world cup from difficult circumstances when no1 in the world .gave us a chance blah blah blah , eventually creating a euphoria where Afridi gets lifted to the level of Imran

[Anakin]

Imran was as good as Marshall? I have seen lots of stupid comments by this guy, but this one is right up there, kudos, you've excelled yourself.

[pensionplan]

Imran was as good as Marshall? I have seen lots of stupid comments by this guy, but this one is right up there, kudos, you've excelled yourself.

May be there were one or two series in his entire career where Imran perhaps matched up to Marshall's best like the home series versus India in Pakistan in 1982 when he was menacing. But when it comes to being a ferocious bowler for a sustained period of time Marshall wins over almost any other fast bowler (Personally I like Hadlee but that is another type of a bowler and another story) certainly over Imran. Marshall can knock the living daylights out of most batsman like it is no ones business. Sad he died so young.

[Midfielder]

Dhoni will never catch up with Imran. He will have to slow down and lose quiet a few series to get there. No way both are equal.

[Sir_Afridi]

:haha:

[Cricket Tragic]

Sir_Afridi is back. :woot:

[deathmonger]

:haha:

has won more series outside sc than imran. imran sucks.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

whats imran's win % in test matches?? and how many series did pakistan win away from the subcon under his captaincy? just curious.

[deathmonger]

whats imran's win % in test matches?? and how many series did pakistan win away from the subcon under his captaincy? just curious.

ONE. :haha:

[neutral_fan]

there are many yardsticks to compare a captain, but being a good captain doesnt always mean that a team will win. A good captain needs a good team to win series. Being a good captain is about being aware of match situations and applying the necessary tactics accordingly. On that count, in tests, Dhoni fails miserably. I have never ever rated dhoni as a test captain, as a matter of fact, the better captain he is in limited overs, the worse he is in tests. I put india's test success down to Ganguly and Dravid. They basically built a strong team and handed it down to dhoni. Dhoni had most of the ingredients (world class batting line up), all he had to do was just run on auto-pilot. He hasnt even done that properly. Tactics wise, he wouldnt even come close to other successful captains. As far as winning percentages is concerned, a captain can only work with what he has got. History is littered with very good captains who had poor teams, and as a result their win/loss ratio suffered. Most cricket followers would put Fleming and Ranatunga as one of the best captains, however, how many series have they won outside their home conditions? The fact that they have great reputations of their captaincy despite having not so great teams is a testament to their captaincy skills. I would throw Imran in the same league. Its true he may not have victories outside SC, but at the same time he managed to draw 3 series against the all conquering windies when the windies were thrashing everyone left right and centre. Yea he hasnt won series outside SC unlike Dhoni, but he is far more astute and tact. He may have lost test matches, but one could never blame imrans captaincy for the defeat. That does not hold true for Dhoni. His captaincy and tactics have been questioned in virtually every defeat. Dhoni is actually in the catagory of Ponting. Ponting has probably the best win/loss ratio, (better than border and taylor), however, i doubt u will find people who would put Ponting as a better captain than Taylor/Border. Ponting just happened to have inherited one of the greatest team, and once he lost those players, his win/loss ratio suffered. Captaincy is not difficult when u have a great team and when you are winning everything. Captaincy actually matters more when you have a crappy team, or when your team is aging. When you have average players or when the team is down, tactics become far more important.

[umairbaig]

i would never rate dhoni as even better than ganguly,who i think was india's best captain i have seen so far since he built a side full of youngsters,the likes of yuvraj,zaheer khan,kaif etc dhoni had sachin,dravid,laxman at their prime in his disposal that is why no one couldn't see the weakness in his batting or captaincy I mean u ppl live a in a world of your own,the world rates Imran as one of the best captains ever,he had this ability of transforming a mediocre team into a gr8 one,u guys keep on posting stupid statistics which are baseless if viewed acc to the context