Who was the greater batsman ? Zaheer Abbas or Mohammed Azharuddin

[Engle]

Seeing as it is Zaheer Abbas' birthday, here is a comparative match-up against a similar type of batsman.

Both were stylists with extraordinary starts to their Test careers

Zaheer scored 274 in only his 2nd Test - the highest debut Test innings in England.

Azhar scored 3 centuries in his first 3 Tests - a record unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon.


Zaheer Abbas :


Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 6s
Tests* 78 124 11 5062 274 44.79 12 20 22
ODIs* 62 60 6 2572 123 47.62 84.8 7 13
First-class 459 768 92 34843 274 51.54 108 158
List A 323 309 33 11240 158* 40.72 19 72

Mohammed Azharuddin :
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 6s
Tests* 99 147 9 6215 199 45.03 22 21 19
ODIs* 334 308 54 9378 153* 36.92 74.02 7 58
First-class 229 343 38 15855 226 51.98 54 74
List A 432 399 70 12931 161* 39.3 11 85

 

[harsh.ag]

How did Abbas manage to play so many FC games?

 

[Engle]

How did Abbas manage to play so many FC games?

He played for Gloucester in England over many seasons.

( Can't get the formatting to work )

 

[Burgey]

Abbas not a proven match fixer so I'll run with him.

 

[Burgey]

Nice little clash between Zaheer and Thomson in an ODI

 

[Bolo]

I haven't seen tommo in this type of camera work before. That elbow is strange. From the front view it seems to be bent for some deliveries and straight for others

 

[stephen]

Well in the one hand we gave a great cricket player and on the other hand we have a match fixing half wit. No contest - Abbas.

 

[Borges]

Well in the one hand we gave a great cricket player and on the other hand we have a match fixing half wit. No contest - Abbas.

In my book, Zaheer Abbas is the better batsman; but not quite for the reasons cited above,

Just as, in my book, Steven Smith is still the best current batsman.
That he participated and abetted in cheating on the cricket field has got nothing to do with his quality as a batsman.

 

[Xuhaib]

Imran thinks with a better mindset Zaheer would have been the greatest ever test batsman from Pakistan. Just couple of failures and he would start sacrificing black goats and feeding food to the poor instead of analyzing the mistakes he was making.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Imran thinks with a better mindset Zaheer would have been the greatest ever test batsman from Pakistan. Just couple of failures and he would start sacrificing black goats and feeding food to the poor instead of analyzing the mistakes he was making.

how horrible

 

[Xuhaib]

how horrible

nothing wrong in that infact its great but thats not your solution to combat threat from And Roberts or Dennis Lillie

 

[TheJediBrah]

The poor need to learn to fend for themselves

teach a man to fish etc.

 

[stephen]

In my book, Zaheer Abbas is the better batsman; but not quite for the reasons cited above,

Just as, in my book, Steven Smith is still the best current batsman.
That he participated and abetted in cheating on the cricket field has got nothing to do with his quality as a batsman.

Well if you're going to make a moral equivalence between match fixing and not stopping ball tampering then your moral radar is off.

The fact is that Azhar nearly destroyed cricket due to his actions. He should be entirely remembered for how he impacted the world of cricket. It's not even worth discussing his cricketing abilities.

 

[CricAddict]

Well if you're going to make a moral equivalence between match fixing and not stopping ball tampering then your moral radar is off.

The fact is that Azhar nearly destroyed cricket due to his actions. He should be entirely remembered for how he impacted the world of cricket. It's not even worth discussing his cricketing abilities.

Not that he saw and ignored it. He initiated it.

 

[vcs]

Azhar was a fine batsman at times, though inconsistent against good quick bowling. He played some great knocks against quality SA attacks in the mid-90s. Also, I have fond memories of his 180-odd against England at Eden Gardens in '93. Tremendous fielder as well.

But history will, rightly, not remember him kindly. Ganguly, who was overall an inferior batsman to him, will be remembered a lot more fondly.

 

[CricAddict]

Yes, I remember Azhar owned Eden Gardens before Rohit took it over from him. Can be certain of atleast a fifty from Azhar there.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Not that he saw and ignored it. He initiated it.

This has no basis in fact though. If anything most reliable reports seem to lean toward Smith knowing very little about it. Even saying that he "saw and ignored it" may be more than he's actually guilty of.

 

[Burgey]

Azharrudon made a ton (in Adelaide iirc) in the early 90s which was as good a ton as I’ve seen a touring batsman make in Australia. Great player to watch.

 

[Bolo]

Not a lot to chose from as test bats. Both struggled against pace.

I'm not generally a fan of bringing ODI cricket into this type of discussion, but as a tiebreaker here, Abbas was an ATG, and Azhar was just some guy. I'm also not sure that fixing should be brought into it, but it's another tiebreaker in favour of Abbas. Either way, he gets my vote.

 

[Burgey]

It’s always good to reflect on blokes who were stylish players. Both these guys were so good to watch.