On second thoughts: Imran Khan's Pakistan

[Gunner786]

Not sure where to post this so i thought i would post it here
This article looks past the shakoor rana incidents and gives a true view of the pakistani side of the 80's so maligned because of bad umpiring

On second thoughts: Imran Khan's Pakistan

The legendary West Indies side of the 80s never managed to beat them, yet Pakistan's greatest side are nowhere near cricket's pantheon.

That West Indies side is justly in cricket's pantheon, along with the contemporary Australians, the Invincibles, the lost South Africans of the 70s and England in the mid 50s. Yet the side they could not break are nowhere to be seen. The cornered tigers of 1992, who won the World Cup in such spectacular style, are the most celebrated side in Pakistan's history. But they only peaked for 15 giddy days: Imran's side did it for nearly 15 years. And, without Imran, the new breed were savaged in the Caribbean in 1992-93. Although there was crossover between the sides, they were essentially different in nature: the World Cup winners had an injection of youth in Inzamam-ul-Haq, Aqib Javed, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aamir Sohail and Moin Khan. Imran's 80s outfit were not so much cornered tigers as streetwise foxes, experienced, cute, and trusted by very few.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/06/14/on_second_thoughts_imran_khans.html

 

[Will_NA]

What's your point? Pakistan were better than the West Indies? They would have been No.1 if it wasn't for bad umpiring?

 

[Animator!]

Just accept that there are better sides than yours. Please, and I'm pleading this time, take off those Pakistan tinted sunglasses, and see what the real world is really like.

 

[Gunner786]

man get off that big moral high horse of yours
i posted an article
im not like you to state points and facts like its a dating agency

you need to either get a life or stop trying to compete with every post i make

 

[Animator!]

man get off that big moral high horse of yours
i posted an article
im not like you to state points and facts like its a dating agency

you need to either get a life or stop trying to compete with every post i make

Your condoning the view in the article, the little message you posted at the top essentially says that Pakistan were the best side and were cheated out of it.
'im not like you to state points and facts likes its a dating agency' makes no sense to me. I've not given you my name, number of naked photo, although, everyman has his price Aha.

I only compete with the posts of yours that are immensely short-sighted and riddled with bias.

 

[Sureshot]

It's more than a little odd that it's always the umpires fault, isn't it?

 

[Gunner786]

Your condoning the view in the article, the little message you posted at the top essentially says that Pakistan were the best side and were cheated out of it.
'im not like you to state points and facts likes its a dating agency' makes no sense to me. I've not given you my name, number of naked photo, although, everyman has his price Aha.

I only compete with the posts of yours that are immensely short-sighted and riddled with bias.

This article looks past the shakoor rana incidents and gives a true view of the pakistani side of the 80's so maligned because of bad umpiring

how on earth did you take this to mean that i meant pakistan were the best side?
all that meant was that most people judge that era of pakistan as cheats who got every decision through those cheating umpires.

 

[sohum]

Admittedly I didn't read the whole article but by the same token, Steve Waugh's Australians weren't able to break India at home (for a while, if not ever), but they were clearly one of the stronger teams in international cricket. Should the Indian team of those years then also be heralded as being one of the best test teams? They weren't really that great.

 

[Animator!]

"This article looks past the shakoor rana incidents and gives a true view of the pakistani side of the 80's so maligned because of bad umpiring"

Well the Pakistani side of the 80's so maligned because of bad umpiring, is a blatant attempt to suggest that Pakistan were continuously denied wins etc by poor umpiring. It's horrifically poor straching around for a scapegoat.

 

[Pak_cricketer]

Nah, we do get most of the bad luck

Its true if you've seen Pakistan play. But then, we can't just blame the umpires who had a bad series. Someone like Hair though has been consistently terrible whenever Pakistan are with him is a different story.

 

[Almost_Austwick]

The reason that the Pakistan team of the 80's have never been hailed as one of the greats is down to the fact that they drew most of their games. I'm sure that if they had achieved a higher win rate than 33%, people would speak of them in the same breath as the Windies.

The team of that era was blessed with some tremendous talent and were certainly worthy of attaining the number one spot but the fact is they were up against an even better team most of the time.

Also, for what its worth, although I understand that Gambino can sometimes be a little biased when it comes to his views on Pakistan, all he did was present an article which reappraises the Pakistan team of the 80's.

Though I may be wrong here. I think Gambino/the article writer is trying to imply that due to the perception that they benefited from home biased umpires their legacy is somewhat tarnished, not they were only stopped from topping the rankings due to decisions going against them.

 

[Gunner786]

Nah, we do get most of the bad luck

Its true if you've seen Pakistan play. But then, we can't just blame the umpires who had a bad series. Someone like Hair though has been consistently terrible whenever Pakistan are with him is a different story.

he wasnt as bad as david shepherd though
one of the west indies umpires admitted after a match that he had feared for his life so he didnt give the last pair out on countless plumb lbw appeals by wasim akram in the early 90's
pakistan would have been the 1st to win a test series on windies soil for decades
same situation in 2000 when the last pair once again took windies home to a series levelling 1 wicket win
on that occasion it was none other than billy doctrove who turned down countless plumb appeals when the last pair were batting

Though I may be wrong here. I think Gambino/the article writer is trying to imply that due to the perception that they benefited from home biased umpires their legacy is somewhat tarnished, not they were only stopped from topping the rankings due to decisions going against them.

the article writer is actually called Rob Smyth,
so all biasedness goes out the window i reckon where the article writer is concerned

 

[Almost_Austwick]

Rob Smyth makes some good points in the articles but as always there are lies, damn lies and statistics and I'm sure that another writer could present the view differently if they so wanted.

Though I haven't seen any of the series mentioned within the article they sound like pretty good cricketing contests between sides that had a few special players. It's shame that they can't just be remembered for that instead of dragging up complaints about the umpires etc.