Imran Khan: Greatest Allrounder

While the "experts" at cricinfo may think otherwise, over 10,000 fans voted for Imran Khan as the top allrounder in cricket history.

By and large I am not a fan of these all-time lists, as they don't take into account periodic trends and pressures in the game. Even when Imran was at his prime, there was debate about his status as the best all-rounder due to the presence of players such as Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham. It was truly the all-rounders era where even players such as Manzoor Elahi and Simon O'Donnell enjoyed brief flashes in the pan as all-rounders with promise. In today's game, bowlers are bowlers and batsmen are batsmen, and the resistance one sees in Jacques Kallis truly working on his bowling, is similar to the resistance one sees in young bowlers in applying themselves to become true batsmen like Imran Khan or Ravi Shastri. Who knows, maybe with players like Irfan Pathan, Shoaib Malik and Andrew Flintoff, we may see the resurgence of true all-rounders.

Imran Khan wants to be romanced

Imran Khan is negating interest in the top position at the PCB. To me, he sounds like all the American presidential candidates who up to the minute before announcing their candidacy, scream with all the righteous indignation they can muster that they have no interest in the position. We'll see what Mr. Khan decides. Maybe he just wants to be serenaded for the job!

Imran Khan offers suggestions

Predictably, Imran Khan is coming forward with some suggestions regarding the future of cricket.

On coaching: "The PCB should appoint two coaches - Aqib Javed as bowling coach and another coach for the batsmen."

On captaincy: "Younis Imran should succeed Inzamam as captain."

On first class cricket: "I have played in Sheffield Shield and I know they have the best system of just six teams in first-class cricket. That's the only way we could also produce quality cricketers"

Imran Khan beats up on PCB

As predictable as the tick-tock of the clock, Imran Khan pops up to level his critiques on the PCB about their selection policy for the upcoming World Cup. Not that I disagree with him in any way, I just think its bad timing with only about 2 days to go before the first match!

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Imran Khan comments on Yousuf's religious turn

Interesting that Imran Khan comes to the defence of Mohammad Yousuf. Many of Yousuf's detractors have spoken of the over emphasis he places on religion, and the way he credits religion for all of his successes. Imran's comment that it is religion that has given Yousuf spiritual strength is intriguing, as Imran Khan was captain of the cricket team at a very different time. Religion was a subdued part of the Pakistani cricket system, and I doubt if at any time Imran, Javed and Mohsin Khan were to be found praying in congregation after a practice session. It is true, that Imran Khan has become more vocal in recent years about his own personal beliefs and the role religion is playing in his personal and political life, yet I wonder if he would have been comfortable leading a team with such overt religious overtones.

Imran Khan's thoughts

Imran Khan wants Pakistan to sue Hair, but feels that they made a mistake by not playing right after tea. Can't agree with him about the latter, but the former can work.

Imran's two cents

Hey, if Sarfaraz and Bari can let loose, what about Imran? Here though, atleast the criticism is valid. Openers, and Woolmer's inability to get anyone to open with consistency. What do you say Bob?

Imran Khan interview

Imran Khan speaks about life and lessons learnt.

Holy Crap!! Imran Khan gets harsh with the PCB

Imran Khan, shortly after Miandad, has gone on to bash the PCB and question Woolmer's presence with the squad. Further, he has also questioned the batting lineup for ODIs as set up by the current team management. Hard to argue with the man, except for the Rhodes' situation. I still think professional cricket, needs professional trainers and coaches, not amateurs. But, who am I to question Imran Khan.

Yousuf out for the first test?

As play has not yet begun, in an unconfirmed report, it appears that Yousuf is out for the first test. Faisal Iqbal has been brought into the middle order, and hopefully he can repeat his performance from the last test against England.

Shoaib Malik vs. Imran Khan?

An interesting news report today. After Imran Khan's earlier comments, that Younis Khan would be better off coming in at 1-down than Shoaib Malik, it appears that Shoaib's family has taken exception to this!

Granted Shoaib has done well in the last three matches, and is averaging around a 100. But is picking a fight with Imran Khan the best idea really? Not that it should, but politics in Pakistani cricket are Machiavelian, and the last thing a young player like Shoaib Malik needs is Imran Khan against him.

Blame the curator

If this comment by Imran Khan bears out, and the Pakistani players look to have lost the psychological advantage in the upcoming test in Faislabad, and on to Karachi, then the PCB has no one to blame but the ground keepers at Lahore.

Imran makes comments about the PCB.

I said it here a few days ago that Imran Khan may be looking for an in, as far as the PCB setup is concerned. It appears that Imran is becoming increasingly proactive about this. In a visit to Hyderabad, Sindh, Imran makes some interesting comments about the PCB.

First, Imran Khan criticizes the PCB for its lack of a constitution and the current adhoc decision making process. Further, albeit in an unnamed manner, Imran makes some criticisms of Shaharyar Khan, specifically related to what he called a one-man show at the PCB.
Shaharyar Khan, who has already come in for some criticism about his decisions regarding the hiring of Mushtaq Ahmed as bowling coach, is going to come in for some flack here. Imran Khan further highlights his differences with Shaharyar by not only proposing Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis or Aaqib Javed as potential bowling coaches for Pakistan, but also stresses the importance of having Yasir Hameed in the lineup as a specialist opener. This also speaks against the Pakistani teams current philosophy of having Shoaib Malik open in tests and Kamran Akmal in ODIs.

Imran Khan as PCB Chief within one year? I called it here first ;)

Battle in Barbados - Who's right? Wasim or Imran

So Wasim Akram & Imran Khan have come down on different sides on how to deal with the Battle in Barbados. The altercation between Inzy, Younis & Afridi made all the papers, and rightly Saleem Altaf has taken a great deal of flack for it as well.

Wasim Akram feels that the players should have been sent back to Karachi on the first flight from Barbados because of their altercation and the message it sends to the team. Given that the Captain, Vice-Captain and perhaps the emotional leader of the team were involved, one can question the wisdom of Akram's comments.

Imran Khan has come down on the other side. At a dinner in Islamabad, he commented that such altercations happen on every tour, and the only reason this became a big deal was because Pakistan lost so ignobly!

Who is right? Was it a big deal? Only time will tell!