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Imran Khan blames T20 for India's Test plight
Imran, who led Pakistan to their only World Cup triumph in 1992, says Test cricket should always be the top priority.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief and cricket legend Imran Khan has blamed the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League for India's recent dismal Test showing, saying the focus should be on the game's longer format. PHOTO: AFP
NEW DELHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief and cricket legend Imran Khan has blamed the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League for India’s recent dismal Test showing, saying the focus should be on the game’s longer format.
India were humiliated 4-0 in the recent series away to Michael Clarke’s Australians to record eight successive overseas Test defeats following a similar hammering in England last year.
“I can only use one word to describe India’s form… consistent. To lose eight Test matches in a row overseas is an achievement,” Imran, the former Pakistan captain, said in the first annual Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture in Kolkata on Monday night.
“It’s a wake-up call for Indian cricket. A team that won the World Cup and was number one in Tests a few months back is in the doldrums.
“If you want to be the leaders you can’t keep losing. If you pay so much emphasis on Twenty20 cricket, you’ve got to pay hugely.”
The annual IPL tournament revolutionised cricket when it burst on to the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, short matches and Bollywood glamour.
Imran, who led Pakistan to their only World Cup triumph in 1992, said Test cricket should always be the top priority, as it is the greatest examination of players’ temperament and technique.
“India has to decide soon whether it prefers glamour, Bollywood and money to Test cricket,” he said. “In my 20 years of cricket, I never made so much money as a mediocre player in T20 does today.
“The connoisseurs will rate a player by his Test record and not what he’s done in T20s. Test cricket is the ultimate test of a player and that’s the reason Test records carry value.
“Talent can excel in one-dayers, but in Test cricket, your temperament and technique is tested besides the talent.”
Imran also said India needed to overhaul their domestic cricket to make it more competitive.
“In India and Pakistan, there’s a huge jump from first-class cricket to international cricket,” he said.
Imran also paid glowing tribute to former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who died in September of a lung infection aged 70.
Nicknamed “The Tiger” for his brilliant fielding, Pataudi quit Tests in 1975 with 2,793 runs in 46 matches and six centuries despite losing the sight in his right eye in a car accident in England.
“If Tiger hadn’t lost an eye, he would have broken all records,” said Imran. “His quality of strokes was amazing. Mere mortals couldn’t play them.”
Reader Comments (17)
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If IPL was such an evil, how come Imran didn’t talk against Afridi for his eagerness to participate?
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what to do , all in retrospect we all know how good indian team are in tests..
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IK has not revealed anything new. A couple of years ago Pakistan’s all time star batsman Mohd Yousuf has said the same thing about Pakistan’s batsmen and T20. However, MY is not a politician so nobody cared about him.
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Afridi dropped plans for Bangladesh PL because of busy international clash against England unlike Indians who opted for resting against WI after WC and suddenly appeared from their shells during IPL.
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@Yuri Kondratyuk:
Its not IPL that Great Khan has talked about.Its the money factor that Imaran has talked about. And please get your facts straight, Shahid Afridi is also a pathetic test player.
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Actually flamboyant Afridi has set an example for playing squad and upcoming youngsters of Pakistan. Good decision.
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Imran is absolutely right. The excessive attention being paid to T20 is ruining the game.
@saad saeed: The pathetic test player has a bowling average better than bowlers like Imran Tahir, Abdur Razzaq and Ishant Sharma. And a batting average better than Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Imran Nazir and Yasir Hameed. Not to mention the agility he brings on the field and his ability to draw crowds. Test cricket would definitely be richer with players like Afridi.
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@asad shirani, in case you didnt know afridi IS a pathetic test player, sth he admits himself, which is why he voluntarily retired from the format in 2010, saying it was not up his alley.
the fantastic stats you mention are for limited over matches.
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@mirza
M. Yousaf didn’t win a world-cup ….is not considered one of the best all rounder and captain of all time and didn’t hv average of 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball in the last 51 Tests he played.
not everything is abt politics
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Can any cricketing brain tell me please where is Muhammad Yousaf and why he is not part of Pakistan test team?Recommend
@shoaib:
Couldn’t have put it any better. Completely agree with you.
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@Muhammad Sulaiman Mughal:
International cricket has no room for any pensioner; hence, the reason why Muhammad Yousaf hasn’t been seen in the cricketing world for a while. He’s left for good because of his age.
I hope you don’t start asking why the selection committee isn’t picking Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad in the team. May be Imran Khan can quit politics too and make a cricketing come back. How does that sound?
Cricket is not like golf where you can participate in ‘Majors’ iirespective of your age. Can you not comprehend that fact? It would be a disgarce and a national tragedy to have a 40 old year old playing test cricket again. Surely, Pakistan is a proud cricketing nation to prevent such a drastic move.
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Muhammad Yousuf was sighted in Karachi’s boat basin Area in December, dinning with a few fellow tableeghi jamat wala’s. After that I didn’t see hi, so not a clue where he is, lol. I pm ersonally stay away from tableeghi jamat type people, otherwise I would have gone upto him and asked him when can we see him play next.
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@sara:
These are test statistics I mentioned.
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@asad, marginally better than yuvraj singh and virat kohli, who has incidentally played a mere eight tests. its funny you can pronounce a batsman who gets an average of 32.73 after only eight tests is worse than afridi with an average of 36 odd after 27 tests, and i feel very sorry for you if you even consider imran nazir is a cricketer, or that ishant sharma is a bowler. he may be the second highest wicket taker in 2011, but he also played almost double the matches compared to any other team to get to that number. afridi must be pretty pathetic if you want to pick up ishant sharmas stats and say that afridi is better than him…ANYONE is better than ishant sharma. you cant compare a so-called fast bowler (like sharma) with a spin bowler like afridi, b/c a fast bowler tends to leak more runs in general, giving him a higher bowling average.
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@Mirza:
I don’t think so that we can compare Mohd Yousuf with Imran Khan….
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@Mirza:
Despite of all the political differences, one should not forget the fact that IK has been one of the greatest cricketer who has ever lived in the 20th century and this fact is a source of pride for Pakistan!!!!
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