Cricket has seen a lot of big players who deliver in the right situation like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Ricky Ponting, Imran Khan, etc, and also few big names who can’t do justice to their name with the bat or with the ball. Few players are counted amongst the best but their stat and performances say a totally different story. Some players have the ability to come with the good at crunch and they are kept at the top rack by the fans. At the same time, many players have created a misleading dilemma about themselves which confuses fans into considering them a great player.
Presenting you the top 5 overrated players of all time.
5. Shahid Afridi
No batsman gets a louder roar from the crowd as Shahid Afridi used to receive from Pakistan’s crowd. Scoring 100 of 35 balls is outrageous and hitting those huge sixes out of the park is amazing, but Shahid Afridi lacked consistency in the game.
Yet Afridi, year after year, seems to be sending out the wrong message to youngsters. The most common image of Afridi’s wicket is that of a ball skied straight up in the air, only to fall into the hands of an opposition fielder. Pakistan could have never relied on Shahid Afridi to handle pressure situations. Such a big name in cricket, but his career tally of 6 centuries is a small return.
Particularly, when he opened the batting for Pakistan for a large portion of his career. A strike rate of 117 is incredible, but, an average of 23.57 makes that strike rate totally pointless. He only played 27 Tests in his career and averaged 36.51, which is again a mediocre return.
4. Yusuf Pathan
Everyone remembers what he did on the very first ball of the T20 world cup final against Pakistan in 2007, hitting a huge six. However, Yusuf Pathan’s career remains a case of unfulfilled dreams. He could be an immensely destructive player on his day. We have seen that first few IPL seasons where he destroyed bowlers, but again he delivered rarely and that is what makes him such an overrated player.
He had a strike rate of 113.60 in ODIs and a whopping 146.58 in T20Is, but that all becomes quite ineffective if the player averages only 27 and 18.15 in the two formats of the game, respectively. India’s team management realized that he was too unpredictable a player to persist within the long term and he got replaced very soon.
3. Dinesh Chandimal
Dinesh Chandimal maintained a very average and disappointing strike rate in all formats of the game. Sri Lanka still have him on the teamsheet due to a lack of other options. After CB series 2012 in Australia, everyone thought Sri Lanka has finally got a batsman whom they were looking for. But as it had been happening, after few good innings, Dinesh Chandimal’s performance faded away. Dinesh Chandimal was highly rated by the Sri Lankan selector and he went onto play 146 ODIs only averaging 32. He came up little with the hopes.
2. Umar Akmal
Remember those words from Pakistani Legends, “Umar Akmal will be a better batsman than Virat Kohli“. But even after playing more than 100 ODIs, he is struggling to find a place in the Pakistani team.
Along with Umar Akmal, their legends said the same thing about Ahmed Shehzad and now they’re saying this for Babar Azam (good player though). Umar Akmal still thinks he hasn’t got much chance and support from his team and PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board). Additionally, only 1 Test century and 2 ODI centuries, is also a testament to the fact that Akmar perhaps lacks the temperament to play the long innings.
- Graeme Hick
As far as overrated players are concerned, nobody quite comes close to Zimbabwe-born former England batsman Graeme Hick. He went onto score 64,000 runs in first-class cricket but he fell short when it comes to international cricket. The right-handed batsmen had a fine technique and a wide array of strokes, which enabled him to become the highest scorer in the history of first-class cricket.
Hick could never quite deliver on his promise. English Selectors never loosed hope on him and he went on to give him alot of chances though he never threatened to truly break out into something close to his first-class avatar. That being said, the selectors never seemed to give up hope and for a decade from 1991 to 2001, he kept making comebacks and played in as many as 65 Test matches.Hick averaged only 31.32 and scored a total of 6 hundred. In 120 ODIs, he made 5 hundred and averaged 37.33.
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