Wasim Akram picks five all-time best batsmen; chooses Sachin Tendulkar as fifth best

Cricket has witnessed some of the brilliant batsmen over the years in its rich history. No doubt they were the best during their playing days but better batsmen kept coming and the trend has been going on even in the modern-day cricket. It will be a tough task to pick the top five batsmen of all-time for any expert and the former Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram took it up and made some interesting choices.

To start with, he named Sir Vivian Richards as the best ever batsman. No wonder the West Indies legend will top the list having dominated the bowling attack during his 17-year illustrious international career. His strike-rate in those days in the ODIs was 90.17 which is impeccable and went on to amass 6721 runs in 187 matches at an average of 47. When it came to Tests, Richards scored 8540 runs in 121 games at an average of 50.23 with 24 tons.

Next on Wasim Akram’s list was New Zealand’s arguably best ever player Martin Crowe who passed away in March 2016. He played 77 Tests and 143 ODIs scoring 5444 and 4704 runs respectively. Though he last played an international game in 1995 before hanging his boots, Crowe is still considered the best ever in the country.

Wasim Akram picks Inzamam ahead of Tendulkar

While speaking to Basit Ali during a Youtube conversation, Wasim Akram chose Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sachin Tendulkar as the third, fourth and fifth-best batsmen ever in the sport respectively. One would feel Lara was always the best for the West Indies during his playing career. He scored more than 20000 runs after representing the Caribbeans in 131 Tests and a whopping 299 One-Day Internationals.

However, many are perplexed with the fact that Akram chose Inzamam-ul-Haq ahead of Sachin Tendulkar. The former slammed 8830 Test and 11739 ODI runs scoring 35 centuries in all apart from leading Pakistan to some memorable wins as well. Sachin wasn’t a great captain but his batting numbers are literally unparalleled. He played 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and 1 T20I in his 24-year career and crossed the 100-run mark a whopping 100 times.

It is still a record with only Virat Kohli being the closest (30 centuries far from it still) and Tendulkar scored a staggering 15921 Test and 18426 ODI runs in his career. Even the fans are questioning Wasim Akram for choosing Inzamam ahead of Tendulkar in his list of top five best batsmen ever.