Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz sparked an angry response from Indian fans following his controversial comments about current Team India head coach and former captain Rahul Dravid. Comparing Rahul Dravid with former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wahab Riaz opined that the latter was a better batter than the former.
āInzy bhai. Inzy bhai performed exceptionally in all formats. He had a lot of time to play his shots against pacers. Inzy bhai is far ahead from Rahul Dravid,ā Wahab Riaz said in an interview with CricBridge.
However, his comments triggered outrage among Indian fans, considering Rahul Dravid retired with far better numbers than Inzamam-ul-Haq in international cricket.
Widely considered as the all-time greats of the sport, Rahul Dravid featured in 164 Tests and 344 ODIs and is a part of an elite list of players who have scored more than 10,000 runs in both Test and ODI cricket.
Rahul Dravid was the skipper of the national team from 2005-2007, leading them to a memorable Test series triumph over England under his captaincy. In an illustrious career that spanned over 16 years, the India batting stalwart finished with 13,288 runs in 164 Test matches and 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs. Besides these statistics, Rahul Dravid remains the only cricketer in the longest format of the sport to play over 30,000 deliveries.
Owing to his ability to bat long hours in whites, Rahul Dravid was nicknamed the āGreat Wall of Indiaā, especially by the England bowlers of the time, including the great Matthew Hoggard.
On the other hand, Inzamam-ul-Haq is regarded as one of the best batters Pakistan has ever produced. Inzamam-ul-Haq also led the Pakistan cricket team for many years and represented them in 378 One-Day Internationals and 120 Tests.
During his long stint with the Pakistan side, Inzamam-ul-Haq put up impressive figures in front of his name, making 8,830 runs in 120 Test matches at a fine average of 49.33. In the 50-over format, he is the only Pakistan batter to date to cross the 10,000-run mark.
Though both Rahul Dravid and Inzamam-ul-Haq could easily be considered the greats of the 90s and 2000s, the latter has slightly inferior statistics to the former.
This was one of the main reasons behind the Indian cricket admirers' fury against Wahab Riaz. In addition to that, Team India supporters also highlighted Inzamam-ul-Haq's poor running between the wickets and his sub-par fielding which is part of cricketing folklore.
āInzy although a good talent was a blot on sports altogether. Prime example of unfit 90's uncles not able to field or run and just raise a hand for the man on the boundary to fetch the ball. Don't even think of comparing him with Dravid,ā an Indian cricket lover said on Twitter.
āBetter player?? He is not even a better batsman than Dravidā¦Dravid was way ahead of Inzi in fielding and one is the greatest fielders of his era. In batting they are very closeā¦in tests Rahul and in ODIs Inzi was betterā¦so Overall Rahul Dravid is better player,ā another wrote.
āJust check Inzy's contribution in any Pak wins overseas and Dravid's and you will have your answer..Dravid was a much bigger match winner and batsman..to judge a batsman just check the overseas record,ā a third added.
āRahul Dravid gave everything for his team. He kept wickets, opened, came one down, two down, even fifth down when needed, he gave away his captaincy voluntarily for betterment of team, coached U-19 by giving up IPL coaching job,ā a fourth mentioned.
Rahul dravid is an all time great, inzamam isnt even greatest in pak. How insecure are pakistanis? Get a life and stop obsessing over India.
ā Ankit (@JerryAnkitIN) January 5, 2023
You forgot to mention . Inzamam was also a better runner , fitter than rahul dravid .
ā CrickLife š tick (@Crick4Life) January 5, 2023
Lol . Thanks for making me laugh so hard Wahab š¤£
(Literally he compared one of the greatest batsmen in Test Cricket history to someone who couldn't even run along the wickets properly ? )
ā V // ICT Stan (@Criclover_V) January 5, 2023
I am from that era , and i exactly know how lazy Inzamam was, he just used to walk for runs rather than running. He had an exhausting action and even comparing him to Dravid is a sin
ā Musically Tutus (@musicallytutus) January 5, 2023
Someone please tell Wahab Riaz that Sasta Nashaa karnaa Galat Baat Hai š¤£
ā Nitesh Chauhan š®š³ (@Nitesh_Chauhan7) January 5, 2023
Ā
Coming back to the current status of Rahul Dravid, he is the coach of the Indian cricket team and has faced a barrage of criticism for his selection choices, especially during last year's T20 World Cup and in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh in December.
Many former India cricketers, including Harbhajan Singh, have demanded his removal as the coach of the T20I side after the debacle in Australia.
āIt's not just the captain. If you can bring someone who has just retired from T20 cricket recently, someone who understands the format. You know, with all due respect to Rahul Dravid, he was my colleague and we played a lot of cricket together, he has a great brain. But I think if you don't want to remove Dravid from T20I as a coach then help him with someone who has recently retired. Someone like Ashish Nehra who has got a great cricketing brain. Look what he has done there at Gujarat Titans. It will also encourage the young guys with what Ashish will bring into the team. It could also be anyone, who just retired,ā Harbhajan Singh said after India's defeat to eventual champions England in the T20 World Cup semis.
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