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#2 Salim Malik
Salim Malik was a player who oozed class. His impeccable timing and graceful stroke-play meant that he endeared himself not only to Pakistani supporters but cricket fans across the globe. That was, at least, until he was banned from all cricket for match-fixing in 2000.
This may make the title of "great player" a dubious one for Malik, but he was certainly a great talent.
Before his ban, Malik played 103 Tests for Pakistan, scoring 5768 runs at 43.70. Yet in 10 Tests against India he never once passed 50, and only averaged 19.13.
Malik's first tour of India was in 1983, still quite early in Malik's career. He'd already played against India in a series at home and had even managed a century in that series. Yet when he went to India later in the year he spent precious little time at the crease, being dismissed for 5 and then 0, Kapil Dev the bowler on both occasions.
But Malik would get a better chance to prove his worth in India in a five-match series in 1987. However, it turned out to be another tough series for Malik, as he averaged 22.14 across the five Tests, his high-score just 33. Remarkably, this turned out to be his high score in India across 18 innings, despite it still being lower than his career average.
Malik's final series in India was over a decade later in 1999, just months before his ban. Malik got some starts in the two Tests he played, but once again failed to make anything of them, and ended the series with just 86 runs at 21.50.
A strange anomaly in Malik's record is that he had very good figures in India in ODIs. Here he averaged 41 with a strike-rate of 96.01, higher than in any other country he played. This raises the question as to why he struggled so much in Tests in India.
He didn't have a weakness against a particular Indian bowler, nor did he struggled against spin, as shown by the way he often dominated Shane Warne. It is therefore hard to tell why in 18 innings in the country he could never manage a score that was better than mediocre.
