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Kapil Dev, the bowler
- Thread starter ret
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Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
As India's finest Test seam-bowler. Were M Nissar and L Amar Singh better? Very possibly so, though of course they never got much of a Test career.
As far as Kapil's standing amongst seamers accross time is concerned... he was a good bowler, and no more than that. Not outstanding, but certainly good. Had he played for England or New Zealand, he might well have been fit to rank with the Bob Willises and Richard Collinges.
As far as Kapil's standing amongst seamers accross time is concerned... he was a good bowler, and no more than that. Not outstanding, but certainly good. Had he played for England or New Zealand, he might well have been fit to rank with the Bob Willises and Richard Collinges.
fredfertang
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The list of bowlers with 300+ test wickets ranked by strike rate shows a very highly placed RGD Willis - Murali, Ambrose and Wasim are amongst those behind him - wouldn't have credited it myself - he must have been a better bowler than the one I remember from my youth
As for Kapil he went on far too long - if he had retired at his peak rather than well past it, or perhaps concentrated on his batting once his bowling stopped troubling quality batsmen, then he would probably be remembered with the same reverence as those he once competed with for the title of top allrounder
As for Kapil he went on far too long - if he had retired at his peak rather than well past it, or perhaps concentrated on his batting once his bowling stopped troubling quality batsmen, then he would probably be remembered with the same reverence as those he once competed with for the title of top allrounder
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Only thing that's held Bob Willis back for mine was the number of times he was collared by West Indies.
If he'd had more success against them, I'd have little hesitation in placing him at the top of the tree of seam-bowlers from this country.
ret
International Debutant
in Aus - 11M, 51W
in Eng - 13M, 43 W
in NZ - 7M, 15W
in WI - 9M, 35W
in SA - 4M, 8W
his record is good in Aus and WI but could have done better in Eng and NZ
was that because he was under-bowled by the captains, who may be relied on the spinners to do the job. i remember him having a good tour to Australia in '92 where he took 25 wkts in 5 tests and also reached 400 wkts
Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
He was a good bowler and certainly currently unsurpassed by any other Indian.
Im sure some people will mention him doing well and playing a lot on batting and spin friendly tracks in India. That is true, but he also bowled far less per game in India than anywhere else. Sure his record looks great considering the conditions but it isnt as clear as that. What a pleasure it must have been to bowl mainly with the new ball and then sit back and watch the spinners work, occasionaly getting another spell and then a shout when the next new ball is due.
He certainly used the new ball well and got good movement and was very consistent throughtout his career until the obvious decline.
Im sure some people will mention him doing well and playing a lot on batting and spin friendly tracks in India. That is true, but he also bowled far less per game in India than anywhere else. Sure his record looks great considering the conditions but it isnt as clear as that. What a pleasure it must have been to bowl mainly with the new ball and then sit back and watch the spinners work, occasionaly getting another spell and then a shout when the next new ball is due.
He certainly used the new ball well and got good movement and was very consistent throughtout his career until the obvious decline.
ret
International Debutant
in the 92 series in Australia, i recall Border saying that Kapil is the best bowler that he has faced
Aamir Alauddin
Banned
Capil was a pretty decent bowler keeping in view that he played almost half of his matches on dead and dusty wickets of India. He did a wonderful job for his country.
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
'Good bowler' is a very apt description of his ability. Really great outswing. But overall, he wasn't much more than good.
Dissector
International Debutant
Kapil had really two careers as a bowler. Up till around 1984 he was magnicent, consisently taking wickets on lifeless pitches with almost no support at the other end. In particular he had some great performances with the ball against the West Indies in marked contrast to a certain Ian Botham. In this period IMO he was close to the level of the all-time great fast bowlers most of whom had much better support/pitches than Kapil. We should also note that Kapil came out of the blue in a country with almost no fast bowling tradition.
After 1984 he was an average bowler who didn't bowl all that much though he could produce special performances on the right tracks like in his final series in Australia.
If he played for,say, Australia his record would have been much better and I suspect he would be considered their third best quick after Lillee and McGrath in the last 35 years.
After 1984 he was an average bowler who didn't bowl all that much though he could produce special performances on the right tracks like in his final series in Australia.
If he played for,say, Australia his record would have been much better and I suspect he would be considered their third best quick after Lillee and McGrath in the last 35 years.
Sanz
Hall of Fame Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80QkHwmTT0&feature=related
Kapili in 1992. Both as a batsman and Bowler. Watch him. Phenomenal even at that age.
Kapili in 1992. Both as a batsman and Bowler. Watch him. Phenomenal even at that age.
His banana outswing was great and actually he was the best upper tailender to have in any team at that time . I remember that I read an old newspaper (found in the store room) when I was like 10 and a whole sports page was full of praise about him taking 5 or so wickets against Pakistan in Quetta some where around 1979 ,and made his team win the match . That made me think that he was a good bowler .
Who is she?
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Kapil had all the attributes of a great bowler. If he also had real pace he would have been at the top. He was still a very nippy fast medium when he came as a teenager and rocked the redoubtable Zaheer Abbas too.
People seem to forget that,
a) he realised that he had to bowl at least half his overs on Indian tracks so he needed to learn get the ball to do something laterally which he did both in the air and off the wicket and stayed within his pace
b) he had to bowl far too many overs for a frontline strike bowler. The great Indian spinners were on their last legs as he came in and soon he was both a strike bowler and a stock bowler. Cant think of many who have reached the very top with this huge constraint.
c) He badly lacked quality speed at the other end. By the time Srinath got going, Kapil was going downhill. His figures would have been much better (not that at his peak and with fifty percent of his bowling in India they are to be scoffed at) if Srinath was a more close contemporary. Its the same as reason why people are not able to appreciate Andy Roberts who lacked quality at the other end for a large part of his own 'peak'. Pace bowlers become hugely more effective in pairs or trios.
I have absolutely no doubt that if he was born in a country like Australia or South Africa he would have bowled faster and would have produced absolutely top drawer results.
But it is still less than fair to say that he was just a good bowler and nothing more.
People seem to forget that,
a) he realised that he had to bowl at least half his overs on Indian tracks so he needed to learn get the ball to do something laterally which he did both in the air and off the wicket and stayed within his pace
b) he had to bowl far too many overs for a frontline strike bowler. The great Indian spinners were on their last legs as he came in and soon he was both a strike bowler and a stock bowler. Cant think of many who have reached the very top with this huge constraint.
c) He badly lacked quality speed at the other end. By the time Srinath got going, Kapil was going downhill. His figures would have been much better (not that at his peak and with fifty percent of his bowling in India they are to be scoffed at) if Srinath was a more close contemporary. Its the same as reason why people are not able to appreciate Andy Roberts who lacked quality at the other end for a large part of his own 'peak'. Pace bowlers become hugely more effective in pairs or trios.
I have absolutely no doubt that if he was born in a country like Australia or South Africa he would have bowled faster and would have produced absolutely top drawer results.
But it is still less than fair to say that he was just a good bowler and nothing more.
Jono
Virat Kohli (c)
1) Why would he retire in his peak?
2) Why would he retire when he still enjoyed playing cricket?
3) Why would he retire when his country still needed him?
4) Why would he concentrate on being a batsman when he was still one of the top fast bowlers in India, even when he wasn't as good as he once was?
Players don't base their retirement around statsguru.
You legacy to others is important, but not as important as one's own legacy to themselves.
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Think the point is that if India's dearth of seam-bowling in the early-1990s wasn't so abysmally dear, Kapil would have been able to retire without going on so long past his outstanding time.
It should never be missed, really, that even at the very end of his career Kapil was still performing more than respectably. It's not like he averaged 40 in his last 30 Tests and only went on to claim the wickets record or anything.
It should never be missed, really, that even at the very end of his career Kapil was still performing more than respectably. It's not like he averaged 40 in his last 30 Tests and only went on to claim the wickets record or anything.