him being a difficult character leaks into the perception of his batting and makes him stand to illogical standards not applied to his peers. If Boycott was a sweetheart like Barrington there would be no case of him being selfish as a batsmen. He's an underrated Batsmen.
Maybe but what if the team balance wants more bowlers? Botham allows that.
I don't really think it makes much sense to have Botham as a better batsman and getting less batting really.
Like I said, he gives that flexibility depending if the team wants an extra bowler.
Gavaskar > Boycott > Dravid > Miandad > Kohli
Agreed. Botham and Kapil are in the same tier but Gavaskar is a tier or two above Boycott for me.
I never give too much weight to records in or against particular countries. Everyone has good and bad series, and unless we know something about a general strength/weakness, performances vs their own baseline quality are going to wild results.
Love the home conditions argument.
Yeah I don't think it's been highlighted enough that Botham is a slightly better bowler too. Which makes more difference for an average side.
I love the hypocrisy......
Which hypocrisy?
That India was more bowling friendly than England (and you rating match winners over consistent performers....)
lol. I never said that. Just pointing out that in both conditions Botham outperformed Kapil anyway. So in a 1-1 comparison, calling out Kapil’s home conditions as a positive for him and Botham’s as a negative makes little to no sense.
Botham deserves complete credit for his India record, both home and away. But don't think it makes more sense to not give Kapil home points since Botham did excellent in 10 games. It's like saying Kapil was a better batsman as he averages higher in England imo. Overall, Kapil has tougher pitches than Botham at home. Beefy did Great in those conditions and deserves full credit for that, but that's it.
I still don’t get how in a one to one comparison he gets credit for having harder conditions then failing in Botham’s easier conditions.
He gets penalized for failing in Botham's easier conditions, as he does for in NZ. That doesn't changes his home conditions were flatter
Can see a case for Boycott, don't think there is one for Botham really. And like, comeon. It depends on your definition of 'much', but India was definitely flatter for pacers than England.