India has just suffered a humiliating defeat against Australia in the Border Gavaskar series. A major factor was the horrendous batting form of the captain himself, weak leadership and bad planning. Today, on the birthday of Kapil Dev, we badly miss the services of the Indian captain who never surrendered.
Way back in 1978 a hurricane emerged from Haryana that tore across the cricket pitches of the world leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Stumps and bails that stood in its way were scattered in every direction leaving batsmen awed and the coaches bemused.
For 16 years Kapil Dev did not lose an ounce of his lethal power to pulverize rival teams with the bat as well as the ball. His career was a testimony to his amazing fitness. He could bowl for hours without losing his venom and he never missed a match due to injury.
It is a well known fact that fast bowlers hunt best in pairs. There are plenty of examples in the history of cricket. Lillee and Thomson, Miller and Lindwall (both pairs from Australia), Trueman and Statham (England), Hall and Griffith (West Indies) were some of the most successful partnerships. At one point of time, the West Indies had four fast bowlers bowling in tandem. They helped each other to capture wickets.
No steady partner
But Kapil never had a steady partner who could match him stride for stride. There were bowlers like Madan Lal, Karsan Ghavri, Manoj Prabhakar and Javagal Srinath but Kapil lacked consistent support from the other end. There should have been another bowler of his class.
Kapil finished with a haul of 434 wickets in Test matches and he held the world record for some time before it was broken by Courtney Walsh of the West Indies. Had Kapil received adequate backing from the opposite end, he would probably have crossed 500 wickets.
Sunil Gavaskar’s assessment
Sunil Gavaskar has mentioned this aspect in his book “Idols”. Gavaskar has written: “In Kapil’s case he had the disadvantage of not having a strike bowler along with him. That meant the pressure of taking wickets was entirely on him. The opponents also knew that they should play him carefully. Thus he did not capture the number of wickets that he could otherwise have done.”
Despite it all, Kapil Dev is the only player in the history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5,000 runs in Test matches. He was the perfect all rounder in every sense of the term. When he led India to victory in the Prudential World Cup in 1983, he became the youngest captain to win the World Cup. He was only 24 years old then.
Whether he was bowling, batting or fielding, he was among the best. His 175 against Zimbabwe during that 1983 campaign became the world record for ODI matches. In domestic cricket Kapil was at his best in the 1979-80 season of the Ranji trophy when he scored a career best 193 against Delhi. In the 1990-91 season he scored 141 and also took five wickets in the semi-final against Bengal.
Ian Botham’s view
Sir Ian Botham has written about Kapil Dev: “I enjoyed my tussles with Kaps. I loved his attitude of attacking at all times because it mirrored my own. We were both winners because we did not fear losing. In everything that he did, Kaps had the swagger of a cavalier. His run up was a thing of beauty and he could change pace without discernible change of action.”
Botham who was himself regarded as one of England’s greatest all rounders had plenty of opportunity to fight duels with Kapil Dev. It was because Kapil played county cricket in England for Northamptonshire between 1981 and 1983 and for Worcestershire in 1984 and 1985. Kapil played 40 first-class matches during his time in England and scored 2,312 runs with four centuries and took 103 wickets.
In his game as well as in life, Kapil’s strongest point has been his mental attitude. He is always confident and ready for action. His attacking game would have made him a star in the modern days of T20 cricket. Many of today’s famous names should be thankful to their good fortune that they do not have to encounter a player like Kapil Dev on the cricket pitches.
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