Kapil Dev Great man part 2

 

KapilDev

             However, his performance in Pakistan in the beginning was such that he could not be ignored and he was picked for the first test at Faisalabad.

 It was a good trip which afforded a fair amount of bounce to the new ball bowlers and in the first few overs Kapil forced Sadiq to discard his green Pakistan cap for a helmet. 

As it turned out, it was a side move and, in the next over, a bouncer from Kapil hit Sadiq flush on tkhe helmet and went away for four byes. 

With that one delivery Kapil had proved that he could not be taken lightly in Test Cricket and India, after a long long time, had a bowler who could use the new ball to bowl to bowl with fire.

             Thereafter, there was no stopping Kapil. He scored 59 as a night watch man and thus earned the tag of an all rounder. He confirmed this later in the season when he scored a century against the West Indians. 

The only time the tag of an all rounderdid not fit him was on the 1979 tour of England when this dynamic cricketer failed with the bat. He bowled with his customary fire and efficiency in the Test matches and also in other matches but somehow failed to get the runs.

 He used to get out in his eagerness to hit the ball in the air, rather than take his time and play his shots. This, of course, was solely due to in experience, which was amply proved on the 1982 tour of England when he scored 300 runs in three Test matches.

            After, that 1978 tour, it has been a case of rising career graph. He is now reckoned to be one of the top  all rounder in the world, if not the topmost. People talk about Irman Khan, Ian Botham, KapilDev and Richard Hadlee as the leading all rounder in the world. 

It is indeed difficult to pick the best among them all. But one thing is sure any captain would love to have all four of them on his team and win a match, because all of them are attacking cricketers, all of them have put in sterling performance; all of them performed under pressure and proved that they have the flamboyance and ability to take on any opponent at any given time. 

Picking the best players out of them is basically a subject of extensive exercise and there would always be people who would agree with you also disagree with you on the merits and demerits of each.

            In Kapil’s case he has the disadvantage of not having a strike bowler along with him which means that the entire pressure of taking wickets is entirely on him.