Kapil Dev and left-arm seamer Karsan Ghavri still remain India’s best new ball opening pair. They operated with the new ball in 27 Test matches and captured 183 wickets at 30.26 .
Kapil, operating with the new ball with Manoj Prabhakar has an aggregate of (31 Tests,176 wickets) and with Madan Lal (20 Tests,119 wickets) and India’s foremost speedster post independence, finished with 434 wickets at 29.65 from 131 Test matches.
Figures speak for Kapil Dev’s efficacy with the shining and roughed up ball and he rightfully earned the sobriquet ‘Haryana Express’.
Kapil who turned 59 on January 6, is regarded by Sunil Gavaskar as India’s best ever, and at the Legends Club function that celebrated the legendary Indian seamer’s birthday at the old Card Room, Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Thursday, guest speakers Ghavri and Raju Kulkarni, were wholeheartedly and lavish, paying encomiums to a cricketer who plied his trade in the rustic out-backs of Haryana and grounds across India and the world.
Ghavri who made a career move from Saurashtra to Bombay and then achieved the big breakthrough in the Indian team said of his illustrious bowling partner: “Kapil set a great standard for Indian cricket. He played all his cricket by instinct, he never planned anything on his own. Playing for Rest of India in the Irani Cup against Karnataka in 1978, he hammered Chandra and Prasanna (62 not out) and that’s how he was selected for the Indian team for the tour of Pakistan. He was a great athlete, a great sportsman and a super cricketer. He did not concentrate on his batting much, if he had, he would have scored a couple of thousands of runs more. He was a top class swing bowler; he was never express fast like Dennis Lillee or Michael Holding, but he was a master of his trade. Kapil was a champion bowler and a masterpiece. It’s very hard to get a cricketer like him.’’
Being modest
Karsan Ghavri said that Kapil Dev has been so modest in saying that Hardik Pandya is a better all-rounder than him.
“My view is that Hardik is nowhere near Kapil right now. Even if he (Hardik) has to reach Kapil’s heights, he has a long, long way to go. It’s a very difficult comparison. But time will tell in a few years time as to how far can Hardik go in terms of Kapil’s achievements.
Raju Kulkarni who played three Test matches in the 1986-87 season against Australia and Pakistan said: “Kapil’s heroics on the cricket field are well known, exemplary and absolutely electrifying. He made full use of his natural ability and talent. He took pride to play for India and that was his greatness. His bowling action and run up that was silken smooth, his destructive batting and outstanding fielding will be remembered at all times.
In the pre-Kapil days, Indian cricket was dominated by spinners and spinning tracks. Kapil changed all that. In cricket they say, you never talk about Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar’s cricket because you can never measure their abilities. He was an amazing cricketer, amazing all-rounder and a very down to earth person. His sole aim was to perform on the cricket field. Today’s bowlers have everything, but what about their fitness. Kapil would go on and on and nothing would happen to him. He was like an elastic. Kapil also knew how to diffuse tense and anxious situations.”
The Legends Club vice-president, Ajit Wadekar who was cricket manager of the Indian team when Kapil Dev was the captain said: “There is no doubt he was a great bowler. He not only swung the ball both ways, he cut them too. He was always on the spot.”
