Kapil the batsman

[The Dark Horse]

Was going through a discussion on Twitter. Kapil was an absolute freak.

ODI Strike rate - 95

ODI strike rate in world cups - 115

Test strike rate - 82.xx

 

He was THE definition of a dasher. Pity I wasn’t born to see his batting live.. If not for captaincy may be he could have done even better(?)

[velu]

 

 

 

[rtmohanlal]

one of the players in the history of the game when context  taken into account , was way way more than his plain averages.

People often under rate Kapil by taking just his plain averages.

 

Kapil should be evaluated based on these facts

In test bowling - longevity, lack of support bowling & work density. Hence for me he is a 26.25- 26.85 range test bowler

In test batting his role was to put as much runs in the company of tail enders.His str: was almost 81(every chance of it being even as high as 82.5) and after 131 inns it was about 84.5.

Edited April 15, 2020 by rtmohanlal

[rkt.india]

4 hours ago, The Dark Horse said:

Was going through a discussion on Twitter. Kapil was an absolute freak.

ODI Strike rate - 95

ODI strike rate in world cups - 115

Test strike rate - 82.xx

 

He was THE definition of a dasher. Pity I wasn’t born to see his batting live.. If not for captaincy may be he could have done even better(?)

He was very much what Afridi was in late 90s, early 2000s. 

[rkt.india]

36 minutes ago, rtmohanlal said:

one of the players in the history of the game when context  taken into account , was way way more than his plain averages.

People often under rate Kapil by taking just his plain averages.

 

Kapil should be evaluated based on these facts

In test bowling - longevity, lack of support bowling & work density. Hence for me he is a 26.25- 26.85 range test bowler

In test batting his role was to put as much runs in the company of tail enders.His str: was almost 81(every chance of it being even as high as 82.5) and after 131 inns it was about 84.5.

He would have batted the same way irrespective of the position he batted, very much like Sehwag, Srikant etc

[The Dark Horse]

29 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

He was very much what Afridi was in late 90s, early 2000s. 

I don't think he was as brainless as Afridi

[Straight Drive]

Only Kapil could match the strike rate of Viv.

[Straight Drive]

In 1986 Lord's test he hit 18 runs in one over against Phil Edmonds to win the test for India. Kapil was one of the most natural batsman and bowling action. His peak in ODI coincided with India winning the world cup.  India had lost two warmup matches, yet under the captaincy of Kapil the team was motivated enough to overcome the initial dismal performances and come back strongly. The 175 innings which turned the match on its head was another performance which made team believe that they could win the WC. To beat WI twice in that WC was indeed a huge achievement.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Straight Drive

[maniac]

A 24 year old guy in his 4th year of cricket captaining a pretty mediocre side in English conditions, plays probably what is the most defining and clutch innings in the history of the game and then goes on to lead his team in beating the greatest side ever in history of cricket not once but twice and that too defending a score of 180 odd is a stuff of legend.

 

we hear this bs catchphrase Of cornered tigers etc which was not a patch on this accomplishment. Same goes for other underdog triumph like SL in 1996 which doesn’t even come close to this.

 

I know some cheap Bollywood biopic is being made finally but despite being regarded as the moment that changed cricket forever this isn’t talked about as much as some random ashes and other cricketing events.

[Gollum]

14 minutes ago, maniac said:

Same goes for other underdog triumph like SL in 1996 which doesn’t even come close to this.

SL triumph too was legendary. Came when their country was in civil war, early-mid 90s saw many terror attacks incl assassinations of several leading figures incl Presidents (like Premadasa). Cricket too was badly affected, Ranatunga was seen as a unifying factor esp the way he backed a Tamil Hindu player in Australia. Teams declining to play in SL, their team smashing every team incl India 2x, then Ranatunga openly saying he wanted Aussies in Lahore. Finally a brilliant final against clutch (and soon to be ATG) Aussies with a team successfully chasing for the 1st time ever, ATG 100 by Mad Max. Great story considering Lankans were recent entrants to the world of cricket. Like India they hadn't done much in previous WCs. Not as great as 83 but 96 was quite close when talking about underdog triumphs. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Gollum

[Gollum]

In an ODI AT world XI, Kapil will be among the top 3 picks, King Viv being numero uno and maybe Garner 2nd. 

[Straight Drive]

9 minutes ago, Gollum said:

SL triumph too was legendary. Came when their country was in civil war, early-mid 90s saw many terror attacks incl assassinations of several leading figures incl Presidents (like Premadasa). Cricket too was badly affected, Ranatunga was seen as a unifying factor esp the way he backed a Tamil Hindu player in Australia. Teams declining to play in SL, their team smashing every team incl India 2x, then Ranatunga openly saying he wanted Aussies in Lahore. Finally a brilliant final against clutch (and soon to be ATG) Aussies with a team successfully chasing for the 1st time ever, ATG 100 by Mad Max. Great story considering Lankans were new entrants to the world of cricket. Like India they hadn't done much in previous WCs. Not as great as 83 but 96 was quite close when talking about underdog triumphs. 

Yeah, iirc SL started playing ODI very late as compared to India. Their win came quicker

[zen]

Always liked Kapil as a batsman. Did not do justice to his immense potential. Could have averaged 40+ in tests 

Edited April 15, 2020 by zen

[rtmohanlal]

1 hour ago, rkt.india said:

He would have batted the same way irrespective of the position he batted, very much like Sehwag, Srikant etc

Kapil was capable of  altering his batting style according to the situation, not that he always did that.  I would pick a few inns of his where he played a bit more casually  as per the situation demanded.

 

runs balls  str:

30    72     41.66   v Pakistan Kolkata  29 Jan 1980

45* 82     54.87    v England  Mumbai15 Feb 1980

41  69     59.42     v England    Lord's  10 Jun 1982

60  97     61.85    v  England     Delhi  12 Dec 1984

66 117    56.41    v Pakistan    Kolkata11 Feb 1987

56  83    67.46     v Australia Adelaide  25 Jan 1992

60  95    63.15     v Zimbabwe  Harare  18 Oct 1992

129 180 71.66     v South Africa  Port Elizabeth  26 Dec 1992

34    72   47.22   v South Africa  Cape Town    2 Jan 1993

 

 All these inns were played when India needed them the most. Especially notice  the last 4 inns, all of them in a single year space and in the toughest of conditions. Not that Kapil was capable of doing a Dravid like role, but still he could play defensively if needed.

[maniac]

46 minutes ago, Gollum said:

SL triumph too was legendary. Came when their country was in civil war, early-mid 90s saw many terror attacks incl assassinations of several leading figures incl Presidents (like Premadasa). Cricket too was badly affected, Ranatunga was seen as a unifying factor esp the way he backed a Tamil Hindu player in Australia. Teams declining to play in SL, their team smashing every team incl India 2x, then Ranatunga openly saying he wanted Aussies in Lahore. Finally a brilliant final against clutch (and soon to be ATG) Aussies with a team successfully chasing for the 1st time ever, ATG 100 by Mad Max. Great story considering Lankans were recent entrants to the world of cricket. Like India they hadn't done much in previous WCs. Not as great as 83 but 96 was quite close when talking about underdog triumphs. 

True not taking anything away from SL.

 

However from 1975-2019, 

 

1975-1979- Fav team won

2003-2019-Fav team won

 

that leaves us with 83,87,92,96 and 1999

 

if I have to rank the wins according to the back to the wall performances against all odds , handling pressure and over all performance then 

 

1983

1996/1999 (tie)

1992

1987 

 

in that order 

 

[rkt.india]

32 minutes ago, rtmohanlal said:

Kapil was capable of  altering his batting style according to the situation, not that he always did that.  I would pick a few inns of his where he played a bit more casually  as per the situation demanded.

 

runs balls  str:

30    72     41.66   v Pakistan Kolkata  29 Jan 1980

45* 82     54.87    v England  Mumbai15 Feb 1980

41  69     59.42     v England    Lord's  10 Jun 1982

60  97     61.85    v  England     Delhi  12 Dec 1984

66 117    56.41    v Pakistan    Kolkata11 Feb 1987

56  83    67.46     v Australia Adelaide  25 Jan 1992

60  95    63.15     v Zimbabwe  Harare  18 Oct 1992

129 180 71.66     v South Africa  Port Elizabeth  26 Dec 1992

34    72   47.22   v South Africa  Cape Town    2 Jan 1993

 

 All these inns were played when India needed them the most. Especially notice  the last 4 inns, all of them in a single year space and in the toughest of conditions. Not that Kapil was capable of doing a Dravid like role, but still he could play defensively if needed.

Even Sehwag has some such innings, not that he always did it.  Kapil didn't take his batting seriously enough. He did play some great innings but he could have been much better with the bat.

[rtmohanlal]

18 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Even Sehwag has some such innings, not that he always did it.  Kapil didn't take his batting seriously enough. He did play some great innings but he could have been much better with the bat.

might most probably be.  Despite that , when I evaluate Kapil the batsman I take into account his huge str; also.  Viv dominated the bowlers with an str: of  70 when all batsmen  of his time  were having 35-45 str: .  And Kapil had almost 81(most probably it is around 82.5  as per my analysis of  ball count missing  inns of  Kapil in cricinfo). Such level of  domination deserves extra points.

[velu]

1 hour ago, maniac said:

A 24 year old guy in his 4th year of cricket captaining a pretty mediocre side in English conditions

 

23 yr old guy in his 3rd year of intl cricket , captaining it for the first time in south African conditions ... well 

[Deleted_User_1]

4 hours ago, The Dark Horse said:

I don't think he was as brainless as Afridi

Kapil has been the best all-rounder India has had so far by a country mile. I was lucky to see him live on TV and in maidan, on several occasions. However, he did have his brain fart moments, although not anywhere as bad as Afretard. One time, he gave his wicket away just out of spite for Sunny. He was dropped the next match. Now Sunny and Kapil respect each other, but during their playing time in the 80s, their off-field rivalry got very nasty at times.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Audiophile

[maniac]

2 hours ago, velu said:

 

23 yr old guy in his 3rd year of intl cricket , captaining it for the first time in south African conditions ... well 

Well if you think that was the same level of incredible accomplishment that the 83 WC was then nothing to say. Defending 180 against that WI team or singlehandedly hitting a 175 to save team from elimination is a different level of mythical effort.