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Was India's greatest fast bowler Kapil Dev a Tim Southee level bowler?


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5 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

I did a small check on Kapil's performance in NZ

1981
First test...he took 7 wkts vs NZ, Hadlee took 4

Second test...3 day's play impacted by rain. Kapil bowled in only 1 inns and took no wicket, Hadlee got a 5fer

Third test...Seemed like a spin track as John Bracewell took 9 wickets and Shastri took a 5-fer. Kapil and Hadlee both took 1 wkt each.

 

Total 10 wickets for Hadlee...8 for Kapil (understandable as Hadlee was a better bowler, also it was his hometurf).

1990 (after his golden run with ball was over)
First test...Kapil took 3 wickets in first inns, DNB in second as target was single digits. Hadlee bowled twice and took 7 wkts

Second test....rain affected test with almost 2.5 days of no cricket. No Indian pacer got a wicket..Hadlee took 3 while Danny Morrison took 5.

Third Test....Kapil and Hadlee both took 2 wickets...Danny Marrison got a 5fer, Atul Wassan took 4 wickets. Kapil struggled in second inns.

 

1994

Solitary test...Only got 2 wickets...Srinath and Morrison got 4fer.

 

Mostly his stats took a beating due to the 1990 and 1994 series when his bowling declined. He performed well in 1981 when he was younger.

On briefly looking at his stats in England...Kapil was doing well in England till 1982...after that he played a couple of tests in spinning pitches (where likes of Dilip Doshi, Ravi Shastri and Phil Edmonds dominated). Didn't check the matches after that, but looking at these stats we can't say that all 100% of pitches in England and NZ were pace friendly.

 

Also, Bowlers do have off days here and there....and that's where strong support bowlers can help by covering the performance. Kapil's support bowlers were Karsan Ghavri, Madan Lal and Manoj Prabhakar..none of them were what you call a threatening bowler. Hence, bad day or good, Kapil had no choice but to bowl overs.


Yeah, as mentioned, there is a lot of inconsistency where some good performances are mixed with poor ones esp. in his last 10 years … After every good performance, you would think that he would carry on longer with that but would mostly get into a long period of lull  … Talking about Shastri, if I recall correctly, there was a time where he too used to perform in one out of 5 or so games (esp. in ODIs) to hold on to his place.  He would get manhandled in a place like Sharjah but out of nowhere come up with a 5/15 or something in Aus.
 

Edited by zen
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On 3/27/2023 at 2:03 AM, singhvivek141 said:


Kapil also has an average of 24 in Australia (51 wickets in 11 matches), and 23 in WI (35 wkts in 9)

In Australian team he has bowled to the likes of Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Waugh borthers, David Boon...that's heck of a batting lineup.

Against WI he has bowled to Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Richie Richardson

Australia and WI were probably the best teams in Kapil's era...followed by England and others. So he was able to up his game against the strongest opposition and I think that matters a lot.
Infact his bowling average in 85 tests out of 131 (India + Aus + WI) was less than 26. This is the exact number of matched Hadlee played. These are very good numbers for an allrounder. 

 

Kapil till 1983 end was an exceptional bowler with decent batting ability. Post his knee injury in 1984 his bowling stocks declined while his batting average went up.


Kapil Till 31st Dec 1983 : Batting average 29.5, Bowling average 27.7 (Good stats for a bowling allrounder)
Kapil from 1st Jan 1984 till 31 Dec 1988 : Batting average 36.9, Bowling average 34.65 (became a batting allrounder)
Kapil from 1st Jan 1989 till retirement : Batting average 28.4, Bowling average 30.29 (average stats)

So Kapil's 15 year career, he was good for 10 years in either of the departments...it's only last 5 years where his perfomance was mediocre (which most of fans agree that he stretched his career well past his expiry date).

that was indeed him in a nutshell. bowling AR for first 1/3rd of career, semi-batting AR for middle 1/3rd, and bits-and-pieces for last 1/3rd

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