One-armed bandit

[Laaloo]

As his team-mates collapsed and Donald raged, Kapil Dev took the fight to South Africa First there was the motorcade through Durban. And a few days later, a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Then two drawn Tests. Two more Tests remained, and in between India lost the one-day series 2-5. By the time the team arrived in Port Elizabeth, as we prepared to bid farewell to 1992, some of the gloss had already been taken off the Indian challenge. Allan Donald was quoted as saying that Indians ran from fast bowling. His 12 wickets in Port Elizabeth ensured a South African win with a day to spare, but it was the batting of Kapil Dev in the second innings that remains in the memory. He made 129 - the next highest score was 17 - which, along with VVS Laxman's 167 in Sydney and Tiger Pataudi's 148 at Headingley, must rate as among India's best centuries in lost causes. The key was attack, and there were some of the finest drives you could hope to see on a cricket field. Kapil's generous back-lift and full follow-through sent the fast bowlers boundary-wards, and if you ignored the context for a while - and cricket is famous for elevating a phase of attacking batting or mesmerising bowling above even the result of the match - it was the most exciting counterattack. None of the top six got to double figures, and when Kapil came in at 27 for 5 his first task was to stem the rot. The next morning he made 96 of 144 playing with an injured right hand. It was thrilling stuff. Here is the scorecard of this match: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63588.html Kapil :adore:

[Lurker]

Suresh Menon now gets to be the scribe I shall look forward to the most on CI, rest of them can go eff themselves. Aside from Ayaz Menon of course, who also picked Kapil as the character behind most memorable cricket memory. I remember Donald mentioning after the series how noone had ever hit his deliveries harder. This from a bowler who had played county cricket for ages. Of course this at the hands of a guy, pun intentional, who was essentially one handed. What a player!! (And they worry about Sehwag's strike rate lol )

[Jersey #10]

Sachin has done this so many times, it's not even funny... but yet again, Kapil dev fought when it was 31-6...

[teacup]

It is no coincidence that Kapil has featured prominently in most of India's memorable moments in cricket. The guy was a maverick with both bat and ball and had an uncanny ability to play at his best when India needed it the most.

[Lurker]

It is no coincidence that Kapil has featured prominently in most of India's memorable moments in cricket. The guy was a maverick with both bat and ball and had an uncanny ability to play at his best when India needed it the most.

Indeed. What I find odd about the two picks - his innings in South Africa and his bowling in Pakistan - is that both these moments would not even rank amongst the best by Kapil's fans! His fans would probably go for his century in West Indies, 175*, 4 sixes off Hemmings, innings in Benson Hedges semis and bowling in finals etc etc etc. It is almost as if he left some kind of memory for every type of fan. You like ferocious hitting? well check his innings in West Indies. You like swing bowling. Check his bowling in Australia which Ian Chappel rated as best swing bowling. You like innings building, look at 175* or Tied test. You like fielding, look at the catch in 83 world cup finals. You like lone ranger show, look at his 9-83. Doubt there is/has/will be any player with that kind of range.

[The Outsider]

A post of mine from an earlier thread :

I am not very well versed in my Zoology and Taxamony, so won't be able to comment on the beastliness or lack thereof of Kapil Dev. However, as a destructive batsman Sehwag is the only one who can compare to Kapil from Indian cricket. Some of his innings are of course part of folklore like the 175 against Zimbabwe and his 77 at Lords' where he hit 4 consecutive sixers to save the follow on. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Due to poor TV coverage and crappy journalism, our cricketers before the 90s have lost out on so much of well deserved fame. As a 23 year old, Kapil blasted 89 off 55 deliveries at Lords' and was on his way to the fastest ever test hundred. He scored 89 out of the 117 runs scored while he was at the crease and is said to have hooked and pulled Botham and Willis into desperation. Wisden wrote :

Although he fell short of the record then, it would be surprising if he does not break it on some occasion in his career, so quick is his eye, so clean his hitting, so laughing and cavalier his manner.

He immediately came out to bowl and picked up 3 wickets in England's second innings and ended up with 8 wickets and 130 runs in the match. Wisden wrote about that passage of play :

By his own admission, India's position in their first innings at Lord's was the most awkward he faced: hounded by Bob Willis and Botham, India were 45 for five wickets. Kapil Dev had to be circumspect, but clearly the chafing shackles were going to be thrown off at the next opportunity. That came on the fourth evening, after Dilip Vengsarkar had worn down England's bowling but India were still in arrears in the follow-on. Kapil Dev then hit 89 out of the 117 runs which India added in fifteen overs. Test cricket can have seldom seen such exuberance. His runs might have come off even fewer than 55 balls if Dilip Doshi had not been the last man in and Kapil Dev forced to neglect some runs in order to keep the strike. When he finished off his evening's work by taking England's first three wickets in four overs, he had enjoyed as glorious a session of play as any immortal of the game.

In the very same series, he was on the verge of another faster than run a ball hundred at the Oval and made 97 off 93. He was of course Man of the Series having outdone an in form Botham at his home. Unsurprisingly, he was named the Wisden cricketer of the year for those performances. Sportstar ran a full length feature on the his exploits which are the only memories I have left of the innings apart from the sporadic radio commentary. The very next year he scored a faster than run a ball hundred against Holding, Marshall, Garner, and Roberts - perhaps the best fast bowling attack to have ever played in tandem. Just to show it was no fluke, he almost repeated the feat a couple of tests later when he was dismissed for 98 off 97 deliveries. With a bit more luck, he could have had 4 faster than run a ball test hundreds within a space of few months. Then there are two terribly underrated centuries of his - one in the tied Chennai test where India were struggling to save the follow on and in his own words Kapil decided to play "responsibly", possibly also to do with the fact that he was dropped from the test team a year back for playing an irresponsible shot even though he was a bowling allrounder. The result was a follow saving effort of 119 at a strike rate of 86. The striking feature of the innings was that even with the spinners in operation for a long time, he did not hit a single six. All his strokes were on the ground - 21 of them reaching the fence. It set up one of the greatest tests in history but the knock gets overshadowed by Jones and Gavaskar's innings. The second was once again against the West Indies in the Narendra Hirwani test match. The pitch was not only a rank turner, but was totally up and down as well and playing fast bowlers was not easy either. India were struggling at 150/5 when Kapil turned the match around scoring 109 of the 157 runs while he was at the crease at a strike rate of 90. It was again the temepered approach which stood out during this innings. Nothing was hit in the air. His square drives and on drives were just amazing on a two paced up and down wicket where playing drives was the most difficult thing to do. That driving was bettered at Port Elizabeth where he scored 129 out of a team total of 215 coming at number 7. The innings made a cut in the Wisden top 100 despite the obvious bias of those rankings against the losing side. Donald and Schultz were at the top of their game at the time. There were times when one felt there might be an outside chance of India pulling off a miracle win during the innings. And not meaning to be disresepctful to some of the names bandied around on this thread, no one except Sehwag can come close the destructive batting that Kapil brought and mentioning names like Yuvraj and Khurasia is frankly a joke.

[Texan]

Anyone has videos of this innings or any other Kapil innings (other than what is posted on youtube)?

[achilles]

Kapil Paaji is the greatest allrounder Indian cricket has ever produced :adore:

[Lurker]

A post of mine from an earlier thread :

Thats a terrific write-up Shwetabh. Brings out the devastating nature of Kapil's batting as good as any other. The innings you mentioned, in England for example, would be the highlight of anyone's career and a player would be lucky to play an innings like that once in a lifetime. To find Kapil playing such innings on so many occassions just beggars beleive, specially in an era where a hard hitting batsman like Srikkanth would score at 65 SR(or thereabouts). And to think he was an all-rounder!

Kapil Paaji is the greatest allrounder Indian cricket has ever produced

Greatest all-rounder ever, Indian or non-Indian combined. :hatsoff:

[achilles]

^ Partially, coz he played when the best did - Imran & Botham. And all these guys were pretty much even-stevens all their playing careers.

[teacup]

There are three distinct impressions of Kapil Dev that no one will ever forget. His walk into the ground with the bat - unruly hair, no arm guard, first few steps in a jog, windmill rotation of his arm holding the bat, a quick look back at the crowd behind him and a collective roar in response from the stands; his Natraja impersonation when playing the hook shot and his bowling action - a steady clap from the crowd as he starts his run-up, the side-on action with his head arching back, his cocked wrists and the uncoiling of his arms as he delivers the ball.

[The Outsider]

Thats a terrific write-up Shwetabh. Brings out the devastating nature of Kapil's batting as good as any other. The innings you mentioned, in England for example, would be the highlight of anyone's career and a player would be lucky to play an innings like that once in a lifetime. To find Kapil playing such innings on so many occassions just beggars beleive, specially in an era where a hard hitting batsman like Srikkanth would score at 65 SR(or thereabouts). And to think he was an all-rounder!

Thanks Lurker - always good to know that my recollection of some of Kapil's memories can bring a vote of confidence from a die hard Kapil fan like you! I simply cannot fathom the manner in which Kapil's batting has been underrated - from my living memory I would call him the harbinger of the Sehwag and Gilchrist school of batting. Obviously, he does not have the average to boast off as the other two, but besides Miller I cannot think of any batsman who would pulverize the opposition into complete submission like Kapil would do. Just to expand a bit about the knock being discussed in the OP, it was a terrible track which could not be classified as the typical quick wickets in South Africa. It was terribly two paced with uneven bounce and the manner in which Kapil was driving during that innings beggared belief. It's one thing to score an super quick century on a flat wicket, but to replicate it on a two paced wicket, where the drive is one of the most difficult strokes to play, just puts the awe inspiring stroke play into a completely different context. There were cover driven and mid on driven boundaries during the innings where the ball literally reared off a good length and hit pretty much near the handle of his bat. As good as his bowling was - and it was pretty freaking brilliant on it's own, my fondest memories are of Kapil, the batsman. For the manner in which he decimated the WI pace quartet could not be replicated by anyone - yes the Gavaskars and Chappells brought around respect, but never fear. I can't remember the exact quote now, obviously but after the run a ball hundred at Port of Spain, Andy Roberts said something to the effect that Clive Lloyd had warned the bowling attack of his destructiveness before the series, but after getting him out cheaply on a few occasions they had believed it was all hype till he hammered the best bowling attack possibly to have ever played on a cricket field and at that point in Andy Roberts' words there was no planning we could have done to stop him. It is these kind of praises from some of the best sportsmen that show me a player's worth rather than running meaningless queries on statsguru.

[Texan]

There are three distinct impressions of Kapil Dev that no one will ever forget. His walk into the ground with the bat - unruly hair' date=' no arm guard, first few steps in a jog, windmill rotation of his arm holding the bat, a quick look back at the crowd behind him and a collective roar in response from the stands; his Natraja impersonation when playing the hook shot and his bowling action - a steady clap from the crowd as he starts his run-up, the side-on action with his head arching back, his cocked wrists and the uncoiling of his arms as he delivers the ball.[/quote'] Also, when he came out to bat, he only used helmets without wisor even when ones with wisor were available. He was amazingly talented as a batsman and Sunny Gavaskar keeps mentioning that had he paid more attention to his batting, he could easily get into the team on batting alone.

[teacup]

Also' date=' when he came out to bat, he only used helmets without wisor even when ones with wisor were available. He was amazingly talented as a batsman and Sunny Gavaskar keeps mentioning that had he paid more attention to his batting, he could easily get into the team on batting alone.[/quote'] I always felt he threw his wicket away when easy runs were there for the taking. It was as if he didn't care unless the situation was desperate.

[lonestarranger]

I always felt he threw his wicket away when easy runs were there for the taking. It was as if he didn't care unless the situation was desperate.

QFT.