Exclusive: By Nelson Lewis, Bahrain - Daijiworld.com

July 8: Many cricket enthusiasts compare the present Indian all-rounder, Irfan Pathan with Kapil Dev, the super all-rounder who played for India during the end of 1970s and ended his career in the mid-1990s.  Though Irfan Pathan is a good and useful all-rounder, he cannot be compared at all with the effervescent Kapil Dev, who is an all time legend and one wonders whether he will be able to scale such lofty heights.

During the pre-partition days the fastest bowler India ever produced was Mohammed Nissar - a genuinely fast bowler who even tormented top quality international batsmen.  His bowling partner used to be Lala Amarsingh, who was a fast-medium bowler with a short run-up, whose career ended prematurely with his early death at the age of 29.  Thereafter, till 1978, India did not have any fast or fast-medium bowler and then came Kapil Dev on the scene.

Kapil Dev was a super all-rounder along with three other contemporaries on the scene in 1980s and earlier half of 1990s, namely Ian Botham, Sir Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan.  Imran Khan was the fastest, followed by Sir Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham.  I wonder if there will be another all-rounder in India with Kapil Dev’s accomplishments. 

He was a good bowler with an effective out-swinger and did not concede much runs.  Later in his career, he also bowled in-swingers.  However, he was a decent bowler who did not bowl short pitch deliveries to cower or intimidate them.  Probably, this may have been because there were no other fast bowlers to support him.  Therefore, he did not want his team to face the flak or put them into jeopardy while batting due to his indiscretion. 

He was a neat striker of the ball and very aggressive and domineering on opposition bowlers.  His batting was such that, on his day, he could single-handedly change the complexion of the game.  Though Sunil Gavaskar was in the side, opposing teams feared Kapil Dev, because he was a prolific scorer who could notch up runs at a phenomenal rate, thus messing the rhythm and averages of bowlers. 

Moreover, when things went right for him, he was capable of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.  Who can forget his marathon unbeaten innings of 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup, when everyone had given up hopes of India winning with over half the side out for a paltry score. 

Sadly, Kapil Dev did not do justice to his immense potentials by batting responsibly and with application.  Otherwise, he would have scored more runs and had healthier averages in tests.  Stroke play was a plaything for this cricketer and he would hit sixes with immense ease and the only overseas cricketer who was more merciless on bowlers during that era was Vivian Richards and in India, Sandip Patil came closest. 

Finally, he was a fielder par excellence, especially in the outfield covering a lot of ground to save vital runs and cut off boundaries.  One of the catches that he took in the final match of the 1983 Prudential World Cup to dismiss Vivian Richards by running backwards is just unbelievable and could be considered as one of the greatest catches of all times.

Kapil Dev is the most exciting cricketer that India has produced, because this bubbly cricketer was like two or three players with different talents rolled into one.  He was excellent in batting, bowling and fielding – an asset to the team during his heydays.  There was never a dull moment when he was either at the crease or on the field.  Moreover, his running between the wickets was very good.  This athletic cricketer never lost a single day’s game due to injuries.

Though Kapil Dev took 434 test wickets, that record has been bettered by Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, but they lacked his batting and fielding credentials.

After Kapil Dev retired from cricket, he has not kept strong touch with the game and plays a lot of golf and it is said that he is good at it.