The Kapil connundrum
SultanOfSwing
on Cricinfo.
The youngest to 100 Test wickets was India's Kapil Dev, who was 21
years 25 days old
when he reached his century in January 1980. Kapil was also the
fastest to 200
- 24 years 68 days old in March 1983, and 300 (the day after his 28th
birthday in January 1987).
Then why did he take 7 long years to take his last 134 wickets? Was it
because India were
playing fewer Tests between 1987 and 1994? Was it a loss of form?
Definitely not injuries,
because from what I've heard, Kapil never missed a single Test match
in his entire career,
due to injury. IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
in Kolkata (I can't recall
the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness. Can Indian
cricket lovers who can clearly
recall the era between 1987 and 1994 provide an answer to my queries?
PS - I had just started watching Test match cricket around 1985-86 and
remember that it was
a huge moment when Kapil reached 300 Test wickets. Never thought it
would take him so long
to reach 400 Test wickets and beyond.
Nirvanam
@g20g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, asla...@yahoo.co.in says...
>
>Just came across these stats on Kapil Dev, on the "Ask Steven" column
>on Cricinfo.
>
>The youngest to 100 Test wickets was India's Kapil Dev, who was 21
>years 25 days old
>when he reached his century in January 1980. Kapil was also the
>fastest to 200
>- 24 years 68 days old in March 1983, and 300 (the day after his 28th
>birthday in January 1987).
>
>Then why did he take 7 long years to take his last 134 wickets? Was it
>because India were
>playing fewer Tests between 1987 and 1994? Was it a loss of form?
>Definitely not injuries,
>because from what I've heard, Kapil never missed a single Test match
>in his entire career,
>due to injury. IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
>in Kolkata (I can't recall
>the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness. Can Indian
>cricket lovers who can clearly
>recall the era between 1987 and 1994 provide an answer to my queries?
I recall the hero being useless in the Tests v/s NZ but he did well in the
ODI in 90. In Pak he was kinda alright but that 89 tour had 4 Test draws!
He bowled well in 89 in WI where Sachin was supposed to make his debut. I
think he got a couple of 5fers in that 89 series in WI. And I'll also say
that that series was possibly the last series when Kapsy performed like
the a-r he was. In Aus in 91-92 he bowled well but his batting was quite
literally useless. Later that year in SA apart from THAT 129 he had
nothing else to write home about. And once India found Kumble-Raju-Chauhan
combining so awesomely to wash the yip yips in 93 it sealed the fate for
the amount of bowling Kapil would do in Tests...maybe 15 overs a Test max.
Immediately after Reliance Cup he had a god series v/s WI...he scored a
really good cent. After WI in 87 I don't recall us playing any other Test
tour till about the season started in 88-89 when NZ came here. That wasn't
a great series for Kapil. England in 1990 was pretty much close to a
disaster for Kapil the bowler.
>PS - I had just started watching Test match cricket around 1985-86 and
>remember that it was
>a huge moment when Kapil reached 300 Test wickets. Never thought it
>would take him so long
>to reach 400 Test wickets and beyond.
I think it is because of the time he took to get to 376 wkts (his next 25
came in the Aus series in 91-92) and the time he took to get from 401 to
434 is the main reason he cannot be considered as an ATG bowler in the
same breath of the other 2 a-r bowlers of his era - Hadlee and Imran. Both
Botham and Kapil just fell down so quickly and so bad plus the fact that
they continued to play inspite of their playing days as good as over meant
that they lose out on making the ATG list of bowlers.
Ravi
> Just came across these stats on Kapil Dev, on the "Ask Steven" column
> on Cricinfo.
>
> The youngest to 100 Test wickets was India's Kapil Dev, who was 21
> years 25 days old
> when he reached his century in January 1980. Kapil was also the
> fastest to 200
> - 24 years 68 days old in March 1983, and 300 (the day after his 28th
> birthday in January 1987).
>
> Then why did he take 7 long years to take his last 134 wickets? Was it
> because India were
> playing fewer Tests between 1987 and 1994? Was it a loss of form?
> Definitely not injuries
> in his entire career,
> due to injury. IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
> in Kolkata (I can't recall
> the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness.
Dropped by Gavaskar. He said Kapil played a bad stroke in the Calcutta
test (not sure) Gavaskar, for all his batting greatness, was a mean
guy in such matters.
By his own yardstick above, should never have played for India after
his 36* in 60 overs.
Mad Hamish
<asla...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>Just came across these stats on Kapil Dev, on the "Ask Steven" column
>on Cricinfo.
>
>The youngest to 100 Test wickets was India's Kapil Dev, who was 21
>years 25 days old
>when he reached his century in January 1980. Kapil was also the
>fastest to 200
>- 24 years 68 days old in March 1983, and 300 (the day after his 28th
>birthday in January 1987).
>
>Then why did he take 7 long years to take his last 134 wickets? Was it
>because India were
>playing fewer Tests between 1987 and 1994? Was it a loss of form?
He lost a bit of pace so was beating the batsman less often
His strike rate for his first 300 wickets was 58, for his last 134 it
was almost 76
>Definitely not injuries,
>because from what I've heard, Kapil never missed a single Test match
>in his entire career,
>due to injury.
that's a different thing from not having them and not being affected
by them.
Considering the other pace bowling options available to India for most
of his career him being affected by injury might still be a better
option than the other available bowlers.
prabhu
As famously discussed in these forums, Kapil was on the downswing post
England series 84-85. That was the one where he crossed 250.
Howzzat
<mgourishanka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 9, 5:26 pm, SultanOfSwing <aslazr...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
>
>
> or "Crapil" in RSC archives.
>
> Kapil's figures from 1978-84 are very different from those in the
> 1984-94 period. The difference has been ascribed to a back operation
> he underwent in 1984 after which he was unable to bowl the outswinger
> in his usual fashion. Leaving that conjecture aside, I remember he was
> classically side-on at the point of release and used to really swing
> his body around, something that he was unable to do later.
>
1984 was a knee operation for Kapil, his second. That reduced his pace
for sure. He mentions in his autobiography that the loss of his
outswinger was due to one-day cricket, where his standard outswinger
was at risk of being called a wide. He ended up just losing it, which
is really very surprising. As I have said on these forums before,
Kapil could have really benefited from a bowling coach, or even
another fast bowler to talk things over with. Another thing that
probably hurt him was the lack of competition for his place - without
his outswing he was still the best bowler in India by a country mile,
at least until Prabhakar came along and taught him a couple new
tricks.
Imran also claimed in his autobiography (IIRC written in 1982 when he
and Kapil were still very active and probably at their peaks as
bowlers) that while he thought Kapil was a fantastic talent, he was
unlikely to get any better. And it indeed turned out that way. Both
Kapil and Botham peaked early in their careers and then it was all
downhill (the odd series like Australia 91/92 notwithstanding). Unlike
Imran and particularly Hadlee who got better with age, even when his
pace dropped off.
Uday Rajan
> On Nov 9, 5:26 pm, SultanOfSwing <aslazr...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
> >
> > IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
> > in Kolkata (I can't recall
> > the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness.
>
> Dropped by Gavaskar. He said Kapil played a bad stroke in the Calcutta
> test (not sure) Gavaskar, for all his batting greatness, was a mean
> guy in such matters.
Kapil and Sandip Patil were dropped for getting out to lofted shots on
the last day of the Delhi Test against England in 1984-85. Formally,
Gavaskar as captain attended selection committee meetings, but was not
supposed to have a vote. And yet most people (including me) certainly
believe that Gavaskar was behind the dropping. It was indeed a petty
act.
> By his own yardstick above, should never have played for India after
> his 36* in 60 overs.
Well, it wasn't Gavaskar's fault they kept picking him for odos. It
took him a long time to adapt to odos, his first significant odo
innings perhaps coming in 1983 against the WI at Berbice. A 90 by
Gavaskar and a quickfire 72 by Kapil led to an India's first odo win
over the WI, to be repeated twice during the WC that year.
Howzzat
Quickfire 72 is an understatement. 72* off 36 balls, in those days
when a run a ball was unheard of, against the WI quartet at their peak
was really something else.
higgs
> Just came across these stats on Kapil Dev, on the "Ask Steven" column
> on Cricinfo.
>
> The youngest to 100 Test wickets was India's Kapil Dev, who was 21
> years 25 days old
> when he reached his century in January 1980. Kapil was also the
> fastest to 200
> - 24 years 68 days old in March 1983, and 300 (the day after his 28th
> birthday in January 1987).
>
Kapil wasn't actually the fastest to any of these landmarks, just the
youngest (for 100 & 200).
Kapil took 25 Tests to hit 100 wickets, an amazing number of Tests in
1 year for that period.
The fastest to 100 was Lohmann (16 Tests).
By way of comaprison, Botham took 19 Tests.
Kapil took 50 tests to reach 200, so his next 25 tests were over a
period of 3 years
The fastest to 200 was Grimmett (36 Tests).
Botham took 41.
Kapil took 83 Tests to reach 300, so those next 33 tests took around 4
years.
The fastest to 300 was Lillee (56 Tests).
Botham took 72 tests.
> Then why did he take 7 long years to take his last 134 wickets? Was it
> because India were
> playing fewer Tests between 1987 and 1994? Was it a loss of form?
> Definitely not injuries,
> because from what I've heard, Kapil never missed a single Test match
> in his entire career,
> due to injury. IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
> in Kolkata (I can't recall
> the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness. Can Indian
> cricket lovers who can clearly
> recall the era between 1987 and 1994 provide an answer to my queries?
>
I think a combination of all the above.
Kapil certainly played an amazing number of Tests in that first year,
his contemporary Botham only played 19 tests in 2 years.
By way of more recent comparison, Steyne took 100 wickets in 20 Tests,
which took him 3 years
Higgs
prabhu
>
> > On Nov 9, 5:26 pm, SultanOfSwing <aslazr...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> > > IIRC, Kapil was once dropped from the squad for a Test
> > > in Kolkata (I can't recall
> > > the year) for reasons not related to form or fitness.
>
> > Dropped by Gavaskar. He said Kapil played a bad stroke in the Calcutta
> > test (not sure) Gavaskar, for all his batting greatness, was a mean
> > guy in such matters.
>
> Kapil and Sandip Patil were dropped for getting out to lofted shots on
> the last day of the Delhi Test against England in 1984-85. Formally,
> Gavaskar as captain attended selection committee meetings, but was not
> supposed to have a vote. And yet most people (including me) certainly
> believe that Gavaskar was behind the dropping. It was indeed a petty
> act.
>
> > By his own yardstick above, should never have played for India after
> > his 36* in 60 overs.
The morning of day 5 was one of the few segments I didnt watch in that
Delhi test. Wisden says that Kapil holed out after having lofted a six
just the previous delivery. Given that Edmonds and Pocock had a
tremendous stranglehold on the Indian batting at that time, with the
runs totally dried up, Kapil tried to blast his way out and lasted
barely 6 deliveries including that 6. Knowing Gavaskar the ultra-
defensive captain, the decision to drop Kapil comes as no surprise at
all. No captain enjoys the last 4 wickets falling in a heap when the
top order had battled 90 odd overs for survival.
This is not to absolve SMG of hypocrisy - after all going into Kanpur
Test, he had 131 off 7(18.7) innings while Kapil had 211 off 5(42.2)
and still failed. There was no question of smG sacking himself for
poor form. But yes, at Delhi he certainly was pissed off at Kapil.
Andrew Dunford
"higgs" <kenh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c2507e16-c8ef-499d...@r14g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
Bear in mind that after his first series against England, Steyn was dropped
for South Africa's next 13 matches until recalled to play NZ more than a
year later.
Andrew