Kapil Dev- The fast bowler

I reckon he is quite underrated because of 2 main reasons

1- He carried on for far too long and was very average in the last 15-20 tests.
2- His average is poor for a "great" fast bowler.



He may be blamed for 1 but for # 2 i reckon we have to dig a bit deeper

a) He had to carry an attack full of "bowlers" who were only slightly better than part timers hence almost zero support.
b) He bowled on horrible pitches for fast bowling
c) He was very good in the first half a dozen years but due to the overload(caused by a and b) he suffered a few injuries which caused him to lose a bit of pace.

I haven't seen the best of Kapil Dev, but even at the very end of his career he used to be very very economical in ODIs.

PlanetPakistan wrote:

1- He carried on for far too long and was very average in the last 15-20 tests.
2- His average is poor for a "great" fast bowler.

1. Agreed - they kept him going so that he could pass Hadlee's mark, I think.
2. He was never fast. He was an FM swinger. Srinath was quicker.

Of the four great all-rounders of the eighties, I would say that as bowlers:

Imran > Hadlee >> Botham > Kapil

....and I'd only describe the first two as great bowlers.

If i am not mistaken 250 out of his 434 wickets came in the first 6 years of his career.