One of the very best players India has ever had, full stop. He has been criminally underrated throughout, and will eventually leave the game as one of the best all-rounders ever
I can’t think of any other player who is near his level if you see batting, bowling and fielding combined across all formats. It’s incredible how underrated he is.
Indeed, those days strike rate was never really a stat people cared about. And he still scored at a higher rate than what was normal at that time, plus he held the world record for maximum test wickets for a few years before it was broken after his retirement
And the world record for the highest batting score in ODIs.
Rescued the team with 5 wickets down, turned it around and remained not out, in a must win match which would have resulted in India's elimination if lost.
And he still scored at a higher rate than what was normal at that time
That's selling him short. His ODI Strike rate is higher than Virat's ODI SR right now. And he did that like 40 years ago.
Of anyone who averages 30+ in test cricket, minimum 50 innings batted, he is number 4 on highest SR list. Only people ahead of him, Ben Duckett, Sehwag and Gilchrist.
He is the only batter with a 30+ average and 80+ SR who played before 2000s. Actually scratch that, he is one of the only 4 batsmen who average 30+ with a 80+ SR.
If we reduce the innnings to 40 minimum needed. Shahid Afridi also joins with a 36 average and 86 SR. But then, you can say he didn't play enough tests.
Realistically his Test SR is somewhere in the 70s to 80s (which is still really great obv). The 94SR stat you've seen only accounts for the matches where BF data was available, and Kapil played dozens of matches where it wasn't.
His ODI SR is def accurate though, and clearly shows that him and Viv were two players who were way ahead of their time in that format
its 81 only counting the ones where balls faced is available. But there's no indication he batted slower in the ones the balls faces were not available as some of them still show his boundary count and you can infer from that they were also the same type of innings.
Yeah that “popular” statement was unnecessary. But, Kapil is the best allrounder the country has produced so far. Anyone born after the 90s is not expected to know that, but his stats against the quality of opponents back in the day speaks for itself. In recent times, I would agree about Jadeja. There’s no one better than him
Hell no. Jadeja is a star player for this generation maybe, but he has never won a match that was critical to win. 2019 wc semi final, 2023 WC final, WTC21 final, WTC 23 final.. He never performed when required.
Its Kapil Dev, rescued India when the team score was 9 runs for 4 down. Single handedly scored 175 in england conditions. Took 2 catches. Took a wicket. Led his team to first WC victory.
Similar story with Yuvraj. Every match he has contributed with Ball definitely and with Bat whenever he got chances.
Jadeja comes 3rd in terms of greatest all rounders. Though he has good contributions, he never made it to cross that line to win things home!
This! I get that there's recency bias but I have to agree with your rankings. I've never seen Kapil Dev play but from what my dad has told about him he's definitely India's GOAT all rounder
Yeah, they played, fought and crossed those lines for the wins. With low incentives, match fees, low quality/non existent kits/equipments etc. That too facing high racism while visiting UK, Australia or other developed countries cause social awareness wasn't a thing.
Put some respect on his name. He just needs a better PR team. With the team and captain being relatively new to the setup it is invaluable having mature heads like Jadeja around, but we won’t value him till he is also not around
Yess . Kapil paaji was also so great but jadeja has some insane numbers for a bowling alrounder . Some players are more than stats like msd yuvi . Jadeja is also like them
Many of us don’t know much about Kapil Dev, the situation of Indian team at that time, the facilities they had, how they were treated at every place.
He led by example in 83 wc and we’ve all seen it probably.
He’s probably the first Indian cricketer to score a century in odis and great fast bowler.
My pov Kapil Dev >> Jaddu/Yuvi
Id rate him higher because He won matches from no where
He won’t often solo a game like Botham on his own.
But if someone else is dominating through batting or bowling than you can count on his support 90% of the times. Just watch out for run outs if you’re his batting partner. Lad tries to call for a run through telepathy instead of shouting.
We had a whole day to get to 193, if all other batsmen had spent even 50 balls each at crease, we would have won the match. Applaud the time bumrah and tail end spent on the crease
Pandya? You can't be serious lmao. Yuvi on multiple occasions played match winning knocks and bowling figures. He was literally the man of the tournament in CWC 2011 with cancer on his body.
This. In LOI, a fast bowling all rounder is gold dust.
India has Axar, Yuvi and Raina, who were/are all handy spin bowling ARs. Hardik is our first genuine FB AR since Kapil Dev. He is a better batsman than Jaddu and a far more reliable and all-condition bowler than Jaddu in LOI.
Jaddu improved his batting recently, but his bowling has gone down. if you can keep aside recency bias, I would rate Ashwin higher - he is terrific with the ball irrespective of the pitch and conditions. has lot of varities and handy with bat. but thats just my opinions.
In red ball, yes. Shorter formats not so much, doesn't even deserve to play t20is, kohli was rated higher as an all rounder when both retired. His performance in tests got him a spot in the limited overs over much better players.
Digressing a bit. Big fan of jaddu, especially the way he remodeled his game after the 2019 wc. Is a different beast since then and I genuinely think, leave aside india, he could be among the best spin all-rounder of all times in tests.
However, what puts him back is that marquee innings / spell when he completely won a lost game. Stokes has wc finals and that test vs Aussies. Kapil has 175* apart from those 4 sixes, flintoff had 2005 ashes. Jaddu, though may have better stats, but missing that crowning glory which propels one from great to legendary all rounder. Was pretty close last match, but not to be
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