Should the next Kapil really stand up? Premium

Kapil Dev's unmatched genius in cricket has left a lasting legacy, with India still searching for the next all-rounder.

To say that Kapil Dev has spoiled successive generations of Indian cricket followers with his unmatched genius will be no exaggeration. More than four and a half decades since his stirring debut in Pakistan, Kapil remains India’s first, foremost and arguably only fast-bowling all-rounder, a phenom who could turn the course of a match with bat alone, ball alone, or just in the field — his celebrated catch to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final is a shining, but hardly solitary, example of his status as a game-changing fielder.

Exigencies of workload management following his immediate climb to both India’s shock and stock bowler in the wake of the retirements of the celebrated spin quartet not long after he broke through meant Kapil had to drop pace and conserve himself in national interest. That didn’t prevent him from stacking up a then world record 434 Test wickets when he bid adieu to cricket in 1994. Throw in 253 One-Day International wickets, 5,248 Test runs, 3,783 ODI runs and 64 and 71 catches respectively in the longer and shorter formats internationally, and the picture of a larger-than-life persona is complete, even if these impressive numbers can’t do justice to his natural athleticism and extraordinary skills.

Kapil’s retirement spawned the quest for the next Kapil Dev – unfortunate on those who were instantaneously labelled that, because there can only be one Kapil Dev. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, current chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan, among others, were bracketed in the ‘next Kapil’ category; predictably, none of them came close to matching the Haryana Hurricane, for no fault of theirs.

For a brief while, Hardik Pandya threatened to be that all-rounder in the Kapil mould – not the next Kapil, just the first Hardik Pandya. In just 13 months after his Test debut in July 2017, Pandya boasted a century and a five-wicket haul in his first 11 games. He could have gone on to make a difference with his power-packed batting and his intelligent fast bowling, but a frail and protesting body means Pandya is unlikely to add to his Test appearances.

His last five-day game was in September 2018, and he has informed the authorities that his red-ball career is all but over. What a shame. Pandya’s travails only serve to lend greater aura to Kapil – not that it was needed. A staggering 48,853 deliveries in First Class cricket, 14,947 balls in one-day games. Not to mention nearly 17,000 runs in the two formats put together. And Kapil hardly missed a game through injury. Truly, to paraphrase a commercial in which he appeared, Kapil da jawaab nahi.

India at least have Pandya, and maybe Shivam Dube, to don the seaming all-rounder’s garb in limited-overs internationals, but the quest for a like resource in Test matches continues. Forget about an out-and-out all-rounder, there is hardly anyone who can bowl seam-up, a far cry for about a decade from 1996 when Sourav Ganguly and, if the mood seized him, Sachin Tendulkar would mark out a run-up and tease batters with their skill, particularly in helpful conditions.

Kapil formed a terrific quartet of top-class all-rounders through the 1980s with Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. Each of them was special; Hadlee didn’t quite have the same numbers with the bat as his famed trio of counterparts, but many reckon he was the meanest bowler of them all and could play blistering knocks from time to time, if not with the same regularity as Kapil and Botham.