Azhar and Kapil

Being an ardent Cricket viewer and in my own way, analyzer of the game, I have been greatly fascinated by the heroes that India produced.Strangely enough,I have always had an inclination of liking Kapil more than Sunil Gavaskar, Vishwanath more than Vengsarkar and to some extent even Vinod Kambli more than say any other Indian cricketer more successful than him.


Azhar

Records speak for themselves, I agree, but more than anything the joy of watching Azhar in full song for a session would be preferable to watch a 50+ test avg bat scratch around all day.
People say he was a "tyrant" in more ways than one, fixing matches and all that.While I agree with the fact he has erred, I still think he has played some amazing innings for India, and mind you when the chips were down, really down!!

I vividly remember the India tour of SA 1997 .We played a 3 match test series there.We were massacred quite to put it mildly in the first test at Durban.100 and 66 all out!! Thats what we managed in each of the two innings.Test 2 was in the beautiful venue of Cape town, with the wonderful setting of table mountains in the background,it makes for very good viewing and the good weather makes playing cricket a very nice experience.It was anything but nice for India though.
SA scored 520 odd.. I guess 529 in their first Innings which meant that we were on the back foot yet again.We were 50 for 5 I guess when Azhar joined Sachin in the middle.In what would be one of the most scintillating partnerships ever, Sachin and Azhar put on more than 200 runs for the sixth wicket in a little over say 30 overs!! Azhar scored a breathtaking 115, bringing up his century in 85 balls
Such was the talent of the man.He has played innings better than that early on his career, but for someone like me who got to see him after 1992, this was the best.He played shots all round the wicket.He is not a "leg-side player" as people think he is.Its just that he is good on the leg side that we dont really notice his off side play.
I think he is one talent who hasnt done his talent any justice at all.A test average of 45 is just not good enough for a player of Azhar' s class.He should be right up there with the Sachins, Laras and Dravids with a 55+ average.

Kapil Dev Nikhanj

That is his full name!!
It was a pity to see the treatment that BCCI meted out to this great cricketer.His portrait was
removed from the Mohali Cricket Stadium for a period of time,reason being that Kapil had become a part of the ICL,the offshoot rival cricket league that was started by Subhash Chandra and his Zee network two years ago.We are the world's largest democracy with great freedom for taking decisions and this happens to a cricketing great who does what we wants to.

How will siding with the ICL make the man any different?He is greatest cricketer ever India has produced without a doubt.I know a lot of people including me would be thinking of Sachin,but the fact is that under the circumstances Kapil played,to transform India from a spin bowling unit underperforming team to world champions takes a lot of character,talent and more precisely GREATNESS.

He is probably the most underrated cricketer in teh world today.When people talk of all rounders, they say Botham,Imran and then maybe Kapil.While not denying teh greatness of the other two all rounders, I would like to say that Kapil has achieved greater laurels for India.

We need to look at the issue at hand more closely.Botham's distinction is that he transformed the English into a fighting unit who started believing in themselves,more importantly,started beating Australia! He won the Ashes for England almost single handedly in 1981.Its called "Botham's Ashes".

Imran Khan was a great leader of men.He was the world cup winning captain for Pakistan and more importantly he knew how to get best out of a bunch of erratic, but extremely talented cricketers.He was in more ways than one , a great motivator as well as being a great all rounder in his own right.

Kapil started off under Bedi in the 1970's.It was an era when Sunil Gavaskar was opening the bowling!It was the spin combo of Venkat,Bedi,Prasanna and Chandra who were doing the work for India.Under such circumstances, he was literally ploughing a lone furrow.Without any support from the other end,not having any pitches "made for him" in India, he managed to take 434 wickets at less than 30 runs per wicket means that he was a very very good bowler.Playing almost all the tests in his 18 year old career meant that he was really fit.His batting was adventurous most times,but he was reliable.People still remember the 175 he scored against Zimbabwe at tunbridge wells during the 83 world cup when India were tottering at 17 for 5.He is still the only World Cup winning captain for India.He also was a very very good fielder, the running catch to get rid of King Viv in the 83 WC Final is regarded as many as the turning pint of the final.

Still he is made to cry on television,people thought he fixed matches.People make fun of the way he speaks English!!

Gimme a break.

All hail Kapil Paaji!!