The Holding Willey Report that has done an in-depth study and compiled details about who rates as India’s top test player is continuing to invite interest, scrutiny and debate. As we have already reported, the report rates Rahul Dravid at the best ever and most controversially puts Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at numbers 4 and 3 respectively.

So what about the veterans of Indian cricket who were playing around the time of India’s only World cup victory in ODI cricket? Well Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are also part of the top 5, at numbers 2 and 5 respectively. According to the report, Gavaskar is at number two because of the paradigm shift he brought to Indian cricket. The report says, "Indian cricket had a spine operation in 1971 and the procedure was called Sunil Manohar Gavaskar. The effects of the self belief that set in thereafter are still being felt.”

The report describes his batting style as, “A rock solid defence, the ability to concentrate for long periods of time without any distraction and an absolute bloody mindedness about giving his wicket away were new qualities in the Indian cricket psyche when Gavaskar burst into the scene with one of the most spectacular debut series of all time. And it's not like he was shy of scoring runs either; perhaps the world is yet to see a batsman as hungry as Gavaskar was right through his career."

The report calls Kapil Dev India’s greatest all rounder, which he undoubtedly was and says that he was also responsible for a paradigm shift in Indian cricket. The report however puts him at No5 because his "big heart was perhaps not complemented well by his overly cavalier spirit. He won India just 2 Tests with sheer all-round genius, and a few with important contributions (averaged 18 with the ball and 33 with the bat in matches India won).

The report thinks that Kapil was the most talented but least impressive from among the all round quartet of Imran Khan , Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee who were his contemporaries. It says that “Despite perhaps being the most talented amongst his three illustrious peers (Botham, Imran, Hadlee), his overall results were the least impressive of the four.”

The report however calls him ‘hugely influential’ for “his 219 wickets in India (at 26) and for making India competitive abroad with his opening bowling”.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: