yes Botham was a brilliant slip fielder as his catches of '`120' shows.but when some body takes 120 catches in 102 tests it is more of a chance of him fielding at slips than any where else. but i am not denying that he was good any where else.but Kapil was slightly better over all fielder. he was very good at pick and throw in one stretch from long on or long off etc, i have seen him take catch running back wards, seen him take catch diving to his right, seen him leap front wards to take catch of his own bowling etc. he was a brilliant runner between the wkts too in that he never got run out in his entire career.Botham was a gun fielder everywhere. Unreal slipper and great in the outfield. Rocket arm.
There really isn't much between these two, but I think I just prefer Botham as a cricketer. Botham bats top 6. Kapil doesn't. That's the difference for me.
but batting with lower order is a real disadvantage for a batsman as far as i am concerned.the batsman will have to score majority of the team runs by himself. tail enders being technically unsound means he can run out of partners much easily than a top order batsman.yet Kapil scored all these runs at a str: rate of +20 and at an avg: of only 2.49 behind when compared to Botham means he is better for me. any way each to his own.no regrets. but what data i quoted is more than enough for me to believe Kapil was much better.yes i don't neglect the fact that conventional belief is that Botham is better. but i don't believe in conventional beliefs.for me crystal clear facts are more important.hence i firmly stick to my points.