He's the closest one to the good at everything that you asked for. Very good bowler, good counterattacking lower order bat, by all accounts an excellent fielder. The captaincy is actually the most dubious one as he wasnt some master tactician, but hey still inspired India to an upset WC.
He was somewhat like a jack of all trades master at none. As you pointed out a good bowler, effective lower order batsman, good fielder, though emphasis for this comparison was in the slips which carries more value in tests, and unsure about the captaincy. He just doesn't stand out in any area.
Keith was much closer, but he never captained Australia, and I have heard that expression before, re captaincy. As far as 3 way players go though, he was among the very best. Top order batsman, opening bowler, top flight slip fielder.
Kapil fielded in the slips a LOT and took some blinders even in my time of watching cricket since 1990 or so.
I genuinely don't recall him there, but take you at your word. Doesn't change the fact though that he wasn't great at any of the primary disciplines
Kapil Dev was James Anderson quality in bowling. Not ATG but close.
Close ATG?No way,I can say 25 fast bowler better than dev and 30 bowler better than dev,imran will be far far better choice than dev,Keith as well or hadlee as well.It’s like saying broad is a close ATG,ok bowler but close ATG ,no way.Not a fan of Anderson but Anderson is a better bowler than dev,200 more wickets at difference of average of more than 3 is enough to prove it.Anderson from 2010s to till now has had similar number of wickets of dev at an average of 24 but even without it Anderson’s overall career stats as a bowler is still superior.
If you are going by Stats, Chris Cairns is a better cricketer than Kapil Dev.. In both formats. Lol.
Is it time to bring the fact dev averages 39 with the ball in England in 22 innings?
Because most of these names fall into ATG category.
Sobers - if you dont include captaincy
I don't even understand what your argument is here.
On what basis would you exclude Sobers captaincy and how was Kapil's captaincy objectively better than Sir Garry's?
I didn't say he was alltime great, I said he is ATVG ( and a great of his times), then what is the point of posting ATG names?
Kapil is a WC winning captain, which changed the perception about the team. And a milestone in the sports history of the country.
You’re right sobers beats Hammond mainly as a bowler tbh,Hammond might be a bit better fielder even though sobers was one of the best ever fielder as well,sobers will be a bit ahead as a batsman because of the twos difference against facing fast bowler ,Hammond was a better player of spin though but the difference is very less.
Generally were speaking of Tests, and additionally that's why I ask what's the criteria as being seen as a good captain. Lloyd won two, and there are many that doesn't consider him to be a great captain.
