chasingthedon
International Regular
Depends what you mean by the best - in terms of numbers Kapil Dev is ahead, but Mankad was a much more dominant force in the Indian sides in which he played, so I would give it to Mankad.
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India's second-best all-rounder ever?
- Thread starter Arjun
- Start date
kingkallis
International Coach
Strange to see Binny, Madan Lal, Manoj 'Selfish' Prabhakar ahead of Irfan Pathan!
thierry henry
International Coach
Struggling to see how Pathan doesn't even make the poll tbh
I know a lot of people don't rate him that much but he's certainly more a "genuine all-rounder" than some others in the poll
I know a lot of people don't rate him that much but he's certainly more a "genuine all-rounder" than some others in the poll
thierry henry
International Coach
tbh I am itching to bring up Pathan's stats but apparently it's illegal on this forum 
Anyway, suffice to say I think he should make the list as he has done a decent job with the bat (more than enough on the batting side of things to qualify as an all-rounder) and of course, has always been a front-line bowler, even if his bowling has varied between "next Wasim Akram" and "next Murphy Sua".
Anyway, suffice to say I think he should make the list as he has done a decent job with the bat (more than enough on the batting side of things to qualify as an all-rounder) and of course, has always been a front-line bowler, even if his bowling has varied between "next Wasim Akram" and "next Murphy Sua".
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
awta,,
if you think kapil was just about numbers, you haven't followed his career enough....mankad was a top order batsman and was better technically, dev was a natural batsman who never gave enough attention to the discipline but played several significant innings...but as a bowler, kapil was much better and when you consider his athletic fielding, overall impact on the game, consistency and endurance(which was remarkable considering his workload), he is head and shoulders above any allrounder who ever played for india...
0RI0N
State 12th Man
---tbh I am itching to bring up Pathan's stats but apparently it's illegal on this forum
Anyway, suffice to say I think he should make the list as he has done a decent job with the bat (more than enough on the batting side of things to qualify as an all-rounder) and of course, has always been a front-line bowler, even if his bowling has varied between "next Wasim Akram" and "next Murphy Sua".
You still remember murphy sua?lol
Evermind
International Debutant
Clearly, you should take up knitting and give up on cricket.tbh I am itching to bring up Pathan's stats but apparently it's illegal on this forum
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Pathan averages over 45 with the ball against teams that aren't Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, though.tbh I am itching to bring up Pathan's stats but apparently it's illegal on this forum
Anyway, suffice to say I think he should make the list as he has done a decent job with the bat (more than enough on the batting side of things to qualify as an all-rounder) and of course, has always been a front-line bowler, even if his bowling has varied between "next Wasim Akram" and "next Murphy Sua".
His batting has been more than good enough for the role he's been selected in (well, except for when he opened the batting against Australia..) but he's been about as effective with the ball as Sourav Ganguly.
adharcric
International Coach
Pathan should still be in this list on the basis of his ODI performances.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Threads like this are generally treated as "Tests unless specifically stated otherwise" by most of CW TBH.
chasingthedon
International Regular
Before I started researching this stuff, I thought Kapil Dev was the best Indian all-rounder ever (actually the best Indian player ever). But I realised I was taking EVER to mean from the time since I started watching, which I think a lot of people do. In the series points articles, I found that Mankad was the top-ranked Indian player in 8 of the 11 series in which he played, and through the 70s and 80s Kapil Dev was top-ranked Indian in 12 of 25. I certainly agree an argument can be made for Kapil Dev being the best ever on several counts, and if you think that then that's fine with me, but I certainly wouldn't accept he's "head and shoulders" better than Mankad.
Most of the aspects of Kapil's game which you use to illustrate his superiority (athleticism, overall impact on the game, consistency, endurance) can only be seriously assessed by watching him play, so an assessment of the equivalent levels for Mankad can't be made.
So no, I don't think Kapil is just about numbers, and yes, I have followed his career closely. But with Mankad, unless you saw him play all we have to go on are numbers.
As do atleast a couple of people in this poll (and they also average lower with the bat than Pathan). We've not had that much of choice in all-rounders.
(Though for mine, Shastri >>> everyone else for 3rd place. He started as a specialist bowler and ended up more or less as a specialist opener who bowled a bit).