Kapil a true champion

Kapil Dev was a wonderful cricketer, a dashing match-winner whose smile brightened grounds and whose dynamic performances turned matches around in a few minutes. India was never subdued till he had taken his sweater, and never beaten till he had been removed. Beyond doubt, he is the most exciting player his vast country has produced in the last 25 years.

He belonged to an era of great all-rounders and lost nothing beside his contemporaries. He took wickets on the dust bowls of his country, appeared from the North as a musketeer, a knight in shining armour, brandishing a bat or a ball and running amok in a manner that spoke of the courteous past and not the pressing present.

Men of this sort tend to be remembered for their moments of brilliance and Kapil had plenty of these, not least his swashbuckling sixes that saved the follow-on against England as they landed upon the roof of a distant pavilion and all India roared its approval of the gladiator. But it is not these deeds that prove the greatness of the player any more than a couple of well-crafted jokes prove that a man is a brilliant wit.

Rather, it is Kapil's longevity that is the most convincing evidence of his standing; all those wickets, all those defiant innings, numerous catches around the bat and in the deep. For the cries of the crowd, the shouts of "sixer, sixer" whenever he appeared were hard earned. People do not give their hearts easily, but they knew their man, for Kapil was a true champion and needed them as they did him.

Actually, it was a catch that confirmed his place in the history books as well as in the affections of supporters. India was fortunate indeed that it was Kapil who ran hard after the ball that day at Lord's. Kapil, who spotted its flight and sensed immediately an opportunity to win a match, a World Cup final no less, and at Lord's against the overwhelming favourites from the Caribbean. No sooner had Viv Richards miscued than Kapil was after it. A dark, handsome figure dashing after the ball, fearless, not for an instant contemplating the consequences of a blunder. As the ground fell silent, Kapil reached and held the ball as if it had been lobbed by a chum in his garden. Then came the roar that has been his lifeblood; the sound of approbation that he yearned and missed when the quietness of retirement came upon him. At this moment cricket understood the sort of player Kapil had become. And India never forgot.

Accordingly, Kapil was a worthy winner of the award as his country's best player. But, then, Sunil [Gavaskar] and Sachin [Tendulkar] would also have been deserving victors and a fellow could as easily sing their praises. Sunny showed that Indian batsmen were brave and skillful and could stand against any bowling anywhere, no matter how fierce. He was a giant in a small frame, an inspiration to the the cricketers of his country. After Sunil there was no reason to feel inferior or afraid. For this alone he could have won, and never mind all those records and wonderful innings.

Sachin, too, might have been given the award for he is the Indian of this new postcolonial age -- well adjusted, no fury in his brain, a sportsman only, a player of a great game, an Indian proud and yet also a man of his world and his times. Of course, the pressures have been intense yet he continues to score runs and to bat as precious few have ever batted, as if the blade was part of his body, and still to remain unaffected by wealth, fame, fortune or luck. Sachin and Shane Warne are the cricketers of their time. Warne, the reviver of a lost art;, Tendulkar, the master of the old and the new; a most unusual combination. India can be proud of the brilliance and performances of this great trio.

Thanks to them, and their helpers, India has taken its place on the great arenas and at the great occasions of cricket, and has often prevailed. Pressed to choose between them, I would go for Sachin because I believe he is the finest player of them all. But let us not quibble. Kapil was favoured by the selectors, and, as all cricketers know, they are always right!!

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