Over to you - responses

Who is your Indian cricketer of the century?

Name: Bhaskar
Comment: Sunil Gavaskar may have excelled with his bat, Sachin Tendulkar might have scored more centuries in International Cricket but when its comes to all round performance and the ability to lead the team to victory no one can beat the Great Kapil Dev. He is a real match winner!! A great champion!!!

Name: Ashutosh Tewari
Comment: I'm really disappointed to see Kapil's selection as the cricketer of the century over Sachin. But what else is to expect of a jury, which consisted of players of Kapil's era. Compare the side for which Sachin played to the side for which Kapil played. Sachin has been playing for a side full of match-fixers and really substandard player. While Kapil had a side full of world-class all-rounders and a few great batsman. Look at standard of fielding and the tight schedules these days, which were nowhere to be seen in Kapil's era. He has made cricket a religion in India. Cricket was never as popular as it is today. And the credit goes Sachin. Who are these ex-cricketers are to decide who is the player of the century. Sachin is the cricketer of the millennium.

Name: Siddharth
Comment: I think Kapil is the right choice for the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century. One shouldn't forget his contribution to the Indian Cricket. Since the bowling department of the Indian side had been its poor stage, he single handedly won so many matches for Ind. Apart from that he was considered as one of the best all rounder of his time. He never played for himself unlike some of the players who play for their own record. He is a true countryman and really I think he is the best choice for the same. Who can forget his knock of 175 against Zimbabwe when they were at 17/5. And mind it.. India haven't produce a fast bowler like Kapil before and till now. That way I consider him as the best cricket India had ever produced. I congratulate him for the winner for this same.

Name: Prashanth
Comment: Kapil is the greatest and will be the greatest inspiration not only in sports but in every aspect of life. The name "KAPIL" itself inspires the youth and he is a moral for all the youths of the nation. In a nation starved of a sporting icon, Kapil came across like an oasis in desert. Some say Sachin deserves it. Indian cricket always had batsmen but was deprived of bowlers, especially pace bowlers. And that's the very reason why our performance is so abysmal in away matches. So when we start appreciating bowlers (moreover Kapil is an allrounder) that's when we'll be world beaters. The current crop of pace bowlers can look back to draw some inspiration, but Kapil didn't have any. He changed the entire Indian Cricket. He brought in aggression into Indian Cricket. The Haryana Hurricane is a true professional. He has maintained supreme fitness throughout his illustrious career and never missed a match on fitness basis. Nowadays you see spinners, and worse even batsmen (Sachin, Azhar, Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag etc.) miss matches because of lack of fitness. The jhat punjabi is a fighter and lead the team on instincts. He won so many matches single handedly. How can we forget his bowling performance when he had to take painkillers whole night and come up with a match-winning performance the next day against Australia in Melbourne in 1982? Can any innings match his tournament turning 175* in the 1983 World Cup? Can we forget the catch he took, as he made several difficult catches look simple, when he got Viv Richards out in the same match? Kapil's best performance came under demanding situations, unlike the current "stars" who wilt under slightest pressure. He relished challenges. And Viv Richards aptly once said that Kapil is the only man in Indian Cricket. Kapil deserves this award. Even if someone scores 150 centuries, Kapil would still deserve it for being an alrounder. We had G. Vishwanath, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Azhar and Sachin. But did we have anothe Kapil? This award is a testimony to prove that true and genuine characters can neither fade nor their images be tarnished (inspite of baseless allegations). Truly, Kapil Dev da jawaab nahin!!!

Name: C. Nath
Comment: In my view the right choice is Sunil Gavaskar. He was the player to show that an Indian could be the best in his game just not only as one of the good players. He had no example before him to follow whereas Kapil had and Sachin has Sunil achievements in their mind may be with a competitive feeling which drove them to excel. Sunil brought the true professionalism in Indian cricket. Kapil and Sachin followed it. It made the history by scoring 10,000 runs. In fact Sunil was the greatest as opener not only on the field but out of it in so many areas of cricket.

Name: Ushman Comment:While I think Tendulkar is the Greatest and the Best Batsman India and the world has since 1960's and Sunil Gavaskar is the One of the Greatest openers that India and the World has ever produced, they cannot be matchwinners by themselves alone. They would need some help from the bowlers. Kapil on the other hand, is not only one of the greatest allrounder that India and the World has seen since 1960's but could also win a match alone (with Batting and Bowling). That is what sets Kapil apart frm Gavaskar and Tendulkar. Kudos to Kapil.....will always be my role model.....

Name: Keeron
Comment: I think Wisden has done it again, frankly, their method of giving awards sucks! Kapil dev is no doubt a great cricketer but his image off the field is not the one I'd like to follow. The only cricketer that is worth giving this award is Sachin Tendulkar. He has given his entire life of 29 yrs for this game. No player is as patriotic and dedicated to his team/nation as Sachin is. Sachin has shown time and again why the whole team rests on his shoulder - even with good players in the side now. He has mastered both forms of cricket and has made his country a very proud nation. In all my lives, I would want to become at least half of Sachin is today, if not completely emulate him. His image off the field is truly of a GOD. On the field he IS THE GOD!. Kapil Dev has erased all the good things he did by the bad things he did after playing cricket - coaching, betting scandals, etc. Majority of the 9 billion people in India will go with Sachin as their cricketer of the Century. For me the awards do not matter and I know to Sachin too; they do not matter - for we all know who is the greatest Indian cricketer of all times, and the greatest batsman of all times - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Name: Mau
Comment: Very much like his champion team on that historic day at Lord's in 1983, World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev Nikhanj upstaged more fancied rivals to be adjudged the greatest Indian cricketer of the century. While Sachin Tendulkar was the popular choice, legendary batsman and Kapil Dev's contemporary Sunil Gavaskar was a front-runner for the distinction. But the 'Haryana Hurricane' left them both - and 13 other illustrious cricketers - behind to be selected the 'Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century' by a distinguished panel comprising former cricketers and sports journalists. Gavaskar and Tendulkar also got their share of honour. Gavaskar's 1985 team that won the Benson and Hedges World Series in Australia was adjudged the best ever-Indian side while Tendulkar was voted the greatest Indian cricketer in a nation-wide poll conducted by Wisden. Kapil Dev, who held the world record of 434 Test wickets before being overtaken by West Indian Courtney Walsh and later by Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, had led India to one of the biggest upsets in the history of one-day game when his team defeated the mighty West Indies to lift the World Cup in 1983. Incidentally, it was one of the strongest pillars of that West Indian team - the great Viv Richards - who presented the award to Kapil. Lauding the achievements of the former India captain, whose 5,248 runs and 434 wickets gives him the best all-round Test record, Richards said: "I am shaking in my boots to give the award to Kapil Dev." Kapil, himself was a picture of humility in his moment of glory, attributed his success to guidance from senior players. "I have no words to describe how I feel. Besides happiness and pride, I feel a sense of humility to have received this award. The other nominees for this award are my heroes, and being chosen from among my heroes is a great honour," he said. "This has touched my heart and I am overwhelmed," he added. Kapil also had a word of encouragement for Tendulkar. "This little young master would one day cross us all over," he said, pointing to the master batsman, who along with Gavaskar, shared the stage with Kapil after the 16-name list had narrowed down to the three of them.

Name: Anu
Comment: Undoubtedly Kapil is a great cricketer but I don't think that he deserves to be Indian cricketer of century in presence of two names, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. The person who deserves to be cricketer of the century of the nation should be who has the faith of the country and a person who is next to perfect if not perfect Indian before anything else. The way Kapil reacted to match fixing scandal, is not what is expected of a gentleman. There is no doubt about his cricketing excellence. But on both fronts he can be challenged by one man, Sachin, he is the faith of country, a true ambassador of India, a person who will do his best to salvage pride for India, not like Kapil who will make two to three players run out when he has not been given his full quota of overs. Sachin will never use wrong words against any one, unlike Kapil who will question Sachin's commitment to team. I think most of the country wanted that Sachin should be their cricketer of century but outsiders know better who is ours best, but a joke. Doesn't matter if any magazine decides someone as our cricketer of century, but for Indians there is just man who deserves to be cricketer of century and that is Sachin and people have shown it. More than the award given by Wisden there is an award which matters and which is toughest to get and that is love of so many people and it has been shown that has got Sachin the most popular cricketer of century. In fact it is not the award to most popular person but the person whom India loves the most, the best reward for any player or human being.

Name: S.Suryanarayan
Comment: I think my Indian cricketer of the century is Vinoo Mankad. Although I would like to go with the jury's choice because I have seen and heard so much of kapil dev's performances that its easy to go along. However my choice of Vinoo Mankad is for different reasons. In his playing years he gave india some of its finest victories especially against New Zealand at home. Those victories would seem innocuous as they came against teams not known to be the best and they came at home. But the main point is that was a humble beginning for the Indian cricket team to master that art , the art of winning tests, then winning series and winning abroad. Vinoo Mankad was an opening bat and a slow left arm spinner. The kind of person whom Ganguly would love to have in his team. apart from that he still holds the world record for the highest partnership for the 1st wicket, which incidentally is the highest for any wicket for India. Its difficult to find an allrounder with such qualities as Vinoo Mankad had. I am not giving statistics to prove has worth to the team because (i) I have none and (ii) if statistics was everything then some of the people would not have made the list.