The quartet of all-rounders who provided massive entertainment to cricket fans in different parts of the globe, for about 25-odd years from the 70s to mid-90s – Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev – possessed prodigious gifts.
They played the game with rare finesse and endeared themselves to the crowds with their accomplishments. Given their superb records, no praise will be too much and no tribute excessive.
As an all-rounder the great Pakistan cricketer, Imran Khan left a legacy difficult to emulate. He bowled with menacing pace for long against players adept at handling fast bowlers. After his initial phase, some injuries and other reasons kept him away from the game before making a comeback.
His clout in his country helped him return to the game at will. He could pick and choose to suit his convenience. Having played 88 Tests, his longevity – albeit with frequent breaks – in cricket for over 20 years could be unthinkable for a fast bowler now, given the overkill of cricket currently being played. At a time when the game boasted of some legendary pacers elsewhere, Imran excelled as a premier fast-bowling all-rounder. Blessed with superb batting technique and temperament, his record as a batsman may not be as good as his bowling stats. In the early 1980s against the traditional rivals, India, his fast bowling was mostly terrific.
One of his more noted peers with similarly versatile cricketing skills, Kapil Dev played the game with out-and-out aggression both as a bowler and a batter. As a fielder his ebullience in the Indian team was but seldom matched. A precocious talent, Kapil emerged as a breath of fresh air in the Indian cricketing firmament and served the team with élan and ingenuity.
Armed with a free-flowing bowling action, and a lethal out-swinger, Kapil consistently damaged batting reputations in the early 80s wherever he played. His batting was invariably explosive and on so many occasions he revived the team’s fortunes by his batting skills alone. His epic batting feats are a legion in Indian cricket annals. Seemingly born to play cricket with abundant rare natural gifts, he more often than not proved to be the savior for his team.
England in particular was lucky to have witnessed some of his heroic performances in Tests and ODIs. In conditions loaded heavily in favour of bowlers as in England, he excelled as a batsman consistently when so many others failed. He made it a habit of taking his performance to a grand level when faced with challenges, defying all odds.
Strangely, his indifferent performances mostly were triggered by a lack of challenges – so much did he thrive on pressure-cooker situations or adversities. Remember his heroic knock of unbeaten 175 in the 1983 WC in which he captained India to an unprecedented and most unexpected victory; his smashing four consecutive 6s in an over against England in a Test at Lords’ in 1990 to save India the ignominy of follow-on, is another feat to confirm his predilection for excellence when faced with huge adversities. On so many occasions he found inspiration from moments of crises. His century against Aussies in the Tied Test at Chennai is another instance among umpteen others. Given his multiple skills, his influence on the team’s performances was stupendous and his contributions added to his value to the team. A redoubtable match-winner, Kapil could alter the complexion of a match in no time.
At home, he largely rose to great heights as a bowler when, in the searing heat, pace-bowling was a staggering challenge. A gem of a player, Kapil, rightly hailed ‘The Haryana Hurricane’, played most of his Tests on the sun-baked, sub-continental pitches least suited to his brand of bowling.
Indian pitches are traditionally seen as dust-bowls, tailor-made for spin doctors of all kinds, in hot and humid conditions where pacers could break their back day in day out more in hope of success than bowl with any conviction. And it is to the huge credit to the genius of Kapil that for about 15 long years he endured such adversities and thrived in such hostile climes to make a name for his team.
Unlike the others he played under massive pressures, carried the hopes of millions of crazy followers wherever and whenever he wielded the willow. He also had to confront a hostile media and hawkish officials of the BCCI who were too anxious to fault and plot his ouster from the team. And this uniqueness marks Kapil off from the other trio.
With due respect to their remarkable prowess as cricketers, neither the swing-merchant, Richard Hadlee, nor the glamour-boy Ian Botham, unlike Kapil, had to contend with such challenges in their careers.
They played majority of their cricket in conditions markedly helpful to their bowling and given their massive skills it was only natural that they excelled. Botham has the best batting stats of the fearsome four, and the Kiwi great has the best bowling records. But a scrutiny of the playing conditions and the quality of the opposition they fared, Kapil for me ranks the best.
Neel
Roar Guru
India’s greatest player along with Sachin. Changed Indian cricket forever with that World Cup win in 1983. India could have made the final in 1987 as well but England were just too good. Kapil’s knock to save India against Zimbabwe at the World Cup was brilliant. Great all-rounder indeed.
Bradley Kirk
Guest
I have a cricket ball signed by 3 of the 4 and am trying to get a value for it
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Here is the video of that set of 3 balls Paul D.... The first delivery is lovely, the second delivery is just unplayable and the 3rd delivery sublime.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
It's interesting to note that Imran's batting numbers went through the roof late in his Test career as his ageing body forced him to reduce his bowling workload and focus more on his batting. After the age of 36yo, Imran scored 1008 runs at 72 in Tests. And he wasn't making cheap runs either in that period - across 7 Tests against the Windies and Australia he averaged 62 with the bat. Shows what freakish talent he had with the blade to put up those kind of stats between 1988 and 1992 in an era when a Test average of 45 was sensational. It gives the impression that he had focused on his batting throughout his career, and only bowled as a part timer, he probably would have averaged 45-50 with the bat quite easily.
Dracula
Guest
Its an interesting point the author makes about Imram Khan - that he had the privilege of playing or sitting out whenever he liked because he had clout. But that is a testament to his leadership skills. For me Sir Richard Hadlee wan't a great batsman but that is irrelevant because I believe that he was the best fast bowler of the 1980's, although only marginally ahead of Wasim Akram. Of course D K Lillee was the best bowler of the 1970's. If I wanted an all-rounder that could do both disciplines then I would pick Ian Botham. He could bat at no. 6 in any Test team and still bowl 20-30 overs of pace.
Johnno
Guest
well said Perry, nice analysis of 4-special cricketers.
Perry Bridge
Guest
It was a pleasure to admire the talents of these 4 players in particular. For me (mid 40s now) - back in those days with limited TV coverage (in country Victoria), with limited Newspaper coverage (esp of overseas tours - the country edition going out so early - and often you'd be hunting for the 'read ink' late news in that otherwise blank box on the back page - of the Melb Sun News Pictorial), radio would cover a bit and then there was the cricket scores telephone recorded messages. An international touring squad would include so many unknowns - players never seen before or those where only a name had been seen on hard to access score updates. The annual ABC Cricket book tour guide was so very important. In this era - the great all-rounders were a 'constant' for their sides. I'd missed the Sobers era - Malcolm Marshall was a more than handy lower order batter. Sri Lanka got good service from Ravi Ratnayeke. Australia very much struggled to find an all-rounder. Simon O'Donnell was good in one dayers for a few years but lacked the pace at test level. Ken McLeay, Peter Faulkner, Shaun Graf among others mainly got a crack in ODI's. For a while Bruce Yardley was effectively the 'all-rounder' (highest batting bowler at any rate). I think Australian's appreciated Kapil Dev more as he aged - the appreciation for the art of swing bowling and appreciation for what he was and not for what he wasn't. Imran Khan was the 'sex symbol' - once famously delivered a red rose (I think) by an admiring Australian fan..Hadlee was the ultimate professional - playing winters in England - his very self 'oriented' diaries of his achieving of 1000 runs and 100 wkts in a county season showed an almost mechanical professionalism. Botham - almost an honorary Aussie - and after 1981 always respected/feared in equal measure. Kapil was perhaps a fraction less 'iconic' to Australians.
Johnno
Guest
Plus Botham and Hadlee, didn't get as much opportunities to work on spinning dust bowl pitches, which test a fast bowler and make them have to develop new tactics. And also playing in spinning pitches was good for Imran's/Kapil's batting. All had serious injuries, and all lost pace after those serious injuries. Ian Botham though was never the same bowler or player after his injuries. He may well of been the best of them or most talented had serious injuries not struck him down, who knows. Kapil Dev's strike rate was only 2nd to Viv Richards in his era, and he often kicked on after got 50.
Camo McD
Roar Guru
All brilliant players whose teams relied on them greatly. A bit unfair on the others to say Kapil definitely played under more pressure than them though. I would've thought feeling pressure is a completely personal thing. All of them were representing their countries. All had different challenges. I suspect the Pakistani team politics was not easy for Imran, or the intrusive British media for Botham while Hadlee virtually WAS the bowling attack for his team for his entire career.
Johnno
Guest
sorry misread it my fault lol sorry Paul D. I knew about that game and that record.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Where did he say it was his last test match? I assume the reference to Gooch's test match is because Gooch scored 456 runs combined in the two innings of that match, still a record.
Johnno
Guest
Gooch played until 1994/95, not 1990
JGK
Roar Guru
My favourite Kapil story was how he avoided the follow on in Gooch's test match at Lords in 1990. 9 wickets down, 24 runs needed to avoid the follow on, 4 balls left in the over - 6,6,6,6... thanks for coming Eddie Hemmings.
JGK
Roar Guru
He had the highest average but Beefy was the better batsman. He scored more tons than all the others combined.
matth
Guest
I would say Imran was the best batsman of the quartet and Hadlee the best bowler. Imran averaged over 50 for the last few years of his career. Unlike the other three his team relied on him as a top order batsman. For the other three their batting was generally a luxury for their team (icing on the cake). Up until McGrath I'd never see a more clever and relentless bowler than Hadlee. I'll never forget him taking 9 wickets in an innings at the Gabba in 1986 (I think). He took the catch on the final wicket and I think everyone was hoping he would drop it and go for glory. I put Kapil Dev and Ian Botham in a different category. They were the two most explosive talented players going around. They could change games in an hour. Each of the four were amazing and it was a wonderful era in which to grow up watching cricket.
Johnno
Guest
Kapil Dev was the most talented batsmen and best fielder. Imran Khan said many times Kapil was a more talented batsmen than him. Kapil Dev was an athlete in many ways not just a cricketer. He was also a good fielder to add to his bow. He was a good captain too, his stats were better when he was captain. He was the 1983 ODI World cup captain when India won the World cup. He had a bad knee injury from memory and came back early, he hardly missed a game but some say he should of re-habbed the injury longer. I don't agree with the struggle part totally, as all 4 all-rounders had different challenges according to the country they were in.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I don’t really want to get into the argument about who was better – Botham, Dev, Khan, Hadlee were all great players. But on the subject of Dev, my main memory of him was that effort in Brisbane (immortalised on youtube thanks to robelinda) where Dev clean bowled Allan Border with a very good inswinger, then almost had Deano caught behind with a brilliant outswinger, before he clean bowled him with a ball that shaped to swing out, then cut back in off the seam through bat and pad and rattled the offstump. 3 of the best consecutive balls you’ve ever seen bowled, and boy didn’t Tony Greig enjoy it up in the commentary box - “Bowled him! Good night Charlie, he’s on his way…”
peeeko
Guest
i would argue that Khan was the best batter of the big 4