From: karnik@cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: Donald, Kapil and South Africa
Date: 21 Dec 92 00:39:57 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <YfBD=S_00WB9A5YFBI@andrew.cmu.edu> Jayashankar Swaminathan <jsdf+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>        I would like some stats for your mentioning that Kapil's
>performance is not upto mark. Its a irony that such a remark should come
>on the eve of the 7th ODI which India won, in which Kapil gave the best
>performance for India both with the bat and the ball.

	Are we talking about the same game here ?? If you indeed are
referring to the seventh ODI, then some credit is due to Amre
for guiding the innings along, first with Azhar, then Kapil, and
finally Yadav. I can't see how you refer to Kapil's 17 in 33 balls as
the 'best performance' with the bat for India. Having taken a long time
to settle in (he had 7 in 26 balls), he went berserk, hit a sixer, and
promptly got out. Familiar story ?? Kapil's batting has been a major
disappointment, knowing what he is capable of.

	On the other hand, the last couple of games have been fruitful ones 
for Kapil the bowler, at least, from the stats we see here, 10-4-23-3 in the
sixth ODI and 10-4-28-1 in the last one.

>        I don't know what people expect from him, I wonder if there is a
>more consistent performer in the world of cricket, who does as much as
>Kapil does with the ball and the bat today.

	Personally, I don't think he's a consistent performer with the bat.
IMHO, he is a better batsman than Imran, Hadlee, and Marshall, and nearly as
good as Botham, but he's not performed upto that potential. If only he could
keep control when he's hitting well, he would easily build a good score. What
seems to happen often is that he takes his time to settle down, and then lets
his bat fly at everything in sight. Sometimes this works well enough for him
to get a 50. But it can't last....

>Well, as far as manager goes, yes, he could be a captain cum manager or
>maybe just a playing manager. I think he still has at least a couple of
>years in him.

	Oh, I'd give him more than two more years actually. At least in the 
ODIs, he's an effective containing bowler, and can slog well when he gets
going. Seeing that he's no longer getting the early breakthroughs, perhaps he
should not open, but take the middle overs, when all too often, people like
Sharma, Srinath and co. concede @ 4.5 to 5 runs per over.

>Jayashankar

	Finally, the stats you asked for:

1st ODI - 27 in 27 balls    10-1-43-0
2nd ODI -  1 in  2 balls     9-2-19-1
3rd ODI -  1 in  5 balls     5-1-19-0
4th ODI - 18 in 25 balls     9-0-23-0
5th ODI - DNBat              9-1-35-0
6th ODI - 30 in ?? balls    10-4-23-3
7th ODI - 17 in 33 balls    10-4-28-1

Batting average:- 15.67
Bowling average:- 38.00

	Would that it were the other way around! Clearly, not the stats of a
consistent performer.....


       +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
       | Neeran M. Karnik | #2 fan of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on r.s.c.  :-> |
       | Dept. of CompSci.| "Welcome to r.s.c.,                              |
       | U of Minnesota   |  where jingoism rules the netwaves" - McBean :-> |
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