Murali the KING !

[sittingduck]

I'm seeing similarities in this situation to when Kapil Dev overtook Sir Richard Hadlee for the record in the early nineties.

Today we have people calling Warne the better bowling citing Muri's many wickets against lowly Zimbabwe and Bangladesh (among other reasons).
Back then people were calling Hadlee the better bowler with claims being made Dev took far more tests to reach the record and was bieng trundled out in test after test to dismiss the tail.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by sittingduck

Back then people were calling Hadlee the better bowler with claims being made Dev took far more tests to reach the record and was bieng trundled out in test after test to dismiss the tail.

That was a worthy debate to have as well. I reckon Hadlee was easily the best, in fact, i reckon he and Wasim were the best seamers the game ever produced. Hadlee was one guy that Aussies loved to hate. You have to be fairly special to earn that kind of respect from us Aussies.

[pie_chucker]

Hadlee was clearly the better bowler and it was obvious once Kapil got close to the record he was only being kept in the team to break it.

[12th Man]

Please don't discount the fact that Kapil bowled most of his overs on sub continental tracks and Hadlee bowled on seaming NZ tracks.

Hadlee on his day was the better bowler but Kapil was more consistent and had to battle much harder.

[sittingduck]

Although Hadlee wasn't able to bowl to New Zealand's bunny batsmen (that was sarcasm),
The stats speak for themselves and if I had the time I'd post them here.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by 12th Man

Please don't discount the fact that Kapil bowled most of his overs on sub continental tracks and Hadlee bowled on seaming NZ tracks.

Hadlee on his day was the better bowler but Kapil was more consistent and had to battle much harder.

A very relevant point 12th man. I would hazard to say that Indian wickets back in the 80's were even less seam-friendly than what they are today. I never saw Dev or Hadlee bowl on the subcontinent or in NZ (no cable TV in those days) but i did see them in Australia, and Hadlee was more effective playing on our wickets in any case

Originally Posted by Sitting Duck

Although Hadlee wasn't able to bowl to New Zealand's bunny batsmen (that was sarcasm)

Yes but he has the pleasure of bowling at our bunnies - Yardley, Lawson, Lillie, Thompson, Alderman just to name a few.

All teams had long tails back in those days.

[12th Man]

Actually I saw Hadlee bowl in Sri Lanka and boy was he a handful. He had a lot of variations and when the ball swung (usually early morning for the first hour or so) he was a teror to face.
I also met him and he was the first guy who told me (then a starry eyed youngster ) that cricket was simply a job for him and he didn't really care to have to talk about it incessantly (at dinner and after work) all the time !

[Nostromo]

As I have said before, there is no straight answer to the seemingly everlasting debate of "who is better" between Warne and Murali. I for one prefer to consider it as a tie.

But there is no comparison whatsoever between Hadlee and Kapil Dev. Kapil was a very good bowler and a great all-rounder, but he is no way in Hadlee's class with the ball. Hadlee is arguably the best pace bowler in the history of the game, especially considering the quality of the batsmen that he got out over the years.

[Milo]

I have to agree here Nostromo. Well said. If bowling on India's wickets was that much of a hindrance for Kapil Dev, why are his performances at home so much better than his away record??????

[pie_chucker]

Probably because like Vaas, he knew how to bowl on subcontinental wickets and batsmen underestimated him.