Should the next Kapil really stand up?

To say that Kapil Dev has spoiled successive generations of Indian cricket followers with his unmatched genius will be no exaggeration. More than four and a half decades since his stirring debut in Pakistan, Kapil remains India’s first, foremost and arguably only fast-bowling all-rounder, a phenom who could turn the course of a match with bat alone, ball alone, or just in the field — his celebrated catch to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final is a shining, but hardly solitary, example of his status as a game-changing fielder. Exigencies of workload management following his immediate climb to both India’s shock and stock bowler in the wake of the retirements of the celebrated spin quartet not long after he broke through meant Kapil had to drop pace and conserve himself in national interest.

That didn’t prevent him from stacking up a then world record 434 Test wickets when he bid adieu to cricket in 1994. Throw in 253 One-Day International wickets, 5,248 Test runs, 3,783 ODI runs and 64 and 71 catches respectively in the longer and shorter formats internationally, and the picture of a larger-than-life persona is complete, even if these impressive numbers can’t do justice to his natural athleticism and extraordinary skills. Kapil’s retirement spawned the quest for the next Kapil Dev – unfortunate on those who were instantaneously labelled that, because there can only be one Kapil Dev.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla, current chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and I.