Nothing fuels the imagination of a cricket lover more than making his or her Dream Teams —and to that extent — the International Cricket Council's online poll to pick the greatest one-day side was perfectly timed.
With the World Cup little more than a month away and this being the 40th anniversary of one-day cricket, the poll was a commendable exercise towards building up the hype.
For the Indian fans, the list gives good reasons to cheer with three names in it — Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Kapil Dev. Given the universal nature of polling (600,000 votes from 97 countries), few would disagree with the choices though one feels a certain Sanath Jayasuriya would have possibly deserved a nod ahead of Sehwag — both for his contribution to helping Sri Lanka winning the Cup once and sheer longevity.
Interesting qualities
There is no need to spend words about the selection of the little Master — but it's particularly heartwarming to see India's only World Cup-winning captain enjoying his pride of place as the allrounder of the team. Despite plying his trade along the likes of Imran Khan and Ian Botham — it's interesting to ponder over the qualities which could have seen Dev claim the ‘prized' slot.
An overriding reason is definitely the romanticism about the way the ‘Haryana Hurricane' took a bunch of no-hopers to the 1983 World Cup — a trophy which till then was the preserve of the West Indians. For at least two generations of cricket followers — certain images of Kapil Dev bring about almost a gladiatorial quality — the 175 not out against Zimbabwe or running backwards for that immortal catch to dismiss the dangerous Viv Richards in the final. In contrast, when King Khan led Pakistan to the World Cup in '92, he played very much the astute general rather than a feisty allrounder. A nagging shoulder injury had not seen him bowling in Australia at all — and he was perfectly happy to play the mentor to the man who would take over his mantle — Wasim Akram.
It's this perception of almost a magical quality about his abilities which even spawned a children's film in Bollywood years later: where an orphan kid is ‘blessed' with Dev's ‘175 bat' and goes on to score miraculously for India. There were numerous other occasions when the lionhearted cricketer has turned one-dayers on their heads — but it's that Summer of '83 which really fostered the legend of Kapil Dev. And that's probably the reason which sees him in the only allrounder's slot in such a definitive poll!
