This is the continuation of the series of articles we are writing about the 4 greatest all Rounders to have ever played cricket. And today we have a special one for all of our readers as we will talk about possibly the greatest cricketers to ever play for India and England which are 2 of the powerhouses of cricket. Kapil Dev and Ian Botham made each other better because they wanted to be better than the other. They both were attacking batters and could bowl for hours non stop.
Before we talk about the stats Comparison between these 2 legends of the game, I want to say that through writing these articles I am getting to know each of them better and seeing why they were regarded as the best of all time. So, with that being said let’s look at the stats Comparison of Kapil Dev vs Ian Botham
Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev Is simply the greatest all round player to ever play for India in its rich history of cricket and this is a big statement to make but it is a fact that no one can deny. No one has scored as many runs as him and taken this number of wickets for India ever and he was the man who told the world that India can also have fast bowlers.
Test Cricket
Kapil Dev has an extraordinary test career and despite playing so much he was injury free. He played 131 Test Matches for India and in those Matches he scored 5248 runs at an average of 31.05 and he made 8 Test hundreds with a highest score of 163. And as a fast bowler he took 434 wickets for India at an average of 29.64. He took 23 Five wicket hauls In test cricket with a best performance of 9/83.
Check here Top 5 best innings of Kapil Dev
ODI Cricket
As we said before, among the 4 that we are talking about here, Kapil Dev had an equally great ODI career. He played 225 ODIs for India and in those he made 3783 runs at an average of 23.78 with 1 hundred. That 175* is regarded as the greatest ODI innings of all time and he made a total of more than 9000+ runs in his international career. He also took 252 ODI wickets which means he took close to 700 international wickets.
Check here Kapil Dev vs Imran Khan – Stats Comparison as All Rounder
Format | Test Cricket | ODIs |
Matches | 131 | 225 |
Runs scored | 5248 | 3783 |
Batting average | 31.05 | 23.79 |
100s/50s | 8/27 | 1/14 |
Top score | 163 | 175* |
Balls Bowled | 27740 | 11202 |
Wickets | 434 | 253 |
Bowling average | 29.64 | 27.45 |
5 Wickets in an innings | 23 | 1 |
10 Wickets in a match | 2 | 0 |
Best bowling | 9/83 | 5/43 |
Also Read | Ian Botham vs Richard Hadlee – Stats Comparison as All Rounder
Ian Botham
Just like Kapil Dev is the greatest all round player to play for India, Ian Botham is the best ever for England. He was an inspiration and a hero on so many occasions for England with both bat and ball especially in test cricket. The England team revolved around him just like it does around Ben Stokes now. Sir Ian Botham is one of those players I wish I could have seen Play Live.
Test Cricket
Ian Botham had a truly great test career for England. He played 102 Test Matches for England in which he scored 5200 runs at an average of 33.54 and he made 14 Test hundreds with a highest score of 208. He was an attacking batter. And as a fast bowler he took 383 at an average of 28.40 with 27 Five wicket hauls and 4 times he took 10 wickets in a test match. His best performance was 8/34.
Check here Top 5 Ian Botham Best Performances
ODI Cricket
As we have talked about before that Ian Botham Did not play much ODI cricket in his career but still he had a decent record. He played 116 ODIs for England in which he made 2113 runs which means he made a total of 7300+ international runs. And as a fast bowler he took 145 wickets in ODIs at an average of 28.54.
Check here Imran Khan vs Ian Botham – Stats Comparison as All Rounder
Format | Test Cricket | ODIs |
Matches | 102 | 116 |
Runs scored | 5200 | 2113 |
Batting average | 33.54 | 23.21 |
100s/50s | 14/22 | 0/9 |
Top score | 208 | 79 |
Balls Bowled | 21815 | 6271 |
Wickets | 383 | 145 |
Bowling average | 28.40 | 28.54 |
5 Wickets in an innings | 27 | 0 |
10 Wickets in a match | 4 | 0 |
Best bowling | 8/34 | 4/31 |
Stats Comparison
When we compare the stats of these 2 greats in test cricket it is so close because as a batter they made the same number of runs and as a fast bowler Kapil Dev picked up 51 more wickets so I have to give the slight edge to Kapil. And in ODIs the gap is bigger as Kapil Dev Scored more than 1500+ runs then Ian Botham and he took more than 100+ more wickets as well.
Also Read: Richard Hadlee vs Kapil Dev - Stats Comparison as All Rounder
