An Indian legend up against a Black Caps stalwart. Who gets your vote?
ODI GOAT: Dev vs Vettori
The #ODIGOAT is cricket.com.au's knockout competition to determine the greatest ODI player of all time. We've selected our top 64 ODI players and now we're asking YOU to do the hard work – that is, narrow it down to one. Set up in much the same way as a tennis tournament, each day you'll see head-to-head match-ups, with the winner of those progressing to the next round to square off with their next challenger. From 64, we'll go to 32, to 16, 8, 4 and ultimately our final. So cast your VOTE and decide just who is the greatest ODI player in history!
KAPIL DEV (India)
The numbers: Matches: 225 | Wickets: 253 | Average: 27.45 | SR: 44.2 | Economy: 3.71 | BB: 5-43 | 5fa's: 1
Runs: 3,783| Average: 23.79 | SR: 95.07 | 100s: 1 | HS: 175no
Why he makes the list: One of the four great allrounders of his generation (Imran, Botham and Hadlee the others), Kapil Dev was the backbone of India during his 16-year career. Dev's fluid bowling action which generated outswing away from the right-hander was paired with a clean-striking swing with the bat to form one of the most dynamic players the game has seen. His greatest triumph came in 1983, when as captain he led India to their maiden World Cup title against the all-conquering West Indies, and calmly took a brilliant catch to dismiss Master Blaster Viv Richards. It was a tournament to savour for Dev, who produced his highest score of 175no against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells and his best bowling performance, 5-43, against Australia at Trent Bridge.
Performance we loved: It's hard to look past the 175no against Zimbabwe. To put the incredible knock into some context, Dev walked to the wicket with India at 4-9, which quickly became 5-17. Undaunted, Dev attacked and attacked, hitting 16 fours and six sixes, with a strike rate of 126.81. The next top score was 24 by No.11 Syed Kirmani, and at the time, his 175 out of 266 was the highest percentage of runs (65.78) in an innings in ODI cricket. Only one player has scored more – Richards with 69.48 per cent a year later in Manchester. He also claimed a wicket and a catch to round out a wonderful day.
DANIEL VETTORI (NEW ZEALAND)
The numbers:Matches: 295 | Wickets: 305 | Average: 31.71 | SR: 46 | Economy: 4.12 | BB: 5-7 | 5fa's: 2
Runs: 2,253 | Average: 17.33 | SR: 82.98 | 100s: 0 | HS: 83
Why he makes the list: : Daniel Vettori was New Zealand cricket for the best part of two decades, from when he made his debut as a bespectacled teenager to when he retired 18 years later as his country's greatest wicket-taker in all formats. As wily as they come, the erudite left-arm orthodox spinner used his guile and clever changes of pace, angle and amount of turn to outfox his opponents to great success. The captaincy brought out the best in him when he took the reins full-time in 2007, taking 95 wickets at 26.63 in 82 matches in charge. He had three cracks at retirement before the last one stuck after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where he starred, claiming 15 wickets as the Black Caps finished runners-up – their best result. As a lower-order hitter, Vettori was just as crafty with the bat as he was with the ball, but never fully reached allrounder status like he did in Test cricket.
Performance we loved: There's no better place than to pull out a man-of-the-match performance than at Lord's in a final. Vettori spun a web around the West Indies in the 2004 tri-series final in the UK, taking 5-33 from 9.2 overs and effecting two run-outs. His victims included legendary left-hander Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo, as the Black Caps humbled their foes to win by 107 runs.
#ODIGOAT First Round: Tendulkar v Sharma
#ODIGOAT First Round: Akram v Starc
#ODIGOAT First Round: Garner v Donald
#ODIGOAT First Round: Richards v de Silva
#ODIGOAT First Round: Azharuddin v Miandad