8 fearsome bowlers from the 70s and 80s, and their favorite bunnies

Imran Khan
Imran Khan bowling to Sunil Gavaskar

The 70s and 80s produced some of the greatest fast bowlers and spinners the world has ever seen. The likes of Imran Khan, Dennis Lillee, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Jeff Thomson, Malcolm Marshall etc. produced magical bowling spells which are recorded in the annals of cricketing history.

In the same era, several legendary batsmen also made an appearance - the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, Greg Chappell etc. who scored a lot of runs against their competitors. The battle between the bowlers and batsmen was spectacular.

That said, many of these fearsome bowlers had their favorite legendary batsman who they would dismiss more frequently than others. Here is a list of 8 of those:

#1: Imran Khan and Sunil Gavaskar

Their battle was legendary, and both of them respected each other a lot. But on the field, Imran Khan dismissed Sunil Gavaskar 11 times.

Out of these dismissals, Gavaskar was clean bowled twice, caught by a fielder six times, caught by the wicketkeeper once and leg-before-wicket twice.


#2: Dennis Lillee and Vivian Richards

Lill
Lillee bowling a bouncer

Richards was one of the most devastating batsman ever while Lillee, one of the most menacing fast bowlers. In their personal battle however, the Australian came out on top more often than not.

Lillee got Richards out nine times. He was clean bowled thrice, caught by a player twice and caught behind four times.

#3: Derek Underwood and Greg Chappell

Chappe
Chappell dismissed by Underwood

Underwood was a clever bowler who had the knack of picking up wickets at crucial junctures. He got Chappell out 13 times.

The Australian was clean bowled thrice, caught by a fielder five times, caught behind once and stumped once.


#4: Kapil Dev and Javed Miandad

Miandad
Miandad getting caught

Javed was a sly batsman and Kapil a persistent bowler. But the Pakistani could never quite outfox the legendary Indian all-rounder.

Miandad was dismissed by Kapil as many as seven times. He was clean bowled once, caught by a fielder thrice, caught behind twice and leg before wicket once.


#5: B.S. Chandrashekhar and Clive Lloyd

Chandra
Chandra bowling to Lloyd

Chandrashekhar was one of the best googly bowlers of all time. He dismissed Lloyd seven times - clean bowled twice, caught by a fielder four times and caught behind once.

#6: Ian Botham and Gundappa Viswanath

Vis
Vishy playing Botham

Botham could single-handedly turn any game on its head, while Viswanath was delightfully wristy stroke-maker. But Botham clearly had the upper hand in their personal rivalry.

The Englishman dismissed Viswanath eight times. He was clean bowled twice, caught by a fielder twice and caught behind four times


#7: Jeff Thomson and Alan Knott

Knott
Knott crying out in pain

Knott was one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen ever produced by England, and Thomson was perhaps the fastest bowler of all time. The match-up wasn't very even though.

Thomson dismissed Knott nine times. He was clean bowled thrice, caught by a fielder four times, caught behind once and leg before once.


#8: Malcolm Marshall and Graham Gooch

Go
Gooch bowled out by Marshall

Marshall was easily the most fearsome bowler of his time. And while Gooch was wristy and persistent, he could never quite figure out the great West Indian fast bowler.

Marshall dismissed Gooch a whopping 16 times. He was clean bowled four times, caught by a fielder thrice, caught behind four times and leg before five times.

Get Lightning Fast Live Cricket Scores of your Favourite Matches only on the Cric Rocket App

Quick Links

Edited by Musab Abid