Sunil Gavaskar snubs Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, hails Kapil Dev as the greatest ever match-winner for India

New Delhi: Indian cricket fans, the verdict is out. It's not Sachin Tendulkar.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar on Wednesday voted for his former team-mate Kapil Dev as the greatest ever match-winner for India.

Indian fans who blossomed after the the penetration of cable TV and those who have not seen the best of Kapil often considered batting great Sachin Tendulkar and of course, the current captain Virat Kohli as the greatest match-winners for India.

But the verdict coming from the legend himself, who is also one of the best cricket experts, sure gives it a certain degree of respectability.

"Kapil Dev was India's greatest match-winner because he won India matches both with the bat and all. Kapil, by sheer example, led others by the way he played and the flair he brought into the game; he showed other Indian fast bowlers the way ahead," Gavaskar told NDTV during SporTale.

Kapil, regarded as one of the best all-rounders, led India to it's first ever World Cup title in 1983. The victory at Lord's against West Indies still remains one of the greatest sporting moments for the country.

And fact be told, it was the catalyst which helped India emerged as a cricketing superpower.

"All the bowlers who came after him, whether it was Chetan Sharma or Javagal Srinath, it was only because Kapil showed the way. It was because of him that we showed that we too could have fast bowlers because prior to him we never really had a tradition of good fast bowlers. So thanks to him we have developed this pool of fast bowlers today," he added.

And rightly, the legendary opening batsman reserved the 1983 World Cup victory as most memorable moment of his cricketing career.

"The 1983 World Cup win was the most amazing moment of my career. There was no hope from us. But we had beaten the West Indies in their home just before the tournament and somehow had the belief that we could do it again," the 67-year-old said.

Kapil played 131 and 225 Tests and ODIs respectively; scoring over 9000 runs and taking 687 wickets collectively.