Sunday, March 23, 2014
KAPIL DEV RAMLAL NIKHANJ (born 6
January 1959), better known as Kapil
Dev, is a former Indian cricketer.
He captained the Indian cricket team which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002, Kapil Dev was one of the greatest all-rounders of all time. He was also India's
national cricket coach for 10 months between October 1999 and August 2000.
Kapil was
a right-arm pace bowler noted for his graceful action and
potent outswinger, and was
India's main strike bowler for most of his career. He also developed a fine inswinging yorker during the 1980s, which he used very
effectively against tail-enders.
As a batsman, he was a natural
striker of the ball who could hook and drive effectively. A naturally
aggressive player, he often helped India in difficult situations by taking the
attack to the opposition. Nicknamed The
Haryana Hurricane, he represented the Haryana
cricket team in domestic cricket. He retired in 1994, holding the world
record for the most number of wickets taken in Test cricket, a record subsequently
broken by Courtney Walsh in 2000. At the time, he was also
India's highest wicket taker in both major forms of cricket, Tests and ODIs. He is the only player in the
history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets (434 wickets) and scored
more than 5,000 runs in Tests, making him one of the greatest all-rounders to have played the game. On 8 March
2010, Kapil Dev was inducted into the ICC
Cricket Hall of Fame
Kapil Dev was born as Kapil
Dev Ramlal Nikhanj to Ram Lal Nikhanj, a building and timber contractor and his
wife Raj Kumari in Chandigarh on 6 January
1959. His
parents had migrated from Rawalpindi during the Partition of India. Kapil Dev was a student at D.A.V. School and
joined Desh Prem Azad in 1971.
By the end of 1983, Kapil
already had about 250 Test wickets in just five years and looked well on his
way to becoming one of the most prolific wicket-takers ever. However, his
bowling declined following knee surgery in 1984, as he lost some of his
majestic jump at the crease. Despite this setback, he never missed playing a
single test or one-day game on fitness grounds (save for his disciplinary
ouster in the 3rd test at Calcutta during the 1984/85 series against England).
He continued to be effective, if not devastating, for another ten years and
became the second bowler ever to take 400 wickets in Test
cricket in 1991–92 when he took Mark
Taylor's wicket in a series versus Australia in
Australia. In that Australian tour he took 25 wickets.
Kapil continued as India's lead
pace bowler under a succession of captains in the early 1990s. He was involved
in a notable incident during the Lord's Test Match of 1990, when he hit
off-spinner Eddie Hemmings for four sixes in succession to take
India past the follow-on target. This match also featured the highest
test score by an Englishman against India, 333 by Graham Gooch. He was also cited
by umpire Dickie Bird as being one of the greatest
all-rounders of all-time.
He also
became a valuable batsman in the ODI version of the game, being used as a
pinch-hitter to accelerate the run-scoring rate, usually in the final ten
overs, and relied upon to stabilise the innings in the event of a collapse. He
played in the 1992 Cricket World
Cup, which was his last, under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin. He led the
bowling attack with younger talents like Javagal
Srinath and Manoj Prabhakar, who would eventually
succeed him as India's leading pace bowlers. He retired in 1994, after breaking Richard Hadlee's then standing record
for the most Test wickets taken.
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