KAPIL DEV

Kapil Dev

Dev in 2013

Personal information

Full name Kapil Devv Ramlal Nikhanj

Born 6 January 1959 (age 62)

Chandigarh, Punjab, India

Nickname The Haryana Hurricane,[1] Kapil Paaji[2]

Batting Right-handed

Bowling Right arm fast

Role All-rounder
BIOGRAPHY
Kapil Dev, in full Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj, (born January 6,
1959, Chandigarh, India), Indian cricketer and the greatest pace
bowler in his country’s history. He is the only cricketer to have scored
over 5,000 runs and taken more than 400 wickets in Test
(international match) cricket.

Dev made his debut in first-class cricket playing for his state, Haryana.
He joined the Indian national team for a 1978–79 Test series
against Pakistan. Although his tally of seven wickets over three
matches in a losing effort was not the most spectacular of debuts, Dev
played with great energy, possessing an impressive outswinger
delivery and an aggressiveness that Indian cricket had not seen in a
long while. In fact, Dev was India’s first genuine fast bowler, and he
went on to lead the country’s bowling attack for the next two decades.
He ended his Test career with a record 434 wickets in 131 Test
matches (a record that was broken in 2000 by Jamaica’s Courtney
Walsh), including 23 five-wicket matches. In one-day internationals,
he took 253 wickets over 225 games.

Dev also made a mark as a hard-hitting middle-order batsman. In a

1978–79 Test series against the West Indies, he not only took seven
wickets in the fourth Test but also scored 126 runs in the fifth Test to
help India win the series. His attacking game, peppered often with
huge boundaries (hits that cross the boundary of the field), helped him
score 5,248 runs in 131 Tests (including eight centuries [100 runs in a
single innings]) and 3,783 runs in 225 one-day internationals (with
one century).

Dev was made the captain of the Indian national team in 1983. As a
leader, he downplayed strategy and led by example. This was best seen
in the 1983 Prudential Cup, when he almost single-handedly helped
India defeat Zimbabwe with a 175 not out (his 175 runs were a career
high). However, inconsistent performances led to his being relieved of
the captaincy soon after the victory. He was even dropped from the
side briefly in 1984.
Nevertheless, Dev played several match-winning innings for India.
The most famous of these include his “5 for 28” (taking five wickets
while conceding only 28 runs) against Australia to give India victory in
the 1981 Melbourne Test; taking nine wickets against the West Indies
in 1983; scoring 119 off of 138 balls to save India from a Test defeat
against Australia in 1986; and slamming four consecutive sixes (balls
that pass the boundary without ever touching the playing field)
against England in 1990. He became only the second player in cricket
history to claim 400 wickets, and in 1994 he broke Richard Hadlee’s
record of 431 wickets.

Dev retired in 1994 and had a brief but unsuccessful 10-month spell as
the coach of the Indian national team from October 1999
to August 2000. In 1999 he was implicated in a match-fixing
controversy that led to his coaching departure, but he was later cleared
of all charges after an investigation conducted by India’s Central
Bureau of Investigation. He was chairman of India’s National Cricket
Academy from 2006 to 2007 but was forced out when he became an
executive in the privately funded upstart India Cricket League (ICL).
He left the ICL in 2012 and returned to the good graces of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national governing body of
Indian cricket.

Dev received two of India’s highest civilian honours: the Padma Shri
(1982) and the Padma Bhushan (1991). In 2002 he was named the
Indian Cricketer of the Century, and he was inducted into the
International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame in 2010.
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE NATION
Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev is widely regarded as one of the greatest
all-rounders of all time. The 131-Test veteran scored 5,248 runs and bagged 434
Test wickets with his right-arm pace bowling during his international journey from
1978 to 1994. The ‘Haryana Hurricane’ also led India to one of their finest
achievements of all time: A victory in the 1983 World Cup final. In spite of
holding some staggering all-round statistics, commentator Harsha Bhogle believes
that Kapil Dev’s biggest contribution towards Indian cricket was making an entire
generation of youngsters believe that an Indian bowler can ball fast at the top level .

 1979–80 – Arjuna Award

 1982 – Padma Shri
 1983 – Wisden Cricketer of the Year
 1991 – Padma Bhushan
 2002 – Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century
 2010 – ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
 2013 – The 25 Greatest Global Living Legends in India by NDTV
 2013 – CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award(announced)