Kapil Dev
- Kapil Dev Although cricket became popular during the British Raj but it was largely because of two players that the game became a household name in India in the 80's. These two were Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Kapil indeed ruled the minds and hearts of an entire generation in the 1980s and the one that followed. Till the rise of Kapil Dev, India was known for deadly spinners and his emergence the all types best players coincided with the decline of the famous spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and S. Venkataraghavan
Kapil Dev was the greatest pace bowler India has produced and their greatest fast-bowling all-rounder. Such was the charisma and stamina of this man that at one point in time he became the highest wicket taker in test and one day cricket. Along with Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev was considered the greatest all-rounder of his times.
Achievements And Accolades
Kapil Dev, the man who remained India's main strike bowler for almost 15 years, needs no introduction. On many occasions, he single-handedly won matches for India and easily became the most popular pin-up boy of the country. For an Indian fast bowler, taking 434 wickets in test cricket is indeed a great achievement. When Kapil was just 20, he set a new record of scoring 1000 runs and taking 100 wickets. He made this record within a period of one year and 109 days only.
Kapil Dev was the man who marshaled his boys to the most famous victory in Indian Cricket- the cricket world cup of 1983. Not only did he jelled the team together but also played the most memorable knock, in the history of the world cup cricket, against Zimbabwe. Kapil came to bat when India was almost out of the match at 17/5. And then he played like God and robbed the match from the opposition. He was rightly named the Wisden International Cricketer of the Year in 1983.
As skipper of the Indian team, he did a decent job and led the team to series victory against England in 1986. Throughout his cricketing carrier, Kapil Dev contributed to the cause of the team with both bat and the ball and saved the team from impossible situations. One such occasion was when Kapil hit 4 consecutive sixes off the bowling of Eddie Hemmings (England) in 1990 to save India from follow-on. Kapil Dev's super human match-winning effort with the ball in the Melbourne Test of 1980 against Australia, in which he bowled non stop for 3 hours to bowl out Australia after taking painkilling injections for a worn out hamstring and a pulled groin muscle, is still remembered with awe and respect.
Turning Point
Kapil was a regular visitor to the inter-sector cricket matches in Chandigarh. It happened so that one Sunday the Sector 16 team fell short of one player, Kapil, as usual, was there to watch the match and was taken in as a replacement. The sector 16 cricket team had 3 players who had played Ranji Trophy cricket for Haryana. They were impressed by the young boy's
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