Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj, better known as Kapil was born on January 6, 1959, in Chandigarh, India. Along with Garfield Sobers, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham, he is one of the greatest all-rounders ever seen in the game. He led India to its only World Cup victory in 1983. In addition, he held the record for the most Test match wickets, between 1994 and 1999.

Always an entertainer

At his best, Kapil was the most destructive batsman in the world other than Viv Richards. During the series against Pakistan in 1982-83, he demolished Abdul Qadir's legspin, which the English and Australian batsmen had great difficulty in reading, earlier the same year. His shouting "googles" on reading a googly from Abdul Qadir brought one of the few bright moments for the Indian team during that tour. He was also fearless in taking apart the world's best fast-bowlers, during a WC match against West Indies in 1983, he drove Michael Holding straight over his head for a six, a shot that would have been considered unimaginable by most against a bowler of Holding's pace.

Related Topics:
Viv Richards - Abdul Qadir - Googly - West Indies - Michael Holding

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Another memorable incident relates to a test match against England in 1990. When India needed 24 runs to save the follow-on, Kapil met that target by hitting four consecutive sixes. This proved to be the right decision, as in the next over itself, the no.11 batsman was dismissed with no further addition to the score. Another example of his competitive spirit was during a match against West Indies at Sharjah in November 1986, when he tried to cajole Viv Richards into bowling the last over of the match with India needing 36 runs to win. Not surprisingly, Viv Richards didn't give-in to his request!

Related Topics:
Sharjah - Viv Richards

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Kapil's talent as a batsman, as well as his competitive spirit was evident till as late as 1992, when hooked and pulled Allan Donald on his way to a brilliant century when all the frontline Indian batsmen were struggling against Donald's pace.

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