Kapil Dev

It was the ability of spin bowling and eminent batting that grossed India affluent rewards and the infrequent series victories for almost forty years after the team’s inception as a Test playing nation. It wasn’t unit a living legend of our times arrived, that authentic swing and pace bowling gave fans from the most passionate nation a lot to cheer about.

He rose to prominence in first-class cricket with standout performances for Haryana but startlingly, he was consistently outperformed by contemporaries Karsan Ghavri, Rajinder Kaul and Balwinder Sandhu. Although, his first call up for the esteemed Duleep Trophy tournament showed that Kapil had the big match propensity as he sprung up a few unparalleled performances when it mattered the most.

It took three consistent years of vigorous bowling in domestic cricket before he was finally called upon by national selectors during the most taxing tour of them all – the one of Pakistan. India lost the series 2-0 but a superstar was born. The rest is just a narration.

For many years, opposition batsmen feared the early onset of Indian spinners into the attack and Indian captains were forcefully itching to bring their tweakers on. But with Kapil’s surfacing, the opposition batsmen were abruptly put under the scanner from ball one. It was no longer a case of countering the spinners only.

With his extra special banana curving outswinger and an alarming late-swinging yorker, Kapil had become a household name in the 80s and widely renowned worldwide. His hard-hitting batting was another positive in his game that won India innumerable matches from decisive situations.

In just his second Test series, facing the wrath of the West Indian quickies, Kapil smashed 126 runs just 124 balls to bring up his maiden Test century. He impressed one and all during the subsequent tour of England but his real emergence as India’s pace spearhead was during the home series against Australia in 1979 when he claimed 28 wickets at 22 runs apiece and followed the feat with a staggering performance against Pakistan. The Chennai Test of that series saw him produce what he termed his ‘greatest-ever spell’ when he ripped through the Pakistan batting lineup and finished with figures of 7/56.

A valiant presentation came during the Melbourne Test of 1981 when he bowled India to a historic victory – one that squared the series against a potent Australian team – and gave the team the first-ever victory in a Test match at the MCG. He bowled only 19 overs in the first innings and was ruled out with a groin injury but took painkilling injections and struck back to take a five-for and dismiss Australia for 83 on the last day.

A big admirer of his foremost coach, DP Azad, Kapil wrote in his autobiography ‘Cricket My Style’ (1989) “His approach to me revolved around the fact that many rough edges in my bowling had to be ironed out. He worked on my basic bowling action and delivery style without wishing to change it completely. But when it came to batting, he did not interfere. Mr. Azad told me fairly early that I had a natural gift for batting.”

He played domestic cricket with downright sincerity, steering the club to it’s first-ever Ranji Trophy triumph in the 1990/91 season, after which he quit playing first-class cricket. He played every Ranji season between 1975 and 1990 and worked closely with emerging talent from the state and has expressed his concerns over administration issues.

Kapil won his foremost man-of-the-series award during the home series against England in 1981/82 when he claimed 22 wickets and aggregated 318 runs in the three-Test series. The ensuing series in England saw the exact same feat achieved although he could not avoid a series defeat. He developed his liking for England over the subsequent years, primarily since his beautiful outswing was most profitable in gloomy English conditions.

He was the lone warrior in the bowling department during the backbreaking tour of Pakistan in 1982 when counterpart all-rounder Imran Khan took 40 wickets and destroyed the Indian batting. His spell of 8/85 at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore remains one of his best-ever days in the sun.

The devastating tour of Pakistan saw Gavaskar’s axe from the helm and Kapil’s surfacing as the new captain. His first task was quite an easy one as the then-minnows Lakans were crushed but Kapil soon found out that captaincy was not a bed of roses during the succeeding tour of world champions West Indies when his team was battered 2-0 but combating performances from Mohinder Amarnath kept the team’s spirits alive

The 1983 World Cup was to be held and his team went into the competition with a solitary victory that came against minnows East Africa in the preceding two editions. Touted ‘underdogs’ very early the poise of the team was spurred with an upset victory over West Indies in a league match due to a super knock from Yashpal Sharma. The magnitude of the victory was even bigger because West Indies had never lost a World Cup match prior to the loss at Manchester.

© AFP Kapil claiming scalp number 400 during the fifth Test against Australia, Perth 1992

The thrust picked up over the next few weeks and a dream became an authenticity as India were crowned the world champions of one-day cricket under the intrepid leadership of Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj. His running catch to dismiss Vivian Richards at Lord’s on the fateful day is regarded one of the finest in the history of the sport. The World Cup conquest made him a marvel as he led from the front with 303 runs (Average: 60.6), 12 wickets (Average: 20.41) and 7 catches in 8 matches.

Egoclashes with Sunil Gavaskar is a grueling story but the amount of times the two greats switched captaincy was another tale to tell. Soon after the 1983 hysteria, Kapil was axed as skipper after West Indies avenged the World Cup loss with 3-0 and 5-0 drubbings in the Tests and ODIs respectively. ‘Sunny’ was back at the helm of Indian cricket.

During the second Test of England’s tour of India in 1984, India lost the match and Kapil was severely blamed for playing a reckless shot and got heavily blamed by Sunil Gavaskar. He was subsequently dropped for the third Test at Kolkata on the basis of ‘disciplinary grounds’. Mohammad Azharuddin debuted as a replacement at Eden Gardens.

Detractors firmly believe that captaincy did both good and bad to his memorable career. He led India to victory during the 1986 tour of England and was involved in one of the greatest Tests in history during the tied Test at Chennai in the same year. These fabulous accomplishments got him his captaincy back for the 1987 World Cup. He was sternly blamed for the loss to England in the semi-final and it ended his reign as captain yet again.

Kapil Dev has always carried a versatile persona. He has been been actively involved in various business pursuits as well as modeling and journalism. His good looks, a certain muscular charm and his communicable enthusiasm have made him a favourite amongst advertisers over the years. During the early 90s Indian mothers must have encouraged their children to drink up their glass of milk with Boost in it – the secret of Kapil Dev’s energy!

© AFP He has been an avid golfer since his retirement

Another terrific spell that he produced against Pakistan was in 1989 at Sharjah. India was bowled out for 120 and consequently Pakistan were shot out for 101 with Kapil claiming five wickets. He became the leading wicket-taker in ODI cricket at the time.

The last few years of his career saw him gain a lot more support in the form of Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and the likes but the ‘days of grandeur’ of the early and mid 80s could never be recreated and critics felt that his career felt like a ‘drag’ and his primary motive of playing was to surpass Hadlee’s 434-wicket feat.

But statistics can never do justice to the charisma, the buoyancy, and the sheer brilliance of Kapil Dev. He used to counter-attack the likes of Holding, Garner, Imran and Lillie with immense mettle. What really made him special was his unfussy approach to the game and the fact that he was so naturally talented.

His last-ever Test century came against South Africa in 1992 when he took on the likes of Allan Donald and scored an outstanding 129 runs in usual run-a-ball fashion.

In fact, some went on to say that Kapil played as long as he did (until 1994) to prove nemesis Ian Botham wrong who had publicly challenged that the ‘Haryana Hurricane’ would never achieve the milestone. Well, here is a toast to the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century.