Kapil Dev Celebrates His 63rd Birthday; Receives Wishes From Fans And Cricket Fraternity

By Dhruv Kumar

Updated - 06 Jan 2022, 04:36 PM

Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev (Image Credit: Twitter)

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Former India captain and one of the greatest all-rounders the game of cricket has seen, Kapil Dev is celebrating his 63rd birthday today on January 6th, 2022. Perhaps the greatest all-rounder India ever produced and one of the first true pacers India presented to the world, Kapil Dev had a storied career that began in 1978.

Born Kapil Dev Nikhanj on 6 January 1959 in Chandigarh, he made his FC debut for Haryana in 1975, picking a 6-for against Punjab. He ended up picking 121 wickets in 30 matches in his debut First-Class season.

Shortly, he made his India debut against Pakistan in 1978 in Faisalabad, picking Sadiq Mohammad as his maiden Test wicket and pinging the Pakistani batters repeatedly on their helmets. He kept contributing with the bat as well scoring his maiden Test ton against West Indies in 1979 in Delhi.

His biggest claim to fame came when he was named captain of the Indian team for the 1983 World Cup and he led an underdog team to the title, when no one gave India a chance, given that they had won a grand total of one match in the previous two editions of the tournament.

Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev (Image Credit: Twitter)

He continued to perform miracles with both the bat and the ball for India, including a famous fifer against Australia in a Test where he bowled with a thigh muscle strain after taking injections to keep him going. He once again led the Indian team to the semi-finals of the 1987 World Cup at home, but then never captained the national team in any format again.

World Record For Most Wickets

Kapil Dev enjoyed a brilliant rivalry with fellow all-rounders Sir Ian Botham of England, Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand, and Imran Khan of Pakistan. They kept competing with one another whenever their teams faced off.

The Haryana Hurricane continued his storied career and made some amazing records as well, becoming the youngest Test player to achieve the all-round double of 100 Wickets and 1000 Runs and in 25 matches. He also took an ODI hat-trick against Sri Lanka in 1991 and his best bowling figures in Test matches were 9/83 against West Indies.

Kapil Dev with the 1983 World Cup trophy [Image-Getty]
He took a fifer in ODIs as well and ended his ODI career with 253 wickets in 225 matches with a best of 5/43. He also made 3783 runs in ODIs with one century, an epic 175* in the 1983 World Cup, which was the highest ODI individual score at the time, until Viv Richards made 189*.

In Test matches, Kapil made 5248 runs and picked 434 wickets in 131 matches. His best batting performance was 163. He missed only one Test match in his entire career and retired from the game in 1994. His 434 Test wickets remained a world record until Courtney Walsh broke the record.

He turned to the coach and was the head of the India team for two years in 1999-2000

Today as he celebrates his 63rd birthday, Kapil Dev, the legend received wishes from fans and cricket fraternity alike.

Also Read: Ashes 2021-22: Michael Vaughan Backs Justin Langer To Become England’s Head Coach

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