Kapil Dev – The Success Story of The Haryana Hurricane

The story of Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev, the man who brought India the honour to hold the Cricket World Cup trophy for the first time with his on-point sports skills and fabulous willpower, is no less than the story of a movie. Ironically, his autobiopic, 83, was released in 2021. Better known as Kapil Dev, the former Indian cricketer has many titles to his name.

About

Kapildev Ramlal Nikhanj was born in Chandigarh. He possesses a confident and positive personality, which eventually helped the Indian team to win the World Cup under his captaincy. He was given the title of the ‘Indian Cricketer of the Century’ by Wisden in 2002. Further in his life, he married Romi Bhatia in 1980.

Struggles

Kapil Dev experienced several hurdles on the way of becoming a sensation. During India’s Australia tour in 1980-91, he was down with a groin injury. India was miserably losing the match. Kapil took charge despite his injury, using pain-killer injections, and won the match with his spectacular bowling, which is counted among his five best bowling performances. During the World Cup, India was close to losing, but Kapil’s motivating personality brought life into the team members and helped the country win.

Way Towards Success

Kapil started off cricket by domestically playing for Haryana. He also joined the Indian team to play a test series against Pakistan in 1978-79, where he showcased outstanding bowling skills. Dev also won the Ranji trophy and became India’s premier fast bowler by taking two 5-wicket hauls against Australia. He became the captain after Sunil Gavaskar in 1982-83 and went on to play the World Cup.

His first match as a captain was against Sri Lanka. He took 17 wickets and scored a century during the West Indies tour. During the World Cup, the West Indies lost for the first time to India. India won against Zimbabwe but lost against Australia and West Indies. The country needed to win against Zimbabwe and Australia to go through to the semi-finals. During the match with Zimbabwe, Kapil scored a century with 72 balls and simultaneously broke the 27-year-old world record with Kirmani by taking 9 wickets for 126 runs. After making their way into the finals after defeating Australia, the Indian cricket team broke the West Indian’s record of winning the World Cup. Dev ran backwards for almost 20 yards and took the wicket of Viv Richards – the finest catches in ODI Cricket. West Indies was bowled out at 140.

Career

The greatest Indian pace bowler is the only cricketer to score more than 5,000 runs and has taken more than 400 wickets in International Test cricket. After 1978-79, he led India’s bowling attack for the upcoming two decades. By the end of his Test cricket career, he had scored 434 wickets in 131 matches. He retired in 1994, after which he became the coach for the Indian team in 1999.

Does Kapil Dev have any kids?

Yes, he has a daughter – Amiya Dev.

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