Name:

Kapil Dev Nikhanj

Nickname:

Haryana Hurricane

Date of Birth:

06 Jan 1959

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Chandigarh, East Punjab, India

Career:

Test: 1978 - 1994
ODI: 1978 - 1994
First Class: 1975 - 1994

Teams:

India (Country)
Haryana (Regional)

Kapil Dev: Profile of a thrilling allrounder

Kapil Dev: India's greatest all-rounder, tarnished by match fixing allegations

Born : 6 January 1959 at Chandigarh, Punjab, India

Kapil Dev was a swashbuckling all-rounder. He was the first genuinely successful fast bowler produced by India and went on to become the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.

He came onto the scene when the Indian new-ball was shared by Solkar and Gavaskar before being handed to any of the famous quartet of spinners to do their thing. Fast bowlers were not traditionally produced by India but Kapil certainly bucked that trend. By the time he retired he had taken 219 of his then-world-record 434 Test wickets on the unforgiving Indian pitches. He gave hope to a new generation of seamers that wickets could be taken in those conditions.

He was particularly skillful in his use of swing. His best bowling of 9-83 came against West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983, the first captain to take nine wickets in a Test innings. With the bat he was a natural striker of the ball who scored his runs quickly, once saving the follow-on in a Test match at Lord's by hitting four consecutive sixes off Eddie Hemmings with number 11 at the other end.

As captain he led India to a surprise win in the 1983 World Cup. During that World Cup he played his most famous innings, rescuing India from 17-5 against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells with 175*. In all, he captained the team in 34 Tests and 74 ODIs.

Kapil Dev was the greatest pace bowler India has produced, and their greatest fast-bowling allrounder. If he had played at any other time - not when Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee were contemporaries - he would surely have been recognised as the best allrounder in the world. In any case he did enough to be voted India's Cricketer of the Century during 2002, ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.

His greatest feats were to lead India almost jauntily, and by his all-round example, to the 1983 World Cup, and to take the world-record aggregate of Test wickets from Hadlee. It was the stamina of the marathon runner that took him finally to 431 wickets and only a yard beyond. He might not have been quite the bowling equal of Imran, Hadlee or Botham at his best, and his strike rate was less than four wickets per Test, but he was still outstanding in his accuracy and ability to swing the ball, usually away from right-handers. And he could hit a ball even more brilliantly than he bowled it, with uncomplicated flair.

Kapil had a rather ordinary stint as India's coach for 10 months between October 1999 and August 2000. At the height of the match-fixing allegation by Manoj Prabhakar - a charge that was subsequently dismissed - Kapil resigned as coach.

Hurt by the betting controversy, he announced that he was leaving the game. However, he returned from a significantly quiet period when Wisden named him their Indian Cricketer of the Century. He served as chairman of National Cricket Academy for two years. In May 2007, Kapil joined the breakaway Indian Cricket League, which led to his removal from the NCA.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter;