Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev Nikhanj (Pronunciation: [kəpil deːʋ] born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer.

One of the greatest all-rounders in the history of cricket, he was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman.

Dev is the only player in the history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets (434 wickets) and scored more than 5,000 runs in Test.

Kapil Dev Nikhanj was born in a Punjabi Hindu family to Ram Lal Nikhanj, a teak merchant and his wife, Rajkumari in Chandigarh on 6 January 1959.

His family moved to Fazilka after the partition before eventually moving to Chandigarh.

His paternal family is from Montgomery (now known as Sahiwal) and his mother was born in Pakpattan but raised in Okara, both now in Punjab, Pakistan.

Dev was a student at D. A. V. College.

Kapil Dev made an impressive debut for Haryana in November 1975 against Punjab with a 6-wicket haul, restricting Punjab to just 63 runs and helping Haryana to victory.

He finished the season with 121 wickets in 30 matches.

In the 1976–77 season opener against Jammu & Kashmir, he had a match haul of 8/36 in the win.

While his contribution for the rest of that season was ordinary, Haryana qualified for the pre-quarterfinals.

Dev achieved his then best innings haul of 8/20 in just 9 overs in the second innings to skittle Bengal for 58 runs in under 19 overs.

Haryana lost to Bombay in the quarter-finals.

He began his 1977–78 season claiming 8/38 in the first innings against Services.

With 3 wickets in the second innings, he took his maiden 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket, a feat he would later achieve twice in Test cricket.

With 23 wickets in 4 matches, he was selected for the Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Wills Trophy matches.

In the 1978–79 season, Haryana had a repeat encounter with Bengal in the pre-quarterfinal match after a lackluster season from Dev (12 wickets from 4 matches).

He scored 2 half-centuries in the group stage matches.

In the pre-quarterfinal match, he took a 5-wicket haul in the first innings.

Poor batting by Haryana in the second innings let Bengal avenge their loss from 2 seasons back by scoring the required 161 runs for the loss of just 4 wickets.

Dev stood out in the Irani Trophy match, scoring 62 runs and coming in at number 8.

He took 5 catches in the game where Karnataka was defeated by the Rest of India XI.

Dev arrived in the national spotlight with a standout performance in the finals of the Duleep Trophy, taking a first-innings haul of 7/65 in 24 overs.

He was included in the North Zone squad for Deodhar Trophy and Wills Trophy for the first time.

He played his first Test match in the season against Pakistan.

In the 1979–80 season, Dev showed his batting talent with a maiden century against Delhi when he scored his career-best 193.

In the pre-quarterfinal match, where he captained Haryana for the first time against Uttar Pradesh, he took a five-wicket haul in the second innings to advance to quarterfinals, where they lost to Karnataka.

With Dev cementing his place in the Indian national squad, his appearances in domestic matches dwindled.

In 1982, Dev was awarded the Padma Shri, and in 1991 the Padma Bhushan.

Dev captained the Indian cricket team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, becoming the first Indian captain to win the Cricket World Cup.

He is still the youngest captain (at the age of 24) to win the World Cup for any team.

He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

In the 1990–91 Ranji season, Haryana rode into the semi-finals on the back of the bowling performance of Chetan Sharma and the batting performance of Amarjit Kaypee.

Dev took center stage in the semi-final against Bengal, where he led his team to a Mammoth score of 605 runs by scoring 141 as well as taking 5 wickets.

He retired in 1994, as the first player to take 200 ODI wickets, and holding the world record for the highest number of wickets taken in Test cricket, a record subsequently broken by Courtney Walsh in 2000.

Kapil Dev held the record for the highest individual score (175*) scored by a batsman batting at number 5 or lower in ODIs until 2023, when it was superseded by Glenn Maxwell.

After retiring, he coached the Indian national team between September 1999 and September 2000.

In 2002, he was named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century.

On 11 March 2010, Dev was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

In 2013, he received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour conferred by BCCI on a former player.