OTD: All-rounder Kapil Dev was born in 1959

There’s always a moment that ignites greatness and for Indian cricket 1983 World Cup win was that moment. One of the players who had been an essential part of India’s victorious World Cup campaign was India’s young adventurous captain Kapil Dev. Today the former India captain is celebrating his 65th birthday. During the initial phase of his career, he was regarded as just another player, but a pathbreaker whose trailblazing skills inspired generations of cricketers in India. 

Kapil Dev found his name in the Indian squad for the first time when India was going on a tour to Pakistan in 1978. The young assertive all-rounder made his debut at Quetta in an ODI match and subsequently, got to play his first test match at Faisalabad.

Kapil the Devil

The fast-bowling all-rounder from Haryana had impressed everyone very early in his international career and cemented his place in the Indian team. After a exceptional tour of Pakistan in 1982/83 Kapil Dev was appointed as the captain replacing Sunil Gavaskar. By the time the 1983 World Cup came, Kapil had already become a very pivotal player for Team India. India had entered the tournament as the underdog but during the tournament, a script was written by Kapil’s Dev, as the team was famously called, and it was about the tectonic shift in the cricketing world. Team India led by its sturdy captain won the World Cup in a heroic fashion and there started a new era of not just Indian cricket but world cricket. 

Kapil is undoubtedly the greatest all-rounder that India has ever seen and is also one of the greatest all-rounders across the globe. He played 131 test matches for India scoring 5248 runs with the bat and picked up 434 wickets, a record then, at an average of 29.64. In ODI format he had represented India in 225 matches and scalped 253 wickets along with 3783 runs. These stats are just a small quantum of the giant stature that Kapil Dev holds in the history of Indian cricket and its rags-to-riches story. 

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