On this day, January 6,1959: One of the greatest all-rounder in the world, Kapil Dev was born. Kapil made his international debut in 1978 and quickly emerged as one of the best pace all-rounders in the world.
He played 131 Tests and 225 ODI matches till his retirement in 1994. Leading the Indian team to victory in the 1983 World Cup was arguably Kapil’s biggest achievement during his scintillating career.
There are some unique but unbelievable records which truly highlight his contribution to world cricket. His record speaks for himself, with 687 wickets and over 9000 international runs, and winning the 1983 World Cup as captain, Kapil Dev is widely regarded as the best pace bowling all-rounder India has produced to date. He has also inspired a new generation of cricketers and without the 1983 World Cup win there definitely would not have been as many people inspired to take up the sport. So winning that World Cup changed the landscape of Indian cricket.
Kapil surpassed a plenty of great all-rounders like Gary Sobers, Imran Khan and Ian Botham cricketers in Test cricket records with 434 wickets and 5248 runs in 131 matches with eight hundreds. Kapil Dev remains the only cricketer to take 400-plus wickets and to score 5000-plus runs in Test cricket history to date which makes him one of the greatest all-rounders in red-ball cricket.
Kapil Dev also made a similar impact in ODIs by becoming the first-ever cricketer to bag 200 ODI wickets. Kapil’s 175* against Zimbabwe was the highest score by No.5 scored by a batter at number 5 or lower in ODIs until Glenn Maxwell broke the record by smashing double ton in the ICC World Cup 2023 against Afghanistan.
In one day internationals, Kapil Dev scored 3783 runs from 225 matches at an average of 23.79, including one hundred and 14 half-centuries. He also took a total of 253 wickets at an average of 27.45 and one five-wicket haul. Kapil Dev is one of Indian cricket’s biggest blessing and the fans are grateful for it.
