early life
Dev was born as Kapil Dev Nikhanj to Ram Lal Nikhanj, a prominent timber merchant and his wife Raj Kumari Ram Lal Nikhanj in Chandigarh on 6 January 1959. His mother was born in Pakpattan, in the town of the Sufi saint Baba Farid. His father was from Dipalpur. They lived in Shah Yakka which is now in Okara district Pakistan. His four sisters were born there before partition and his two brothers in Fazilka, where they moved after partition. His father spent his early life after the partition in Fazilka. They moved to the capital city Chandigarh. Dev was a student at D.A.V. School and joined Desh Prem Azad in 1971.
Captain: 1983 World Cup Champions (1982–1984)
Dev debuted as India’s captain in the 1982–83 season against Sri Lanka (before the Pakistan tour) when Gavaskar was rested. His first assignment as regular captain was the tour of West Indies, where the biggest accomplishment was a lone ODI victory. Dev (72) and Gavaskar (90) led India to a huge score – 282/5 in 47 overs and Dev’s 2 wickets aided India to restrict West Indies for 255 and a victory that Indian cricketers claim gave them the confidence to face the West Indies team in 1983 Cricket World Cup. Overall, Dev had a good series in West Indies as he scored a century to save the second test match as well as picking up 17 wickets (Average: 24.94).
brief introduction about kapil dev
1983 World Cup Performance
Dev entered the World Cup with an ordinary individual record – 32 Matches, 608 Runs (Average: 21), 34 wickets. India’s solitary victory in the previous two World Cups was against East Africa in 1975. Riding on Yashpal Sharma (89 Runs), Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri (3 wickets each), India inflicted the West Indies’ first-ever defeat in the World Cup.[23] Following a victory against Zimbabwe, India lost the next two matches – Australia (despite Dev’s best career figures of 5/43)[24] and West Indies. India now needed victories against Australia and Zimbabwe to advance to the semifinals.
India faced Zimbabwe at Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells on 18 June 1983.After falling behind, Dev, batting with the lower order batsmen, stabilised the side with help from Roger Binny (22 runs) and Madan Lal. Dev scored his century off 100 balls. Together with Kirmani (22 runs), Dev put on an unbeaten 126 runs for the 9th wicket – a world record that stood unbroken for 27 years (10,000 days),and finished not out with 175 runs off 138 balls, an innings that included 16 boundaries and 6 sixes. The innings figures in the Top 10 ODI Batting Performances at No. 4. India won the match by 31 runs. It’s said that after this match, Dev booked a Mercedes for himself as a reward.
In the semifinals India faced the English cricket team. Dev helped curtail the lower order after England lost regular wickets to Binny and Amarnath. He took 3 wickets as India limited England to 213 and the middle order of Amarnath (46 runs), Yashpal Sharma (61) and Sandeep Patil (51*) ensured victory and entry into the finals to take on the West Indies cricket team who were looking for a hat-trick of World Cup titles. West Indies restricted India for 183 runs, with only Krishnamachari Srikkanth (38 runs) providing some scoring relief. Despite losing Gordon Greenidge, West Indies steadied their innings to 57/2 on the back of quick scoring by Viv Richards. Richards played one too many aggressive shots when he skied a pull shot from Madan Lal that Dev caught at deep square leg after running backwards for over 20 yards. The catch is attributed as the turning point in the 1983 WC Final and is regarded as one of the finest in ODI Cricket. West Indies collapsed from 50/1 to 76/6 and finally were bowled out for 140 with Dev picking up the wicket of Andy Roberts. The win was India’s maiden World Cup and he led with 303 runs (Average: 60.6), 12 wickets (Average: 20.41) and 7 catches in 8 matches.
PATEL'S BLOG 