One of the youngest ever captain to lift the cricket World Cup for India, Kapildev Nikhanj turns another major milestone as he turns 60 today (6th January 1959).
Kapil is a true legend and one of the most inspiring and towering cricketing personalities of all time. The jat from Haryana chose a completely different path when rest of the country was producing champion spinners. It was only Haryana Hurricane’s exceptional guts and talent which probably paved the way for youngsters opting for fast bowling in India.
Kapil was handed over the reins of captaincy in 1983 World Cup at a tender age of 24 when India created history to overpower the might of West Indies at Lords in an epic final almost 36 years ago.
The World Cup journey had started with a shocker defeat of West Indies by Indians which was treated as a fluke and then Zimbabwe almost ruled India out of the World Cup but thanks to Kapil's heroic 175 not out, India managed to stay in the tournament and then there was no looking back till ruling at Lord’s in the finals.
An inspiring captain always brings out the best from his team and that’s what happened in the World Cup and instead of big players performing, it was the turn of Roger Binny, Madanlal, Krishnamachari Shrikanth, Balwinder Sandhu and the super hero Mohinder Amarnath and never to forget one of the most amazing ground catches which Kapil took of Sir Vivian Richards made India achieve one of the most improbable victory which changed the way the world looked at Indian Cricket and a new super power was born which also meant start of a decline of the Windies which they are yet to recover.
Kapil was in an era when the world could not decide who was a better allrounder in Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan and Kapil. However what made Kapil stand apart from them was the playing conditions which were offered to Kapil. Bowling with his heart out on spin friendly but dead fast bowling pitches and then come out to bat to take the game away from opponents with aggressive batting needs a true genius and that was Kapil.
Kapil in his hey days was a fearsome allrounder and who can forget few of his memorable performances like 9/83 against West Indies at Ahmedabad, 5/43 against Australia in 1983 World
Cup, hitting 4 consecutive sixes to Eddie Hemmings against England at Lords and finally overtaking Sir Richard Hadlee as the World’s leading wicket taker.
The man with a golden heart was Indian coach and during his tenure one of the biggest controversies in match fixing erupted when a fellow cricketer named Kapil in the scandal. The episode made Kapil cry on a National Media and the scar probably took him away from the game for a considerable period of time.
Indian cricket has come a long way since Kapil retired, but the contribution he made to the Indian dressing room, gave belief and confidence to take against any team and be fearless in any adverse situation will have imprints on the way Cricket is played in India for a long time to come.
Let us celebrate the genius of Kapil on this important day and may god bless him for years to come.
P.S. The blog intends to celebrate birthday of one of the most inspiring Indian cricketer of all times and does not get into statistics and analysis of the cricketer.
- Jayawant
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