They said India could not produce fast bowlers. And then Kapil Dev arrived on the scene. As the Haryana Hurricane celebrates his 57th birthday on January 6, it is worth remembering the impact he had on Indian cricket.

Arriving as a breath of fresh air in the late 1970s, Dev captivated cricket fans with his majestic bowling and some manic batting. Great performances were many, but perhaps his finest moment came when he led India to the 1983 World Cup title.

Dev did not do much of note in that final, scoring only 15 and taking a solitary wicket. And yet, the final has become intricately linked to Kapil Dev for a stunning piece of cricketing athleticism he displayed – for many Indians, his running catch to dismiss West Indies’ dangerous Viv Richards was the moment which summed up that famous triumph.

Advertisement

Because, till that moment, India looked like it was coasting to a defeat, defending a paltry 183.

But two years before that historic triumph came one of Dev's best performances in the longer format of the game. India, traditionally poor travellers, were in Australia, possibly the toughest cricketing destination. India were already trailing 1-0 as the action shifted to Melbourne. Things looked like going from bad to worse as Australia needed just 143 in the final innings to win the Test. And then the Haryana Hurricance decided to unleash a typhoon.

As a batsman, Dev would not have been a misfit in this slapdash Twenty20 era. In an age when most other Indian batsmen preferred to be obdurate, he enjoyed playing the big shots and was not averse to taking risks. In a Test Match at Lords in 1991, he hit four sixes off English off-spinner Eddie Hemmings to take his team past the follow-on.

Unfortunately, and to the chagrin of all cricket fans, his greatest ever One Day International knock, that momentous 175 against Zimbabwe at the 1983 World Cup when India were tottering at 17/5, was never televised due to a BBC strike. It was a knock that entered Indian cricketing folklore and, as Ian Chappell points out, it was the innings that gave India the impetus to go on and win the trophy.