India lifted its first-ever Cricket World Cup title, 35 years ago, defeating West Indies in the final match by 43 runs at the Lord’s under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. Kapil Dev is the greatest all-rounder India has produced. He is the only cricketer in the world to have scored all-rounder’s double of 4,000 Test runs and 400 Test wickets in Test (international match) cricket.
| Birth | January 6, 1959 (Chandigarh, India) |
| Age | 61 years |
| Full Name | Kapil Dev Ram Lal Nikhanj |
| Nickname | Paaji, The Haryana Hurricane |
| Profession | Cricketer (All-rounder) |
| Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Wife | Romi Bhatia |
Kapil Dev was born on January 6, 1959, to Ram Lal Nikhanj (father) and Raj Kumari Ram Lal Nikhanj (mother) in Chandigarh, India. His father was a timber merchant while his mother was a housewife. Kapil Dev was born in Pakpattan, Pakistan (town of Sufi Saint Baba Farid) while his father belonged to Dipalpur, Pakistan. Also, after the partition, the family moved to Chandigarh. Kapil Dev studied at D.A.V. School and in 1971 joined Desh Prem Azad (Indian cricketer and Cricket coach).
Also, in 1980, Kapil Dev married Romi Bhatia. On January 16, 1996, the couple gave birth to Amiya Dev.
Kapil Dev made his career debut in Cricket with Haryana against Punjab in November 1975. Also, at that time Haryana won the match and Kapil dev finished the season with 121 wickets in 30 matches.
In the 1976-1977 season, he played against Jammu and Kashmir. Also, Haryana qualified for the pre-quarterfinals but lost to Bombay in the quarter-finals.
In the 1977–78 season, he played against services and scored 23 wickets in 4 matches. Dev was selected for the Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Wills Trophy matches.
In the 1978–79 season, Kapil Dev stood out in the Irani Trophy match where he scored 62 runs at number 8 order. His performance in the finals of the Duleep Trophy was widely appreciated. He made a place in the North Zone squad for Deodhar Trophy and Wills Trophy and played his first Test Match in the season against Pakistan.
In the 1979-80 season, he scored a maiden century (193) against Delhi. He captained Haryana for the first time against Uttar Pradesh and took five wickets to advance to the quarterfinals, but lost to Karnataka.
Post-retirement, Kapil Dev was appointed as coach of the Indian National Cricket Team in the year 1999. During his term as a coach, India won only a test match at home against New Zealand and witnessed two series losses against Australia and South Africa.
Manoj Prabhakar alleged Kapil Dev of Match-fixing, following which he resigned as the National Coach. The charges against him were later dismissed. He was succeeded by India’s first foreign coach, John Wright, a New Zealand batsman.
After his resignation as India’s National Cricket Coach, Kapil Dev returned to Cricket again as a bowling consultant. In October 2006, he was nominated as the chairperson of the National Cricket Academy for 2 years.
Also, on September 24, 2008, Kapil Dev joined the Indian Territorial Army. So the chief of the Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, commissioned him as a Lieutenant Colonel. Also, Dev joined the army as an honorary officer.
So in 2019, Kapil Dev was appointed as the first chancellor of the Sports University of Haryana.
Instagram: @therealkapildev