Why Is Kapil Dev Called Haryana’s Hurricane?

Kapil Dev also known as Haryana Hurricane is a fast bowling all rounder who has changed the fast bowling culture in India with his in-swinging yorkers. He is also a Lieutenant with the Indian Territorial Army. 

Under the leadership of Kapil Dev the Indian cricket team won the world cup 1983. He was also named by the Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the century in 2002.

After his retirement in September 1999 till September 2000 he became the coach of the Indian men's National Cricket Team. When he retired in 1994 from cricket he held the highest number of wickets in International cricket. 

The record was eventually broken by Counteny Walsh in 2000. He also held the record of highest number of wickets in Test matches and ODI International matches. He is the first player to take 200 wickets in ODI and test matches.
On 11 March 2010 Dev was inducted to ICC Hall of Fame.
 

About Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev's real name is Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj. He was born on January 6, 1959 at Chandigarh, Punjab, India. He is a right hand batter and bowler. He is considered an all rounder in the Indian cricket team. Desh Prem Azad was the coach of Kapil Dev.

He got married to Rome Bhatia in 1980 and had a daughter born on 16 January's 1996.

After his retirement from cricket he took up golf as their hobby. Kapil Dev was one of  the Asian founding member of Laureus foundation in 2000. Ian Botham and Viv Richards, two greatest of the game, are also the founding members of Laureus foundation.

In 2006 Australian Cricket Legend Steve Waugh was added to the academy members when it expanded from 40 to 42.
 

Profession

Kapil Dev had hit  8 tons and 27 half centuries with the bat and collected 424 wickets in test cricket. Till this day his best bowling figure has been 9/83 whereas his highest score with the bat has been 163 in test cricket.

He played 175 runs innings in 1983 world cup matches against Zimbabwe.
He has scored about 5000 runs in test cricket and also 3783 runs in the ODI. His performance in the ODI was considered half of his ability by himself and his fans. This only shows half of his capabilities. 

Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2021 he had suffered from a heart attack.
 

Skills

Kapil bowling action is right arm medium pace bowler noted for his good action and outswinger, and was India's main strike bowler. He also invented and worked upon in-swinging yorkers during the 1980s, which he used very effectively against the lower order batsman. 

Even as a batsman he was always a natural striker of the ball who could hook and drive effectively. Naturally aggressive Kapil Dev often helped the Indian team in difficult situations by counter attacking batsmen.

A famous incident happened in Pakistan during his earlier stages of his career when the Indian cricket team captain, Bishan Singh Bedi told him to bat as a night watchman towards the end  of a test  match day. where his job is to go and stop the ball and bat till the end of day play. 

But Kapil Dev, being himself started hitting the balls out of the ground. After the day's play was over, Bedi ask Kapil Dev in punjabi that "oye Kapil Dev tenu night watchman banan bhejia si ya hanuman banan bhejia tha" ( Told you to stop the ball not to hit the ball ). 

An innocent Kapil dev replied that " I don't know the meaning of a night watchman , so I played my natural game".  On that day, the Pakistani bowlers witnessed the Hurricane from Haryana for the first time on the pitch.

 
Achievements
 
●     1979 : Arjuna Award
●     1982 : Padma Shri
●     1983 : Wisden Cricketer of the Year
●     1991 : Padma Bhushan
●     2010 : ICC hall of fame
●     2013 : 25 Greatest global living Legends in India according to ndtv
●     2013 : CK Nayadu lifetime achievement award
●     2008 : Lieutenant in Indian Territorial Army
 

Controversies

During the match fixing scandal, former cricketer, Manoj Prabhakar accused him of match fixing which was later dismissed. Kapil Dev at that movement clearly denied that he had fixed any match while playing for his country. 

Due to that Kapil Dev resigned from the position of Coach of Indian Cricket team and was succeeded by the New Zealand former player John Wright.
 

Praise and acclaim 

Kapil's performance has been praised by cricketers such as Sunil Gavaskar, who regarded him as one of the greatest all-rounders to play the game.

He is also known to be the Michael Jordan of the Indian cricket team.
The respect and love that he got from the world is unimaginable. He is considered to be the world's greatest all rounder of all Time.
 

Written by Ritik Gupta

Edited by Jerusha Patel