Kapil Dev, A former Indian cricketer named Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj Januar. He was a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and a fast-medium bowler. With the Indian Territorial Army, he has the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel. In 1983, he led India to their first Cricket World Cup victory. In 2002, Wisden named him the Indian Cricketer of the Century. At the age of 24, Kapil Dev holds the distinction for being the youngest cricket skipper to win the world cup.
The Greatest Ever
Dev captained the Indian cricket team to victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, becoming the first Indian captain to do so. Between September 1999 and September 2000, he was the coach of the Indian national team. He retired in 1994 with the world record for most Test wickets taken, which was later surpassed by Courtney Walsh in 2000.
Tenure as a Coach
In 1999, Kapil Dev succeeded Anshuman Gaekwad as the coach of India’s national cricket team. During his tenure, India only won one test match (at home against New Zealand) and suffered two significant series losses (3–0) in Australia and (2–0) at home against South Africa, and was widely seen as a disappointment. Dev resigned from his job as a national coach during the height of Manoj Prabhakar’s match-fixing allegations, which were later disproved. “I bid adieu to the game that gave me so much and then took a large deal of it away on the mere rumour of a third party,” he said in his farewell statement, referring to the betting scandal. He was succeeded as coach by John Wright, a former New Zealand batsman; who became India’s first foreign coach, after a brief hiatus.
Return to Cricket
In July 2002, Wisden revealed Dev as one of sixteen nominees for the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century award; following a period of silence away from the public glare. Although Dev won the award ahead of longtime teammate; Gavaskar and audience favourite Tendulkar, describing the experience as “my finest hour.”
Moreover Dev gradually returned to cricket as a bowling consultant and was the bowling; coach in India’s preparatory camp for the March 2004 tour of Pakistan. Dev was appointed for a two-year term as chairman of the National Cricket Academy in October 2006.
