The legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev celebrates his 65th birthday today (January 6). With 687 wickets and over 9000 international runs, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain is widely regarded as the best pacer or pace all-rounder India produced to date.
Kapil made his international debut in 1978 and quickly emerged as one of the best pace all-rounders in the world. He played 131 Tests and 225 ODI matches till his retirement in 1994.
Leading the Indian team to glory in the 1983 World Cup was arguably Kapil's biggest achievement during his scintillating career but, some unique but unbelievable records truly highlight his contribution to world cricket. So, on his 65th birthday, let's look into five unique records by the legend.
1. Only cricketer to score 5000+ runs and to take 400+ Test wickets
Kapil dominated the world cricket when fans witnessed the greatness of pace all-rounders Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. Kapil surpassed all these three cricketers in Test cricket records with 434 wickets and 5248 wickets in 131 matches with eight hundreds.
He remains the only cricketer to take 400-plus wickets and to score 5000-plus runs in Test cricket history to date which makes him one of the greatest all-rounders in red-ball cricket.
2. Best bowling figures by Test captain
Kapil also holds a unique record for producing the best bowling figures in an innings in Test cricket history.
In November 1983, he took nine wickets in the second innings against West Indies at Ahmedabad's Gujarat Stadium breaking Pakistan captain Imran Khan's eight-wicket in an innings record set in 1982. Notably, Kapil also took eight wickets in an innings against Australia in 1985 to lead by example.
3. 250 runs and 20 wickets in Test series
Only two Indian cricketers have scored 250-plus runs and have taken 20-plus wickets in a Test series so far and Kapil did this two times.
- Kapil Dev vs Pakistan in 1979/80 - 278 runs & 32 wickets in 6 matches
- Kapil Dev vs England in 1981/82 - 318 runs & 22 wickets in 6 matches
- Ravichandran Ashwin vs England in 2016 - 306 runs & 28 wickets in 5 matches
4. Highest partnership in ODIs
In batting, Kapil famously smashed 175* runs off just 138 balls against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup, which was the highest individual ODI score at the time and has been broken by many. But Kapil's unbeaten 126-run stand with Syed Kirmani remains the highest partnership by an Indian pair for the 9th wicket in ODI history and second-highest in world cricket.
5. First to 200 ODI wickets
Kapil also made a similar impact in ODIs by becoming the first-ever cricketer to bag 200 ODI wickets. Kapil's 175* against Zimbabwe was the highest score by no.5 scored by a batter at number 5 or lower in ODIs until Glenn Maxwell broke the record by smashing double ton in the ICC World Cup 2023.
