FANTASY KNOCK BY KAPIL DEV
Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells
• 18 June 1983
This was the quintessential
One-day innings. As India found themselves in deep trouble against a
razor-sharp Zimbabwe side, skipper Kapil Dev strode in and played one of the greatest
knocks in the history of One-day cricket. Kapil Dev ranks among the best
allrounders the game has known. Yet he was a far more talented batsman than his
records indicate. This innings showed exactly why.
It was a lively wicket at the
Nevill Ground and the Zimbabwean pacemen Peter Rawson and Kevin Curran
exploited it to the hilt. Sunil Gavaskar was leg-before to Rawson for a duck:
zero for one. Krish Srikkanth was caught by Iain Butchart off Curran, also for
a duck: 6 for two. Mohinder Amarnath was taken behind off Rawson for 5: 6 for
three. Sandeep Patil was dismissed similarly off Curran for 1: 9 for four.
Wicketkeeper David Houghton completed his third consecutive dismissal as he
caught Yashpal Sharma off Rawson for 9: 17 for five; and it was an unprecedented
calamity for India.
Roger Binny now joined Kapil Dev,
and the skipper decided it was no time for half-baked measures. He launched a
blitzkrieg. Binny was a resilient partner, and he helped his captain add 60 for
the sixth wicket. Binny fell leg-before to John Traicos for 22. It was now 77
for six. Ravi Shastri scored only 1 before Duncan Fletcher had him caught by
Andy Pycroft. India were precariously placed at 78 for seven.
Madan Lal came in now, and his
role was limited to keeping his wicket intact while Kapil Dev was on the
rampage. Kapil attacked in his inimitable style, hitting the ball to all parts
of the ground. He drove, off the front foot and the back, through the gaps into
the fence. Anything short was cut ferociously. If the ball was anywhere near,
or outside, the leg-stump, Kapil would swivel in a flash and, as was his wont
with his left leg bent in the manner of Lord Shiva, smite the ball anywhere in
the region between mid-wicket and fine-leg.
Kapil Dev was a master in the art
of lofting the ball out of the ground. One step forward - and bang - with
perfect timing, and the ball would next be seen sailing high up in the
distance. It was Kapil at his swashbuckling best. Madan Lal, no mean hitter of
the ball himself when the bowling was less than genuinely quick, was left
applauding for the most part. Madan Lal scored 17 before he was caught by
Houghton off Curran. He had helped Kapil add 62 for the eighth wicket.
Syed Kirmani came in at 140 for
eight, and now Kapil really let himself go. There was a shower of fours and
sixes. Kapil blazed to his century off 100 balls. The pair added 126 runs
before the overs ran out. Kirmani's contribution was 24 not out. Kapil remained
undefeated with 175 off a mere 138 balls, which broke Glenn Turner's World Cup
record score of 171 against East Africa in 1975.
Kapil had batted for a mere three
hours, and hit 16 fours and 6 sixes - a round 100 in boundaries - in a
stupendous innings which will never be forgotten. Zimbabwe, as they often did,
went down fighting. But Kapil Dev had obliterated everything in the blazing
morning's play. It was an innings of rare brilliance, the like of which is seen
perhaps once in a decade. After this, Kapil's team never looked back and went
on to wrest the title, creating one of the most stunning upsets in history.
Hail Kapil Dev.
(Author Indra
Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).
ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3
Distributed in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught
Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11 23417175, 23412567
Available in leading bookshops, and online on several
websites.
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