LOOKING BACK
The making of a legend
Sushil Kapoor

Kapil Dev being honoured before he left for the Australia-New Zealand tour in 1981.

I was in Nairobi with the Punjab Cricket Team, when I heard about Kapil Dev Nikhanj being conferred the prestigious "Indian Cricketer of the Century" award in London. The news was greeted with great elation by the team members and members of the Indian community, which included Kapil’s former Test colleague Sandip Patil, who is at present on a coaching assignment with the Kenyan national team. A call was put through on Kapil’s mobile to congratulate him. He sounded calm and composed but happy. He had become a legend in his lifetime. To my mind two complete sports persons who could be called legends are Major Dhayan Chand, the wizard of hockey, and Kapil Dev.

The exploits of Kapil Dev over the years have been analysed and recorded for posterity by a number of sports writers. Fiery Fredie Truman, the English fast bowler, in 1982 remarked : "Not for a long time I have seen so much cricketing ability vested in one man. Kapil Dev, whether batting, bowling or fielding, is a spectators’ delight".

I had the good fortune of running into a gawky young lad at the cricket stadium in Chandigarh in early 1970. He was born into the Nikhanj household on January 6, 1959. The Nikhanjs resided in Sector 16, near the stadium. The Sector-16 stadium was being run under Desh Prem Azad, who was later felicitated with the Dronacharya Award for producing four Test cricketers — Kapil Dev, Yog Raj, Ashok Malhotra and Chetan Sharma — from one centre. I was personally involved with the management of this sport in the city and provided ample opportunities to Kapil and other talented cricketers by arranging cricket matches at Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Delhi through my Central Cricket Club. This exposure came very handy to Kapil when he went to play Test matches at higher levels. In 1970, the Haryana Cricket Association came into existence and the Chandigarh boys got a number of opportunities to play in the national circuit.

Kapil with the writer at the cricket stadium in Chandigarh

I have always felt that Kapil’s success has been due to his hard work, diligence, discipline and ever-increasing desire to learn from every outing. He has always been a a team man. This trait he carried till he retired from active cricket. He always took every aspect of cricket very seriously, whether it was batting or bowling. Even during his early days, he was feared by the batsmen in the region. Once while playing a cricket match at Baradari Grounds, Patiala, he bowled with such speed that most of the batsmen withdrew from the line of fire and one batsman, Raj Kumar Kakria, expecting a bouncer, ducked into a straight delivery which caught him on the head. This particular incident is talked about even today.

Before making his Test debut against Pakistan at Faislabad in 1978-79, Kapil had gone to Nairobi with the CCI Team. This time during my visit to Kenya, the locals recalled with great pride his exploits with the bat during that tour: he regaled the crowd by sending the red cherry out of the stadium a number of times. Kapil had the good fortune of playing along with some keen youngsters like late Capt Chander Vijay, Rajiv Anand, Yog Raj Singh and Ashok Malhotra in his formative years. It might surprise many to know that Kapil was not selected for the team representing Haryana Schools for the inaugural match of the Haryana Cricket Association. This, however, was not because he was not considered a good player but because there were other boys who would have missed playing for the association as they were in their last year of school. Kapil was not deterred by this setback and came back strongly the following year.

In 1975, R.P. Mehra, the then President of the Cricket Board, asked us if Chandigarh could give a fast bowler to the Indian squad. He was promptly introduced to the potential fast bowler, who was at that time playing a match in Delhi. Mehra was quite amused when he looked at Kapil’s frail physique, but he went on air to announce that a fast bowler from the North would be joining the Indian cricket team. A fast bowler on the unhelpful Indian wickets had always been a wishful thought. Kapil, however, changed this pattern of thinking.

Kapil had missed the earlier tour of Australia and when the Indian squad for Pakistan was being announced, everybody in Chandigarh was glued to the radio. What a joy it was when his name was announced as the 16th man of the Indian national squad. I immediately got into the act of arranging a get-together of local cricketers and sports personalities at the Sector-16 stadium. It was barfi and cold drinks with young Kapil being hugged by everybody around. The elite gathering included hockey Olympian Balbir Singh, ace sprinter Milkha Singh, Kapil’s brothers and his coach Desh Prem Azad, and the late Samuel Banerjee, eminent sports editor of The Tribune, which regularly published the exploits of this youngster. Old Sam had written many articles about Kapil over the years and was a very proud and delighted man that day.

A stickler for physical fitness, Kapil played 131 Tests without a break. The only break was on non cricketing grounds and not because of lack of fitness. He amassed 5248 runs with eight centuries and took 434 wickets, a world record which was recently broken by Walsh. He also excelled in the shorter version of cricket, scoring 3782 runs in 225 matches and capturing 253 wickets. The high point in his career was winning the World Cup in 1983 by leading from the front and scoring a miraculous 175 not out against Zimbabwe in that competition. When the victorious Indian team returned to India, they were given a civic reception in Bombay, where I was living those days. When Kapil spotting me in the crowd, he took me to the podium. A rare gesture from a person who was at that time being sought after by one and all. Kapil has always been respectful and has never had any airs. I can vividly recall that after playing one day international match against Pakistan in 1983-84 at Jaipur, he accompanied me to inaugurate the extension counter of the Central Bank of India on the premises of Maharani Gayatri Devi College without any fuss. He spent over one hour at the function. I am quite sure nobody else would have been able to take out time from such a hectic schedule. Even when he had reached the pinnacle of his success, he never forgot the hard way he played cricket by eating at roadside dhabas and travelling in unreserved compartments.

This down-to-earth player has always helped young cricketers with cricketing material, as well as advice. In 1993, while playing for India against England in Chandigarh, he purchased tickets worth Rs 10,000 for young cricketers of the city. He said, "Whatever I am today it is because of cricket and I would like to give something back to the game. I am always willing to help and guide the youngsters".

Kapil has never carried any malice towards anybody despite media reports of his clash with Sunil Gavaskar earlier in his career or Sandip Patil’s unsavoury remarks. Whenever I mentioned such reports, he always smiled and said that he did not bother about such things. Even though Sandip Patil and Kapil were not on the best of terms during their playing days, the former was all praise for Kapil’s large-heartedness when he met me in Kenya recently.

Kapil’s international cricketing journey, which started in Pakistan in 1978-79, and which transformed the Indian cricketing scene from a spin-oriented approach to a more balanced combination of fast, medium and spin attack. This cricketing legend is not going to rest on his laurels and is keen to serve the cause of the Indian cricket despite the unsavoury controversy of match-fixing from which his name has been cleared.

Legends like Kapil Dev are made of substance, hard work, perseverance and dedication.