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The DayAfter
Launched with Rupees Five Hundred
Painting the Portal to Mizoram High Price of Environmental Pollution Power: The Infrastructure Muddle |
| Wisden Agrees | |
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Kapil Dev da Jawab Nahin ! |
 IT
wasn’t at all an enviable task that the Wisden authorities
faced when deciding on their choice for the Indian Cricketer
of the Cen-tury. The top three greats of Indian
cricket—Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and M. A. K. Pataudi—were
among the eligible among many others including Kapil Dev. However,
they made the correct choice by picking Kapil Dev, a choice that has
been welcomed by one and all in the cricketing world, with not a
single carping critic.A large crowd paid sterling 1000 per head to attend the function, including all the Indian champions, past and present. The evening was compered by former Yorkshire captain Mark Nicholas with former Miss World Diana Hayden contributing the glamour. The current Indian team was there in force and stayed till the end. Besides Kapil, Wisden honoured Sachin as the People’s Choice. There were some surprises, however. B. S. Chandrasekhar (6 for 38 versus England) bagged the Best Bowling Performance Award when most cricketers expected Anil Kumble (10 for 74 against Pakistan) to be honoured with the award. The Best Team Award also went against expectations. Sunil Gavaskar’s 1985 team left behind both Kapil’s team which won the 1983 World Cup and Ajit Wadekar’s 1971 team which won both in England and the West Indies. V. V. S. Laxman was given the Batting Performance of the Century award for his 281 against Australia in Kolkata last year, while the Spirit of Cricket prize went to G. R. Vishwanath for calling Bob Taylor back to the crease despite his being given out in the Bombay Jubilee Test. Taylor went on to score a 100 and won the match along with Ian Botham. The great batsman, Mushtaq Ali was given the Special Achievement Award. | |
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Kapil Dev Simply Superb Kapil Dev , of course, is most famous for captaining the Indian cricket team that won the World Cup in England in 1983. He is no less famous, however, for many other triumphs during his scintillating career both with the ball and the bat from 1978 to 1994. Can anyone forget his team’s triumphant victory in the series against England three years after the World Cup?Kapil Dev is the Compleat Cricketer if ever there was one. He walked onto the field for the first time when India’s feared spin quarter were just beginning to lose their sting. In a cricketing history dominated by spin, Kapil Dev brought the fast bowler into the limelight. The fact that, today, India has so many medium fast bowlers can be attributed directly to Kapil’s inspiration. Kapil started as a bowler but evolved into an all-rounder. He evolved into a very aggressive batsman as well as a fielder par excellence. As captain of the Indian team, he led from the front, taking his team to tremendous heights. And, not the least of his qualities, he was very close to the players and a great inspiration to them. His records are well known. Briefly, during his career he wrecked the innings of 434 batsmen. As a batsman, there was his unforgettable 175 not out against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup and the four consecutive sixes against England’s Hemmings in 1990 which saved India from the shame of a follow on. Kapil is the only cricketer to have scored 5000 runs and taken 400 wickets in test matches. He also holds the record for the most number of tests played by an Indian. |
