HURRICANE FROM HARYANA.

HURRICANE  FROM  HARYANA.  

In those glorious cricketiñgs days of fast  bowlers  including Malcom Marshal ,Michel Holding,Andy Roberts,Garner  from West Indies , Dennis Lillie  Jeff Thomson of Australia ,Ian Bothom of England , Sarfaraz Nawaz , Imran Khan of Pakistan and Richard Hedaly of New Zealand, KAPIL DEV was the only answer from Indian side.

Till  1978  India used to mainly depend on spinners from the days of Subhash Gupte,Vinoo Mankad,to famous  quartet Bedi,Chandrashekhar,Prasanna and Venkat Raghavan. For our generation Kapil was the first fast bowler who made his presence felt and perhaps only after that , young cricketers were inspired to opt the career in fast bowling.

Kapil was perhaps the slowest among all the bowlers named  above but was the dark horse, as in wicket taking numbers he surpassed all of them. Many of today's generation may not be knowing that at one time Kapil was holding record of taking  highest number of wickets  in the test matches.

the "Hurricane" tag was however  given to Kapil for his batting skill. Immediately after his debute he scored fifty in 33 balls and became the fastest Indian to score fifty in the test cricket.

I am now stating only  two occasions when Kapil proved how appropriate the hurricane tag was.The first one was (apart from fastest fifty in the test match) when England scored mammoth 653 runs in which someone from England side scored triple century.  India required 454 to avoid follow on .The score was 430 for 7 and Kapil was on the crease .Suddenly two wickets fell and the score became 9 down 430.At that time Kapil hit sixer effortlessly. English commentritor instead of appreciating , made sarcastic comment that "3 more sixers like that and India will avoid the follow on and added Kapil should show patience and responsibility etc etc"  and.... this is not the time when he should go for big shots etc "  Kapil Dev however knew exactly what he was doing and he indeed hit 3 more sixers to avoid the follow on . India was all out for 454  and Kapil Dev remained unbeaten. Unfortunately India lost the match even after avoiding the follow on and missed the opportunity of forcing a draw is a separate matter but Kapil Dev displayed his hurricane style of batting and achieved the objective.

The second occasion is his best inning against Zimbabwe in the world cup  when he was unbeaten on 175 runs which was the record then. In that match India were 5 down with only 17 runs and the wickets were falling at the other end .Kapil was as solid as rock and hit 16 fours and 6 sixers in that whriwind knock.The match win against Zimbabwe gave a tremondous momentum to Indian team who under Kapil's leadership started beleiving that they can win every match .When in the final match  India  scored only  183 and couldnot play allotted 60 overs English commentritor said .. "India has spoiled the fun of final....if England would have been in the  final they would have given tough fight ....now it is all one sided affair etc .etc"  I think at that time there was only one man in the world ...Kapil Dev , who believed India can win and he inspired other 10 teammates to think that India can win.Kapil knew that  anything happens twice ....first in your mind and then only in the reality. India were underdogs and they had nothing to loose against mighty west Indians. Kapil and his devils won the final because of the firm belief that they can win.
English people came to. Know only after India's victory  that Hurricane from Haryana had arrived in England.

One of the greatest virtue of this person was he used to be always physically fit.Never before or after I have heared  about any fast bowler who never missed any test because of injury.Kapil might have got the record of playing maximum tests without getting dropped from the side but for that controversial disciplinary action against him when people witnessed "No Kapil No Test" hoarders in Calcutta.It took quite some time for Sunny Gavaskar to understand  that Kapil just plays his natural game..Barring that Calcutta test he played highest number of tests without ever being dropped from the side for physical fitness reason.

Kapil Dev is the only player in the history of cricket who took more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5000 runs. No wonder he was named the best cricketer of the century ahead of Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar.

I will always feel proud that I have seen Kapil Dev in action and salute to him for his cricketing abilities be it  batting, bowling and fielding .Who will forget that superb catch   of Vivian Richards  ?  Kapil Dev took  that catch which was the turning point of debacle of Cairabians in that world cup final. By winning the final Kapil Dev, created the history and surprised everyone.He was just  24 years old then and has the record of being  the youngest captain to win ICC trophy !
KAPIL DA TWADA JAWAB NAHI. !
                -------Rajendra Phansalkar
                           28th June ,2019 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enough and Plenty

  ENOUGH  AND   PLENTY Let us first understand ' dictionary  meanings of enough' and plenty seperately.  The word “enough ” can be used as a determiner, pronoun, or adverb, and its meaning depends a little on context. General  explanation... As much or as many as is needed; to the necessary degree. Examples in use: Determiner: “We have enough food for everyone.” (sufficient quantity) Adverb: “She is old enough to make her own decisions.” (sufficient degree) Pronoun: “I’ve had enough of this noise.” (a sufficient amount) So in simple terms, “enough” means sufficient, adequate, or as much as required — not too little, not too much. About Plenty dictionary explains following Plenty means a large or sufficient amount of something — more than what is just enough, often suggesting abundance. Usage: Noun: “There’s plenty of time to finish the work.” (a large amount) Adverb:  He is  plenty smart to handle this job.” (very, more than enough) Pronoun: ...
Read more

Decision Making

Decision Making A decision can be defined as the best course of action—or inaction—perceived by an individual or a group of people at a given time in a particular situation. Interestingly, sometimes the most appropriate decision is not to act at all. Choosing inaction consciously is, in itself, a form of decision-making. Since time, circumstances, and people’s needs constantly change, no decision is ever permanently right or wrong. A choice that seems correct today may appear inappropriate tomorrow. Today’s comforts may become tomorrow’s needs, and what we see as luxuries now may turn into necessities in the future. A particular course of action that suits one situation may prove unsuitable when the situation changes. Moreover, individuals think differently—what one considers right, another may see as wrong. The real nature of a decision becomes evident only after it is implemented, by which time the situation itself may have changed. Every individual faces many challenges in life, and...
Read more

FALL IN LINE

FALL  IN   LINE 43 years back I attended one lecture of noted management expert and teacher , Professor Sharu Rangnekar and later  read his  one small and wonderful   book titled " In the wonderland of Indian Mangers".I honestly feel that no one has described  management style and work culture of  Indian Industries better than professor Rangnekar. Since then I have been a silent observer of the people I have met in various industries. RANGNEKAR described  in the book how people avoid work in the systematic manner.He also mentioned  about 90 /10  formulae stating that  in almost all Indian  industries and offices 90 percent work is done by 10 percent of the employees and balance 10 percent work is done by 90 percent of the employees .When I observe people I try to place them in either 90 percent or 10 percent category . In most Indian industries the basic  management style continues to be " Either you fall in lin...
Read more