When India’s greatest all-rounder Kapil Dev arrived in Test cricket | Cricket News – Times of India

Forty-six years ago on October 16, Kapil Dev wore the Test whites for the first time to start a journey that saw him becoming India’s greatest all-rounder and leader of a team that changed Indian cricket forever.
Kapil’s debut is more remembered for centuries from three legends in the two teams, although the match in Faisalabad ended in a drab draw.
The 19-year-old Kapil took 1 wicket for 96 runs in the 28 overs he delivered across two innings, besides scoring eight runs.Meanwhile, the limelight was stolen by legends Zaheer Abbas (176), Javed Miandad (154 not out) and Gundappa Viswanath (145) who scored classic centuries.
Sunil Gavaskar (89) and Dilip Vengsarkar (83) fell short of their hundreds in India’s first innings. Abbas entertained the crowd in the second innings as well but was dismised close to his second century of the match at 96. Asif Iqbal (104) scored the fourth century of the match in Pakistan’s second innings.
Kapil grew as a player from thereon and went on to become India’s captain, leading the team to the memorable 1983 World Cup victory.
He finished his career 11 years later as the world’s leading Test wicket-taker at that time with 434 wickets. He also scored 5248 runs in his 131-Test career, which included 8 hundreds and 27 fifties.
Kapil bid adieu to cricket on October 17, 1994, and his record of Test wickets was broken by West Indies’ fast-bowling legend Courtney Walsh.