Few people in India's sporting history are celebrated the way the country's first World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev is. From inculcating aggression to teaching the team to win big, the former skipper is credited for laying one of the solid foundations for Indian cricket.
Today marks 43 years since he made his test debut for India and the legendary all-rounder shared a special post, giving a glimpse of how he celebrated the special occasion with his 'old friends'.
In the Instagram post shared on his account, Kapil Dev is seen cutting a cake along with his friends— former team mates and now commentators Atul Wassan, Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar and Pakistan batter Zaheer Abbas.
Sharing the picture, Kapil Dev wrote, "Celebrated the anniversary of my test debut with old friends. Sunshine @gavaskarsunilofficial was by my side then and continues to be now. Zaheer faced me as an opposing player then, but a friend now. Forty three years later, the people around remain the same!"
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Kapil Dev made his test debut for as a 19-year-old against arch rivals Pakistan. He failed to register an ideal start to his career as he managed to claim only one wicket in the match and gave away 96 runs. As a batter, he was able to add eight runs to India’s scorecard as the first Test ended in a draw.
Despite his average performance in the first Test, Kapil had a fine overall debut series, claiming seven wickets and amassing 159 runs in three matches. Pakistan defeated India in the three test series 2-0.
Although India did not get the desired results in the series, Kapil Dev did manage to showcase some signs of the greatness he was about to embark upon. After that, he played for India for 16 years and led them to several incredible victories to register himself as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game.
He played for India in 225 ODIs and 131 Tests and hit 3783 and 5248 runs respectively.
