The brilliance of being Kapil Dev

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Born in Chandigarh, Kapil Dev was probably one of the finest all-rounders the world has seen and is truly the man behind India's success in the 1983 World Cup which had put India in the world map as a country which is ready to take on the very best.Kapil Dev started his career with Haryana and in the very first match he impressed one and all with his out-swingers which gave him six wickets. Nicknamed 'The Haryana Hurricane' Dev took the world by storm with his vicious out-swingers which left the batsmen clueless and ended his career picking up a massive 434 wickets, more than anybody else at that time.As a bowler Kapil Dev used to impose himself on a batsman with his own belief and was the main strike bowler for India for more than two decades while his batting kept mesmerizing people all over the world.Here is a look at the reasons why Kapil Dev deserves a place in the All Time India Eleven, both in the shorter format and the longer format.An assassin with the ball:Kapil Dev was nothing less than an assassin with the new ball. His banana out-swingers used to test the best of batsmen and was noted for his graceful action. A naturally aggressive player, he often helped India in difficult situations by taking the attack to the opposition and had the ability to run through a side.If the out-swingers were not enough to bamboozle the batsmen, Kapil Dev over the years had developed a brilliant in-swinger as well with the old ball which would take the batsman totally by surprise as they would actually be looking to play for the ball going away.Kapil Dev just as a bowler would walk into any international side, let alone India.Uncomplicated flair with the bat:Kapil Dev was probably one of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball and only knew one way of playing the game, to take the attack to the cleaners. The greatest tragedy of being India's Cricketer of the Century was that not a single moment of Kapil's road to 175 in the 1983 World Cup was captured on film due to a spot media strike in Britain.As a batsman Kapil Dev was far more than what the stats would suggest or rather he himself would not know what he could have done with the willow which probably turned out to be his greatest strength as the word 'pressure' was not his dictionary.Such was his class with the bat and ball that he could have easily got into the Indian side just as a batsman or a bowler and to have both the skills was a blessing for the Indian side.A brilliant fielder when fielding was just going throw the motions:Kapil Dev was probably one of the best all-round fielders that India had produced who was terrific in the outfield, nimble feet, blessed with a fantastic throwing arm and came in handy at slips. Kapil's class in judging steepling fliers in the outfield is what separates him from the rest of the fielders. India were lucky in a way that Kapil Dev was stationed at mid-wicket in the World Cup final from where he ran more than 25 yards to dismiss Viv Richards who was going all guns blazing at that moment and took the catch,  for the other Indians on the field would have not got within ten yards of the ball.The contemporaries of Kapil were Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee to name a few and had it not been because of them, Kapil would have been head and shoulders ahead of any other all-rounder.