Author: RA

I was searching my desktop for something completely different when suddenly a link to this image popped up because of a few tags I had embedded in it long long back. The picture is of January 30, 1994, the day when Kapil Dev equaled Richard Hadlee’s record of highest wickets in Test Cricket. The New Zealand pacer Hadlee held the record of maximum test wickets with 431 to his name. Here, in the second inning of the first test at Bangalore, Kapil took the wicket of Sri Lankan Don Anurasiri, having him caught in the slips by Mohd Azharuddin. This photo by Suman Chattopadhyay of Aajkal, Calcutta was signed by four people in the frame. It was given to Kapil Dev by the then captain Mohd Azharuddin who in turn gave the same to me when I designed his book (from left: Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohd. Azharuddin and wicket keeper Nayan Mongia – Kapil Dev with his back to us). In the next test of the same series Kapil Dev broke that record and became the then highest wicket taker in the world. It was at 10.36 am on 8th February 1994 in Ahmedabad. Doordarshan stopped its regular telecast and played a tribute song for Kapil Dev, “Haqeeqat hai ye khwab nahin / Kapil Dev ka jawab nahin”. At Ahmedabad cricket stadium as many as 432 balloons were released in the air. Original in Rajinder Arora collection.