[Watch] When Kapil Dev hit four consecutive sixes to help India avoid follow-on in a Test against England
'Haryana Hurricane' Kapil Dev is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders the game of cricket has ever produced and undoubtedly the finest from India. While he was the team's strike bowler for many years, Kapil also could clear the field rather emphatically with the willow in hand. His immense batting talent was on display during the first Test against England at the iconic Lord's in July 1990.
England had put up a mammoth 653/4d on the board batting first. This was the same innings in which England skipper Graham Gooch scored his legendary 333. Allan Lamb also chipped in with 139, while Robin Smith scored an unbeaten 100.
Responding to England's huge first-innings total, India fought hard courtesy of skipper Mohammad Azharuddin (121) and Ravi Shastri (100). Despite the efforts of Azharuddin and Shastri, India were nine down for 430 runs and needed 24 runs to avoid the follow-on. What happened next is a part of cricketing folklore.
Kapil went after off-spinner Eddie Hemmings and smacked him for four consecutive sixes, all of them towards the long-on region, to ensure that India did not have to follow on. The first two sixes were achieved by the former India captain charging down the track. The next two maximums were more stand-and-deliver strokes, but the impact was the same.
Watch the video below
The aggressive approach was vindicated not just because India saved the follow-on, but also since last-man Narendra Hirwani was dismissed for a duck immediately after the legendary Indian all-rounder's six-hitting heroics. He was trapped lbw by Angus Fraser, who finished with a five-fer. Had Kapil not taken on Hemmings, England would have had the option to ask India to bat again.
The Indian batter finished on 77* off 75 balls as the visitors were bowled out for 454. India eventually went on to lose the match by 247 runs. Set to chase a mammoth 472 for victory, they crumbled to 224 all out.
Kapil Dev's underrated batting ability
Despite hammering a legendary 175* in the 1983 World Cup match against Zimbabwe, Kapil's batting heroics have never been celebrated as much as his bowling. While the 65-year-old claimed 434 wickets in Tests and 253 in ODIs, he also scored 5248 runs in Test matches and 3783 runs in ODIs.
The right-handed batter ended his red-ball career for India with eight hundred and 27 fifties, with a best of 163. In one-dayers, he scored 14 half-centuries to go with his 175*. Amazingly, he had a strike rate of 95 in an era where such a high rate of scoring was a rarity.