Welcome back for another Amazing Cricket Facts series article.
This time, I have come up with one of the lesser known cricket fact about Kapil Dev. The World cup winning former Indian captain had always been sound with his attacking batting skills and arousing performances.
List of All Amazing Cricket Facts Articles
ACF 1: A Hat Trick in 3 Overs, 2 Innings, and 2 Days
ACF 2: Ashwin’s clean sweep against Australia in 2013
ACF 3: When Kapil Dev hit 4 Sixes in a row to avoid the follow-on!
ACF 4: Anil Kumble vs batsmen at nervous 90s
ACF 5: Mohammad Azharuddin holds the World Record of 3 Consecutive Centuries in First Three Tests
ACF 6: When Jasprit Bumrah scored 35 runs off Stuart Broad’s Over in a Test Match
ACF 7: Glenn McGrath Dismissed 104 Batsmen on a Duck in Tests
ACF 8: Glenn McGrath took Wickets on his Last Balls in Test and T20I
ACF 9: The Timeless Test – The Longest Cricket Match that lasted 12 Days
ACF 10: When Mohammad Sami Bowled the Longest Over in Cricket
ACF 11: When Bangladesh Lost 21 Consecutive Test Matches
ACF 12: When Kumar Sangakkara Scored Four Consecutive Centuries in ODI
ACF 13: When Don Bradman Scored 309 Runs in a Single Day of a Test Match
ACF 14: Graeme Smith Converted First 4 Test Centuries to 150+ Scores
ACF 15: When England Declared their Innings on 0/0!
ACF 16: Picking the First 50 ODI Wickets Within a Year of Debut
ACF-17: The Only 3 Players with a Double of 10000 and 500 Wickets in Cricket
ACF 18: When Pakistan Lost by an Innings After Scoring 500+ Runs
ACF 19: All-Rounders with More-than-one Centuries and Five-wicket Hauls at a Single Venue
ACF 20: India Scored 400-plus Totals in 6 Consecutive Test Innings
ACF 21: 4 Batters Who Scored 10000+ Test Runs in a Particular Batting Position
ACF 22: When Aravinda de Silva Scored 2 Unbeaten Centuries in a Test Match
ACF 23: When Vivian Richards became the fastest player to Score 2000 ODI Runs in Australia
ACF 24: Adam Gilchrist Scored All 16 ODI Centuries in Wins
ACF 25: Highest Partnerships by No. 10 and 11 Batters in Test Cricket
ACF 26: When Australia Won 15 Consecutive Matches in ICC Tournaments
THE MATCH
India was playing England in a 1990 Test match at the infamous Lord’s cricket stadium. England, while batting first ended up with a huge first innings score of 653/4, thanks to their skipper Graham Gooch’s exciting 333. It was the England skipper’s highest score in Tests, and the 5th Triple century for England in Tests – interestingly the latest one from his country, till date.
Happened to bat against a huge total in board, Team India replied with centuries from their opener Ravi Shastri (100) and the skipper Mohammad Azharuddin (121).
THE INCIDENT
Despite the strong batting show from the visiting team’s batsmen, India found themself at one point with the scorecard reading 430/9, needing 24 to avoid follow-on.
With just one wicket in hand, Kapil Dev was left with the No.11 batsman, Narendra Hirwani to do the needful.
It was when Eddie Hemmings came into bowl the 114th over in the Indian innings, Kapil Dev did something that’s undoable in those times.
After defending the first two balls of that over, Kapil Dev hit 4 sixes in the row against the English off-breaker to prevent his team from the follow-on.
Can you believe it? Kapil just straight driven Hemmings four times consecutively with each balls landing in the building constructions (somehow was there) outside the boundary lines.
Indeed!!! It is one of the greatest moments in Indian Cricket.
Here’s the video of Kapil Dev’s 4 consecutive sixes!
THE RESULT
Graham Gooch had gone for an another century to help England ending at the right side of the match. Interestingly, Kapil Dev, in the second innings, got out by Eddie, the bowler he had smashed for four sixes in the first innings. Even though India was defeated in that match, what stood highlighted was Kapil Dev’s 4 consecutive sixes in the iconic venue.
This is what Eddie Hemmings has got to say about hitting for four consecutive sixes in an ESPN CricInfo story:
After Kapil had hit three sixes, I turned to Goochie and said, “What’s the follow-on?”, because I don’t look at scoreboards. He said, “One more of them and they’ve done it.” I don’t think we’d have won if we’d made them follow on. And Goochie wouldn’t have got his second hundred. A lot went on in that game, more than just four balls that I bowled! And anyway, he tried to do it again second innings and was caught at deep mid-wicket.
Two good shots and two slogs! People forget that they were quite short boundaries, because they were building the media centre at the time – although one did disappear straight over the top of the lot, to be fair.
Eddie Hemmings
Thanks for reading!
List of All Amazing Cricket Facts Articles
ACF 1: A Hat Trick in 3 Overs, 2 Innings, and 2 Days
ACF 2: Ashwin’s clean sweep against Australia in 2013
ACF 3: When Kapil Dev hit 4 Sixes in a row to avoid the follow-on!
ACF 4: Anil Kumble vs batsmen at nervous 90s
ACF 5: Mohammad Azharuddin holds the World Record of 3 Consecutive Centuries in First Three Tests
ACF 6: When Jasprit Bumrah scored 35 runs off Stuart Broad’s Over in a Test Match
ACF 7: Glenn McGrath Dismissed 104 Batsmen on a Duck in Tests
ACF 8: Glenn McGrath took Wickets on his Last Balls in Test and T20I
ACF 9: The Timeless Test – The Longest Cricket Match that lasted 12 Days
ACF 10: When Mohammad Sami Bowled the Longest Over in Cricket
ACF 11: When Bangladesh Lost 21 Consecutive Test Matches
ACF 12: When Kumar Sangakkara Scored Four Consecutive Centuries in ODI
ACF 13: When Don Bradman Scored 309 Runs in a Single Day of a Test Match
ACF 14: Graeme Smith Converted First 4 Test Centuries to 150+ Scores
ACF 15: When England Declared their Innings on 0/0!
ACF 16: Picking the First 50 ODI Wickets Within a Year of Debut
ACF-17: The Only 3 Players with a Double of 10000 and 500 Wickets in Cricket
ACF 18: When Pakistan Lost by an Innings After Scoring 500+ Runs
ACF 19: All-Rounders with More-than-one Centuries and Five-wicket Hauls at a Single Venue
ACF 20: India Scored 400-plus Totals in 6 Consecutive Test Innings
ACF 21: 4 Batters Who Scored 10000+ Test Runs in a Particular Batting Position
ACF 22: When Aravinda de Silva Scored 2 Unbeaten Centuries in a Test Match
ACF 23: When Vivian Richards became the fastest player to Score 2000 ODI Runs in Australia
ACF 24: Adam Gilchrist Scored All 16 ODI Centuries in Wins
ACF 25: Highest Partnerships by No. 10 and 11 Batters in Test Cricket
ACF 26: When Australia Won 15 Consecutive Matches in ICC Tournaments
