What the papers said about .. Kapil Dev

'When Kapil Dev limped home to India in 1985 after a truncated season of county cricket with Worcestershire, few people in England imagined he would eventually finish up the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.' Daily Mail

'The crowd of 6,000 went berserk when Sanjay Manjrekar caught Hashan Tillekeratne at short leg on the first morning of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka. At that moment Kapil bounded down the pitch to the acclaim of his team- mates and 432 balloons - one for each of those Test wickets - were released. The standing ovation delayed the resumption of play for a minute.' The Times

'Yours is a triumph of craftiness and skill. Not for nothing are you known as Kapil Devious . . . At Northamptonshire you should have felt at home. The pitch was slow and brown in colour - just like the one at Delhi - and the ambience was every bit as spartan. Perhaps the weather didn't suit, though there were rumours that there wasn't room for two great all- rounders and that Northants had ultimately to make a choice: Kapil Dev or Capel Dave.'

'The rapidity with which Kapil burgeoned so captured public imagination that he acquired star status to equal that of Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. There was an occasion during a Test match in Kanpur when his visit to the cinema led to such a wild stampede in the audience that the show was cancelled.' The Daily Telegraph

'The bowler who does overhaul Kapil's record will certainly be - as Fred Trueman said when he broke the 300 barrier at The Oval 30 years ago - 'a very tired man indeed'. India's delightful and single-minded champion - real name Kapildev Nikhanj before the world's back- page sub-editors got at it - will be overcome with a warm satisfaction as soon as he pulls clear of Sir Richard Hadlee's total. And later he will publicly include devoted gratitude to a higher being.' The Guardian

'His achievement will make him even more of a hero in India. I remember during England's tour there, the players' train pulled up at Chandrighar railway station alongside a sea of people. Suddenly Kapil appeared, the crowds parted and he walked, untouched, along the platform to a waiting limousine. Every other player fought through the mass of humanity. Not Kapil.' The Sun

'Dev-astating . . . Hadlee Warnes the star of India.' Daily Mirror