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Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj,popularly known as “Haryana Hurricane”, was born on January 6, 1959.  The greatest pace bowler India has produced, and their greatest fast-bowling allrounder. Kapil Dev was named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002 for captaining India to their maiden and only Cricket World Cup in 1983.

A fitness freak since his childhood days, he used to run every day from Chandigarh to Ambala, he didn’t stop running even when his knees were begging for respite. He engineered his way into cricketing world, bit by bit with sweat, blood, tears and determination to become Indian cricket’s very heart and soul.

Her mother Raj Nikhanj narrates how her son made it to history books in spite of all odds, “I never even spent a single rupee on his career, he did it all by himself. Since his childhood, he was never the one to bother about food or clothes; it was only cricket that mattered to him”. Kapil who is the youngest of seven siblings has never lost in his life and has made it on his own terms. Even when all those allegations were put against him, he braved them with fortitude and courage. 

A right-arm pace bowler, Kapil was mainly noted for his graceful action and potent outswinger, and was India's main strike bowler through most of his career. His accuracy and ability to swing the ball, usually away from right-handers was outstanding. As a batsman he was a natural striker of the ball and was fearless in attacking even the world’s best fast-bowlers.

Kapil made his test and ODI debut against Pakistan in 1979 series. Unable to do much in the first test , he performed well in the coming matches and went on to score the fastest Test half century. Kapil achieved this feat off just 33 balls. He was awarded ‘Man of the Series’ Award in Test series against Pakistan in 1979-80. 
He again lived up to the rising expectations when he bagged ‘Man of the Series’ award in home series against England in 1982.

With such a stunning performance Kapil Dev was given the responsibility to lead the team India in World Cup 1983. The man stood up to expectation and lead India to its only World Cup victory till date.
Kapil lost the captaincy in early 1984 to Sunil Gavaskar. He regained it in March 1985 and guided India on a Test series win over England on their tour in 1986. Kapil was retained as India's captain for the 1987 Cricket World Cup. Kapil Dev was a gentleman cricketer who belives in fair play. In 1987 World Cup, during a match against Australia,Australia scored 268 against India. However, after the close of innings, Kapil Dev agreed with the umpires that the score should be increased to 270 as one boundary during the innings had been mistakenly signalled as a four and not a six. In reply, India scored 269 falling short of Australia's score by one run. In the Wisden Cricketer's Almanack, it was reported that "Kapil Dev's sportsmanship proved the deciding factor in a close-run match”. India went on to reach the semi-final of the 1987 World Cup, where they lost to England. Kapil faced the blame for India's defeat as he holed out to deep mid-wicket triggering a collapse that led to the unexpected loss. He did not captain India again.

A naturally aggressive player, he often helped India in difficult situations by taking the attack to the opposition. In a match on route to the World Cup final of 1983, Kapil smashed a captain’s knock of 175 not out against Zimbabwe helping India recover from an extremely poor start. India had collapsed to 9/4 when Kapil came in to bat, and were reduced further to 17/5. His 175 not out turned the game completely in India’s favour and was at the time the highest-ever individual score in ODI cricket. In a test match against England in 1990, India needed 24 runs to save the follow-on with only one wicket remaining, Kapil met that target by hitting four consecutive sixes off Eddie Hemmings. Because of his destructive batting he earned the nickname of “The Haryana Hurricane”( he used to represent the Haryana cricket team). He retired as highest wicket taker in both forms of the game and to date is the only person to take 400 wickets and score more than 5,000 runs in test cricket. This player with a fighter’s instinct retired from the active cricket in 1994.

Kapil Dev married Romi Bhatia to whom he was introduced by a common friend and the couple have a daughter Amiya Dev who was born in 1996.

He was honored by the Government of India in 1979-80 with Arjuna Award, Padma Shri in 1982 and Padma Bhushan in 1991. Kapil Dev started his second inning as a coach of Indian cricket team in 1999. He resigned from the post in 2000. He was appointed as a Chariman of the National Cricket Academy in 2006 for two years.
Kapil is the only cricketer in history to score more than 5,000 and take more than 400 wickets in Tests. 
The former cricketer has also been roped in to join the Armed Forces by the Territorial Army (TA),. While Kapil will not take part in the rigorous training, he will palpably act as a brand ambassador for the Armed Forces.
Kapil Dev because of his charisma he endorsed many popular brands. Infact he was the first star brand on Indian Television with his Palmolive da jawab nahin Other endorsments include -BSA-SLR bicycles, Hajmola - 1995 ,Crocin Pain Relief – 2005 etc.