Kapil Dev was born on 6th January 1959 in Chardigarh in Punjab. His parents are Ram Lal Nikhanj and Raj Kumari Lajwanti. He was the sixth of seven children. His father was a successful builder and timber trader. He studied at D. A. V. School and joined Desh Prem Azad in the year 1971. He married Romi Bhatia and has a daughter Amiya Dev. He played his debut match for Haryana in November 1975 and took 6 wickets giving just 63 runs. He scored 12 wickets in 3 matches. He played in Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy and gave outstanding performance in both. He got his first century against Delhi in 1979-80 seasons with the best score of 193.

Kapil Dev is a former Indian cricketer who served as the captain of the Indian cricket team. It was under his captaincy that India won 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was named as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002 by Wisden. He was a right arm pace bowler and potent out swinger. As he represented Haryana Cricket team in domestic cricket he was called as The Haryana Hurricane. He has taken more than 400 wickets and 5000 runs in test cricket. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on 8th March 2010. Dev made his debut in first-class cricket playing for his state, Haryana. He joined the Indian national team for a 1978–79 Test series against Pakistan. Although his tally of seven wickets over three matches in a losing effort was not the most spectacular of debuts, Dev played with great energy, possessing an impressive outswinger delivery and an aggressiveness that Indian cricket had not seen in a long while. In fact, Dev was India’s first genuine fast bowler, and he went on to lead the country’s bowling attack for the next two decades. He ended his Test career with a record 434 wickets in 131 Test matches, including 23 five-wicket matches. In one-day internationals, he took 253 wickets over 225 games. 

He served as the captain of Indian cricket team in 1982-83. Indian team under his captaincy won 1983 Cricket World Cup. The team faced England in semifinals and West Indies in finals. In 1984 Gavaskar was appointed as the captain of the team and in 1985, Kapil Dev was reappointed in the Test series against England. He remained as captain for the 1987 Cricket World Cup. He also played in the 1992 Cricket World Cup under the captaincy of Mohammed Azharuddin. He formally retired in 1994 after breaking the record of Richard Hadlee for most Test wickets. He served as coach of Indian national cricket team for few years. In 1979-80, he received the Arjuna Award.