India needed one wicket to win the match and with it, the series, and Kapil Dev Nikhanj needed one more wicket to become the highest-ever wicket-taker in Test cricket. He bowled a delivery to Sri Lankan tail-ender that reared off a good length, which went off the outside-edge into the waiting hands of Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin. Kapil Dev had drawn level with Sir Richard Hadlee's tally of 431 Test wickets. A week later, he took wicket no. 432 to top the table of the highest wicket-taker in the sport, a distinction he enjoyed for six years until West Indian Courtney Walsh surpassed him.

The record marked the culmination of one of the greatest success stories in cricket history.

Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj was born in a timber merchant's family in the planned city of Chandigarh. He grew up with a natural flair and love for sport. Cricket took his fancy, and he lit up the playgrounds of his hometown with his aggressive batting and bowling. He was bold enough to approach renowned cricket coach Desh Prem Azad, and express a desire to come under his wings. Azad was initially reluctant, but a little prodding from Kapil's father and elder brother did the trick.

Azad did not know it at that stage, but in asking Kapil to join his nets, he had sowed the seeds of a cricket revolution in India.

Kapil represented his school and later university at the junior levels before getting the call from the state (Haryana) and zonal (North) selectors at the senior level. He impressed on a short unofficial tour of East Africa by an Indian outfit in early 1978, and was selected in the Indian squad that was to tour Pakistan in 1978-79. It was the first series between the two nations since 1960-61.

Kapil made his debut in the first Test at Faisalabad and forced Sadiq Mohammed, the Pakistani opener, to call for a helmet. It was the first instance of an overseas batsman being flustered by the pace of a man from the land of spin.

Although India lost 0-2, Kapil created a huge impression with his nippy bowling and belligerent batting. Even as he hit the headlines, India's great trio of spinners; Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna, were on their way out, after being butchered by the Pakistani batsmen.

In his very second series, against the West Indies, Kapil assumed charge as the spearhead of India's bowling attack and ended up scoring the first hundred of his Test career. The next decade belonged to him.

By 1985, Kapil had scored over 2000 Test runs and even more crucially, taken over 250 Test wickets. But towering above both achievements was his triumphant leadership in the 1983 World Cup. He infused aggression and spirit in a talented Indian side, and motivated them to shock the mighty West Indies in the summit clash.

In 1986, Kapil led India to a 2-0 series win against England in England. It remains India's last series win outside the sub-continent. As the 80s started giving way to the 90s, several 'outcomes' of Kapil's impact on Indian cricket started asserting themselves; Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Salil Ankola, Abey Kuruvilla, and several others.

It wasn't as if India hadn't produced fast bowlers between Ramakant Desai in the 50s to Kapil in the 70s. However, there had never been such a profusion of young men who wanted to bowl quick. Pace-bowling academies set up in India in the late 80s and early 90s were given a lot of the credit for the abundance of fast youngsters in the Land of Spin, but as vital as the hard work they put in was the aura of the man who had inspired those young men to bring themselves into contention for a place in the Academies in the first place.

In 1990, Kapil Dev hit four consecutive sixes to save a follow-on in a Test against England. India needed 24, with the last man at the other end. Kapil, always a pragmatic sort of person, chose the quickest way in which to achieve the target, and watchers were enraptured. Of course, those who were privileged to see him score an unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup, wherein he steered India from a pathetic 9-4 (and subsequently 17-5) to a match-winning 266, were not at all surprised.

A year-and-a-half after that quartet of hits, he took 25 wickets in a five-Test series against Australia on their own pitches. The bowling of the 30-something Kapil and the batting of the teenager Sachin Tendulkar were India's saving graces on a disastrous tour where they lost 0-4.

Kapil quit in 1994 shortly after scaling the bowlers' equivalent of Mount Everest, leaving behind a strove of memories; the match-winning 5-28 at Melbourne in 1980-81 despite a pulled thigh muscle, the magnificent running catch to dismiss the dangerous Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final, 9-83 on a dicey Ahmedabad wicket against the West Indies in 1983-84, aga brilliant 119 in the Tied Test at Chennai in 1986-87.....

India's cricketer of the 20th century received the Indian Cricketer of the Century Award in 2002, eight years after his retirement.

India are still searching for an adequate replacement. They don't make them like him any more.