Kapildev Ramlal Nikhanj (pronunciation: [kəpil deːʋ] born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricket team captain.

Dev arrived in the national spotlight with a standout performance in the finals of the Duleep Trophy, taking a first-innings haul of 7/65 in 24 overs.

In the pre-quarterfinal match, where he captained Haryana for the first time against Uttar Pradesh, he took a five-wicket haul in the second innings to advance to quarterfinals, where they lost to Karnataka.

The finals of the 1991 season will be remembered for the number of international cricketers who participated, including Dev, Chetan Sharma, Ajay Jadeja and Vijay Yadav turning up for Haryana and Bombay cricket team represented by Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Chandrakant Pandit, Salil Ankola and Abey Kuruvilla.

In the ensuing series against a visiting West Indies team, he scored his maiden Test century (126) at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi in just 124 balls[27] and had a steady bowling performance (17 wickets at 33.00).

Dev established himself as India's premier fast bowler when he took two 5-wicket hauls and ended the home series against Australia with 28 wickets (Average: 22.32) and also 212 runs that included a half-century.

A dismal New Zealand tour later,[33] Dev was ready for the 1981–82 home series against England where his five-wicket haul won the first test at Wankhede Stadium, Bombay.

[34] England saw more of Dev in the ensuing series at home against the Indian cricket team in the 1982 season when he opened with a 5-wicket haul and 130 runs in a losing cause at Lord's.

In the following tour to Pakistan, Dev and Mohinder Amarnath were the only bright spots in a series dominated by rival all-rounder Imran Khan (40 wickets and 1 century).

[39] Overall, Dev had a good series in West Indies as he scored a century to save the second test match[40] as well as picking up 17 wickets (Average: 24.94).

Riding on Yashpal Sharma (89 Runs), Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri (3 wickets each), India inflicted the West Indies' first-ever defeat in the World Cup.

After falling behind, Dev, batting with the lower order batsmen, stabilised the side with help from Roger Binny (22 runs) and Madan Lal.

He took 3 wickets as India limited England to 213 and the middle order of Amarnath (46 runs), Yashpal Sharma (61) and Sandeep Patil (51*) ensured victory[47] and entry into the finals to take on the West Indies cricket team who were looking for a hat-trick of World Cup titles.

[51] Dev returned to captaincy in 1985 after Gavaskar was sacked following series losses in both ODI and Tests when England toured India.

Under Dev's leadership India won the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket after beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final.

Dev 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 was involved in a notable incident during the Lord's Test Match of 1990, when he hit off-spinner Eddie Hemmings for four sixes in succession to take India past the follow-on target.

[57] He became a valuable batsman in the ODI version of the game, as a pinch-hitter used to accelerate the run-scoring rate, usually in the final ten overs, and was relied upon to stabilise the innings in the event of a collapse.

He played in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, his last, under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin and topped the batting strike rate with 125.80 runs per 100 balls.

[58] He led the bowling attack with younger talents like Javagal Srinath and Manoj Prabhakar, who would eventually succeed him as India's leading pace bowlers.

As the match-fixing scandal took centrestage, former player Manoj Prabhakar accused Kapil Dev of trying to bribe him in 1994 during a tournament in Sri Lanka.

Kapil's term as Indian cricket team's national coach was not considered a success due to poor on-field performances.

[71] During Kapil's reign as National Coach, India performed badly in away matches and managed just 3 victories in 15 games (20%) in ODI Tournaments.

[77] When Delhi Police began mounting evidence, Cronje admitted to accepting money for throwing away games in a phone call with UCBSA's chief Ali Bacher.

Prabhakar did not reveal names or provide evidence of his charges (match fixing and phone tapping allegation on then cricket manager Ajit Wadekar).

The reaction of the Indian public resulted in PILs and International Cricket Council and the BCCI were called to respond in the Delhi[83] and Calcutta High Courts.

[86] Amidst these inquiries, Kapil Dev appeared for an interview on BBC's Hard Talk with Karan Thapar, where while defending himself against these allegations, he broke down in tears.

[93] The BCCI's anti-corruption officer K Madhavan (former Joint Director of CBI) submitted his report on 28 November 2000 in which he elaborated on players who were found to have links with the match-fixing syndicate.

Dev pipped longtime teammate Gavaskar and crowd favourite Tendulkar to win the award and claimed the moment as "my finest hour".

[128] Indian filmmaker Kabir Khan directed a biopic film, titled 83, about India's first world cup win in 1983.