On This Day: At Lord’s, Kapil Dev saves the follow-on against England by hitting four sixes in four balls

On This Day 30th July in 1990, Kapil Dev Hits 4 Consecutive Sixes: It was a brutal attack that had been meticulously planned. sixes that are fierce, flying, stunning, and straight. The impact of the bat striking the ball four times reverberated all around the playing field. The ball made stunning arcs across the sky four times, a scarlet streak against the background of blue. The crowd cheered four times, with each time the layers of incredulity getting thicker and thicker. Each time a ball was struck, the bowler and captain exchanged eyes as their amazing pair of mustaches alternated between bristling wrath and drooping forlorn acquiescence.

India was 277 runs down as the new week began. On the massive foundation of skipper Graham Gooch’s 333, England amassed 653 for 4, which loomed far on the horizon.

Only four wickets were still standing. At the wicket, Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev were present. The former had already scored 117 runs of joy and splendor. It took an additional 78 to prevent follow-on. In the third over of the morning, Eddie Hemmings bowled Azhar for 121, defeating him with a spectacular break off the fabled Lord’s slope.

However, this game was created for the enjoyment of cricket gods. 61 runs were scored after the Indian captain left the field, but only eight of them came from Kiran More’s bat and there were none from the two tail-enders who came after. The audience was exposed to a violent bloodbath by Kapil Dev after watching Azhar perform with ethereal grace the day before.

Kapil had increased his score from the overnight 14 at a reasonable rate by the time Angus Fraser was running in for the 14th over of the day. He was now standing on a 53-ball foundation. He then watched from the non-end strikers when More was caught in the cordon off the third ball of the over. Sanjeev Sharma nicked one to Jack Russell behind the wickets two balls later.

Narendra Hirwani, a leg-spinner, came out to bat, or to do whatever it was he performed with the willow. At the time, he had a Test batting average of 4.66 and had scored 28 runs in 10 games, 17 of which came in a single brilliant inning against New Zealand.

Hemmings was now getting set to restart. India needed 24 to save the follow-on at 430 for 9. The strategies were practical enough for Kapil to figure out. In the most straightforward terms, the short figure at the other end made no promises. Furthermore, 24 may be divided by 6 without generating any annoying leftover fractions.

The first two balls were properly blocked without expending any extra energy. And the following four took off with strokes that echoed like gunshots.

The bowler was directly smacked over the head with each of the four sixes that were thrown. One was just enormous, while the other three were all equally big. The scaffolding was removed by three.

One missed the target by a little distance and bounced off the top of the sightscreen. A single run prevented the follow-on, yet it could not have been saved in greater splendor. To do this, a Kapil Dev was needed. An individual has all the makings of a legend.

On the other hand, Hirwani demonstrated his superior sense of occasion. He contributed the final touches that made those spectacular sixes unforgettable, a fantastic chapter in the storied history of the field, and a permanent part of Indian cricket culture. After witnessing those four soaring smashes, he immediately collapsed off the first Fraser delivery of the subsequent over. The dangers that would have befallen India if any one of those significant strokes hadn’t been made were sharply highlighted by his steadfast constancy.

With eight fours and four sixes in his 77 off 75 balls, Kapil returned undefeated. Once more, England had to bat. In the end, it didn’t really matter because India lost by a huge margin. But Kapil’s four sixes gave this magnificent Test match still another depth, complementing Gooch’s marathon and Azhar’s brilliance with his distinctive brand of mayhem and murder.

Brief scores:

By 247 runs, England defeated India 454 (Ravi Shastri 100, Dilip Vengsarkar 52, Mohammad Azharuddin 121, and Kapil Dev 77*; Angus Fraser 5 for 104) and 224 (Graham Gooch 333, David Gower 40, Allan Lamb 139, and Robin Smith 100*). England also defeated India 272 for 4 deal. (Graham Gooch 123, Michael Atherton 72).