Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Indian cricket team to win the ongoing Johannesburg Test match against South Africa on the birthday of 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev. One of the greatest all-rounders, Dev turned 63 on Thursday (January 6) as the second Test at Johannesburg is poised evenly heading into the fourth and what promises to be the final day.


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South Africa are 122 runs away from levelling the series 1-1, while India need eight wickets from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead and registering their maiden Test series win in the country. The 72-year old Gavaskar termed Kapil Dev as India’s greatest cricketer and feels that Team India can give a historic win as a gift to the legendary captain on his birthday.


“And the way I look at it is, I mean, weather permitting? Tomorrow happens to be the birthday in my view of India’s greatest cricketer – Kapil Dev. So I think it will be a wonderful gift for Kapil from this Indian team. There are many admirers of Kapil Dev in this team. So from this team to Kapil Dev, that will be a fantastic present,” Gavaskar said during the lunch interval of Day 3.



“India have never won a series here. In fact, India have won very few Test matches here. The last time India came here in 2018, they won the one-day series but they lost the Test series 2-1. So this is going to be huge for India,” he added.


Gavaskar was an integral part of Kapil Dev’s 1983 team that won the historic first ODI World Cup trophy at Lords, beating the mighty West Indies in the final.


(with IANS inputs)