Cricket: Kapil draws level with Hadlee record

India 541-6 dec

Sri Lanka 231 and 215

India win by an innings and 95 runs

KAPIL DEV, the Indian all-rounder, equalled Sir Richard Hadlee's world record of 431 Test wickets as India beat Sri Lanka in Bangalore yesterday.

The record-equalling delivery reared sharply, found the edge of Don Anurasiri's bat and was caught in the slips by Kapil's captain, Mohammad Azharuddin.

Thousands of spectators, who had come mainly in the hope of seeing Kapil make the record his own, rushed on to the ground with the fall of the wicket, which also gave India victory by an innings and 95 runs. It was the 35-year-old Kapil's second of the day and his fifth of the match.

Team-mates quickly extricated Kapil from the crowd and carried him shoulder-high from the field. Back in the pavilion, he burst into tears, saying to Indian television, 'I am happy. I don't know why these tears are welling up.'

With one Test remaining in the three-match series against Sri Lanka - starting on 8 February in Ahmedabad - Kapil will have the opportunity to move ahead of Sir Richard.

The crowd did not have long to wait for Kapil's first victim of the day, Pramodya Wickremasinghe being caught at long off in Kapil's third over, shortly after Sri Lanka had resumed on 179 for 7. Then, in his fifth over, he dismissed Anurasiri for seven to have Sri Lanka all out for 215 and give India victory.

Still India's most easily recognised sportsman since he led India to victory over West Indies at Lord's in the 1983 World Cup final, his status has not prevented many sports columnists and former cricketers calling for his retirement in recent years.

'Playing for the country for 16 years has been my biggest achievement. It was not easy under the conditions,' he said, apparently referring to home wickets tailored for spinners, and the fickleness of fans. The supporters had been behind him during the match, however, demanding loudly that he brought back to bowl every time he was rested.

By coincidence, Sir Richard became the highest wicket-taker in the same Chinnaswamy stadium in 1988, when he dismissed Arun Lal to overtake Ian Botham'srecord.

(Fourth day; India won toss)

INDIA - First Innings 541 for 6 dec (M Azharuddin 108, N S Sidhu 99, S R Tendulkar 96; M Muralitharan 4-179).

SRI LANKA - First Innings 231 (R S Kalpage 63; M Prabhakar 4-82, Kapil Dev 3-73, A Kumble

3-50).

SRI LANKA - Second Innings

(Overnight: 179 for 7)

R S Kalpage lbw Kumble 18

S D Anurasiri c Azharuddin b Kapil Dev 7

G P Wickramasinghe c Sidhu b Kapil Dev 1

M Muralitharan not out 20

Extras (b9 lb3) 12

Total 215

Fall (cont): 8-188 9-189.

Bowling: Prabhakar 3-0-18-1; Kapil Dev 8.3-1-41-2; Kumble 16-3-64-3; Venkatapathy Raju 12-2-36-2; Chauhan 16-3-44-2.

Umpires: S K Bansal and K Parthasarathy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- LEADING TEST WICKET-TAKERS -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tests W 5w 10w Best Richard Hadlee (NZ) 86 431 36 9 9-52 Kapil Dev (Ind) 129 431 23 2 9-83 Ian Botham (Eng) 102 383 27 4 8-34 Malcolm Marshall (WI) 81 376 22 4 7-22 Imran Khan (Pak) 88 362 23 6 8-58 Dennis Lillee (Aus) 70 355 23 7 7-81 Bob Willis (Eng) 90 325 16 0 8-43 Lance Gibbs (WI) 79 309 18 2 8-38 Fred Trueman (Eng) 67 307 17 3 8-31 --------------------------------------------------------------------