First player to score an ODI century from each country

#7 Kapil Dev (India)

Kapil Dev

The talismanic all-rounder Kapil Dev is also India's first-ever centurion in ODIs. The man who taught India how to play fearlessly scored the century against Zimbabwe on June 18, 1983. It came during the famous Prudential World Cup in 1983 which India would go on to win.

The Indians were in a fix in the group stage match against Zimbabwe. After electing to bat first, India's two openers - Gavaskar and Srikkanth returned to the pavilion for a duck. Amarnath, Patil, and Yashpal Sharma could also not trouble the scoreboard much and at one stage, India were 17 for 5. It seemed difficult that they would even manage to surpass 100 runs. That is when the skipper Kapil Dev decided to take the matter into his own hands.

The Haryana Hurricane, as Dev was known, smacked the ball to all sides of the ground. He hit a thumping 175 runs off just 138 deliveries. His knock included 16 fours and 6 sixes and at the time it became the highest individual score in ODIs. The emphatic knock changed the entire context of the game and helped India put up a total of 266 runs on board in the 60-over game.

Zimbabwe fought hard but were bowled out for 235 runs in 57 overs. Later, Kapil Dev and his troops would upset West Indies in the final of the World Cup to lift the trophy. Kapil's century remains one of the most historic knocks in Indian cricket.

Overall, Dev made 3,783 runs in 225 ODIs at a strike rate of 95.07. The Chandigarh-born player also clinched 253 wickets in those matches and had an economy rate of 3.71.