1983, a year when England was going to host the Cricket World Cup or The Prudential Cup for the third time. Everyone expecting and thinking who would be the winner? West Indies, Australia, Zimbabwe, England and expectations from all good cricketing nations but not from India and how will they expect? India played two world cups before 1983, one in 1975 and other in 1979. But they ended winning just one match in 1975 against West Africa and not a single match won in 1979. Kim Hughes the Australian captain said before the world cup for India as to be the dark horse of the tournament and claimed that India can win the cup. All wondered that how can Hughes give such a foolish statement?
BCCI selected Kapil Dev as Indian cricket team’s captain in 1982 despite of having the classical batsman Sunil Gavaskar who was the most experienced player in the team. Just before the world cup the Indian team toured West Indies and won a game under new captain Kapil Dev’s captaincy in Berbice.
THE VICTORIOUS START
The Indian side had to play the strongest side in cricket that time, the West Indies. In the team meeting before the tournament Kapil Dev told all the team members to just enjoy their game in England whether they lose or win. So they enjoyed the game and won it. Yashpal Sharma’s 89 and Ravi Shastri’s 3 wickets made a huge contribution.
India had West Indies, Zimbabwe and Australia in their group for the tournament. So the second match was against Zimbabwe and India won it again in a dramatic style. With two victories India had their momentum.
SOME FAILURES
But here comes the third match against Australia. Despite Kapil Dev’s five wickets India lost the match. India lost the game because of the poor batting by them as the Australian medium pacer Ken MacLeay thrashed the Indian batting line up.
Another defeat came to India in their next match as West Indian legend Viv Richards managed to get a century. Dilip Vengasarkar got injured in the match but still he and Mohinder Amarnath managed to get some runs.
THE BOUNCE BACK
Then came the Kapil Dev’s game against Zimbabwe. After the toss Indian side had to bat first and the captain went to take a shower and suddenly someone comes and says, “Kapil, we have lost four wickets for nine runs.” India was 17/5 when Kapil came in to bat. He managed to get 175* of 138 balls and saved a Do or Die Game for India. Unfortunately BBC had a strike on that day and there is no footage of the match so that you can see one of the greatest innings in cricket history. India won the game and entered into the quarter finals for the first time.
TRIVIA
Kapil Dev’s Unbeaten 175 is the first ODI century for India. It was even the highest ODI individual score at that time.
The quarter final for India was against Australia. India’s batting line up gave Australia a target of 248 but the Indian pacers, Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Balwinder Singh Sandhu managed to stop Australia at 129.
The upcoming challenge was the semi-final against England. Again no one thought of India to win the game but the India batsmen had a different plan. Sandeep Patil’s 51* led India to a victory.
THE FINAL
Now it was the final against the world’s most dangerous team, West Indies who entered the finals for the third time consecutively. The West Indies side had Sir Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Malcom Marshall, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding. These all were legends.
India batted first and were all out for just 183. It would have been a cakewalk for West Indies. But the Indians had a different plan. They made West Indies all out for 140 and this is it. India won the World Cup. Kapil Dev’s photo holding the trophy in his hand at the Lord’s balcony is fabulous as it reminds us of the start of a new era in Indian cricket.
CONCLUSION
The Indian Side winning the cup inspired a lot of Indians to play cricket including Sachin Tendulkar. The moral that we can take from the 1983 story is that in whatever conditions you live and however the world criticises you; you can bounce back and prove yourself to the world.
CRICKET TALES 