Beginning as rank underdogs, "Kapil's devils" left the cricketing
pundits shaking their heads in disbelief by lifting the trophy in the
1983 World Cup, that saw the end of the West Indies' uninterrupted reign
and produced delightful upsets as the number of matches almost doubled.
The
June 9-25 tournament, staged by England for the third time, was played
under a new format. Like the previous two World Cups, the matches were
of 60 overs with the teams divided into two groups, and top two sides
from each group advancing to the semi final.
The novelty lay in
each team playing its group adversaries twice, which raised the number
of matches to 27 spread over 15 venues.
Till the start of the
1983 edition, India had won only one game - against minnows East Africa -
out of their six outings in the first two World Cups. Overall, the side
had lost 28 of the 40 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) they had played
till then.
So low was the expectation from the Kapil Dev-led side
that even some of the Indian journalists, who travelled all the way to
England, chose to attend the group A game between England and New
Zealand at the Oval on the inaugural day, rather than watch the group B
tie between their country and defending champions West Indies at Old
Trafford.
However, India surprised the cricketing world by
carving out a 34-run win over the Calypso charmers - who slumped to
their first defeat in the history of the tournament.
The Indians
retained the momentum with a five-wicket victory over Zimbabwe, but then
suffered back-to-back defeats to Australia and the West Indies.
To
make matters worse, they seemed hours away from yet another ignominious
exit from the tournament when half of their batsmen departed with only
17 on the board in the next game against Zimbabwe, who had earlier
pulled off a big upset win against Australia.
But braveheart
Kapil came up with an innings that not only changed the complexion of
the game, but gave a tremendous boost to the morale of the Indian
players for the remaining games of the tourney -- and above all, altered
the future of Indian and world cricket.
Kapil's unconquered 175
(138 b, 16x4, 6x6) was then the highest individual ODI score, and though
many batsmen have scored more subsequently, the innings is considered
arguably the best because of the trying circumstances in which he
batted.
However, the spectators missed watching Kapil's heroics
on television, following a strike called by the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) employees on that day.
Another proof of the low
standings of the two sides lay in the choice of venue - Nevill Ground,
Tunbridge Wells, that never again hosted any international fixture. Even
the dressing rooms were located in the basement, where the sun's rays
hardly ever entered.
With support from middle-order contributors
Roger Binny, Madan Lal and Syed Kirmani, Kapil piloted India to 266 for
eight, and the Zimbabwe innings folded for 235 in 57 overs.
Later,
Mohinder Amarnath disclosed that the players had become so
superstitious that none of them changed their position till the Indian
innings ended.
Buoyed by Kapil's heroics against Zimbabwe, India
registered an emphatic 118-run win over Australia with the in-form Madan
Lal and Binny capturing four wickets each, to move into the semifinal
as the second placed team from the group.
Moving on to Old
Trafford, Manchester, India took on England for a place in the final.
The bowlers bowled economically to peg the hosts to 213 and then coasted
to a comfortable six-wicket win with Yashpal Sharma coming up with 61.
As
the Indians returned to London, people of Asian origin gave them a warm
ovation. But the problem started when the players were deluged with
requests for complimentary tickets.
The hotel rooms of all
players had Indian guests who had arrived from various parts of England
to watch the historic June 25 final, where India were to take on the
West Indies. Amarnath remembered he had to sleep on the floor on the
night of the semifinal win.
But still, nobody gave any chance to
India on the big day. The West Indies had looked their awesome best in
all their six matches post the defeat against India and crushed Pakistan
by eight wickets in the last four stage.
The fearsome Caribbean pace battery and their great batting line-up looked too intimidating for the surprise finalists.
But how events unfolded is now a part of Indian folklore.
Put
in to bat, the Indian batting caved in against the quality pace bowling
attack of Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael
Holding. With Krishnamachari Srikkanth top scoring (38), the Indians
were skittled out for 183. It seemed, it would turn out to be the
biggest final mismatch of the World Cup.
Medium-pacer Balwinder
Sandhu got rid of Gordon Greenidge early, but the great Vivian Richards
(33) went all guns blazing, as if he wanted to finish off the match
inside 30 overs.
However, Kapil took a spectacular catch, running
backwards for a considerable distance towards the boundary rope to
dismiss Richards. Suddenly, the Indians looked inspired.
From 50
for one, the West Indies slipped to 76 for six. Wicketkeeper Jeff Dujon
(25) and Marshall (18) tried to put up some resistance but it only
delayed the inevitable with the West Indies bundled out for 140.
India won by 43 runs to become champions, as hundreds of Indian supporters invaded the ground.
Amarnath
(three for 12) and Madan Lal (three for 31) were the chief wreckers.
Binny and Madan Lal, who got assistance from the slippery English
conditions, topped the wicket takers' list with 18 and 17 scalps
respectively.
West Indies legend Garfield Sobers acknowledged India's achievement.
"You deserve it man, you were the better side," the West Indies great told Kapil.
(Kushal Chakraborty is a freelancer. He can be contacted at [email protected])
