When India’s “Sightseers” wrested the 1983 World Cup
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Kapil Dev, the Indian skipper receiving the 1983 World Cup
When India managed to come into the final of the 1983 Cricket World Cup, the bookies offered odds at 1 to 66 of India winning the title. This gives an idea of the slim chance of India beating the high-riding West Indies, who were now poised to make a hat-trick of World Cup victories – having won the title in 1975 and 1979.
On the other hand, most of the Indian players had not been to England previously. In that era, it is most likely they would, apparently, have been keen to see the sights such as Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussauds’, Big Ben etc., and, as legend has it, that the streets of London were paved with gold. But deep inside, the Indians were great cricketers, being successors to the likes of Ranjisinhji, Duleepsinhji, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazari C.K. Nayudu et al.
So they proved. In the run-up to the final, the Indians had beaten Zimbabwe after being reduced to 17/5. Then skipper Kapil Dev replied in what could be considered the best innings played in a World Cup. Kapil smashed 175 runs in 138 balls, with 16 fours and 6 sixes, and India won by 31 runs.
Then a victory against the West Indies at Manchester, by 34 runs, gave a glimpse of what India was further capable of. The Indians, bolstered by a controlled innings of 89 (120 balls) by top-scorer Yashpal Sharma, was the rock against the hostile bowling attack of Holding, Roberts, Marshall and Garner. The Indian total of 262/8 seemed at least something their bowlers could fight on. To the West Indian batting lineup of Greenidge, Haynes, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and Larry Gomes it didn’t seem much of a problem to reach the target set by the Indians. But thanks to left-arm spinner Shastri (3/26) and seamer Roger Binny 3/48, the Indians were home and dry by 34 runs. Incidentally, not a single West Indian reached a half-century, the top-scorers, embarrassingly, being bowlers Garner and Roberts who each made 37!
Eventually, the Indians, surprisingly reached the finals, as the odds of 1/66 by the bookies indicated. Earlier, the Indians comprehensively beat England in the semifinals by 6 wickets. Now it was a case of do or die for the Indians, in the much hyped Finals. Reportedly, many Indian fans had scrambled to catch flights to England to support their team.
Kapil urged his players: “Go win it Tigers” he implored. Nine years later, when Pakistan entered the final against England, skipper Imran Khan had entreated his players to “come out fighting like cornered tigers.” It appeared bits of advice by the respective captains worked!
West Indian skipper Clive Lloyd won the toss and, as expected, sent the Indians in. With a fast bowling quartet of Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding it was a natural move. The Indians were rolled over for 183 runs in 54.4 overs, only Kris Srikkanth (38) and Mohinder Amaranth (26) chipped in with any sort of material contributions in this low-scoring game.
For the West Indian batting machine, this modest target of 184 runs seemed as easy as a walk in the park. The first shock was when India’s opening bowler, right-armer Sandhu cleaned up Greenidge, as he left the ball, but the in-swinger castled him for 1 run! But Viv Richards started smashing the ball all over the park, with casual grace but, at 33, (with 7 fours) a spectacular catch by skipper Kapil Dev at mid-wicket, off Madan Lal, when Richards was motoring on ever so confidently, spelt danger to the West Indians. From that point it onwards it was a downward slide. Madan Lal 3/31 and Mohinder Amaranath 3/12 cleaned up the West Indian batting machine to a mere 140 runs in 52 overs! For the second time in the tournament, not a single star-studdedWest Indian batsman could reach 50 runs against the gentle bowling of the Indians. Amaranth was adjudged Man of the Match, following his score of 26 runs in this low-scoring game. Indeed, Amaranath won this award in the semifinals as well.
The Indian fans stormed the field in sheer ecstasy. Richer by many sterling pounds, having placed their bets at 1 for 66, which must have covered all their expenses for the travel and their stay, their smiling faces told the story, while the players were simply over the moon.
So, for the first time, an Asian country wrested the Cricket World Cup.
The eight teams lined up at the openingceremony