40TH anniversary of India winnng world cup today

[Harsh Thakor]

On 25^th June we celebrate the 40^th anniversary, of India winning the 1983 Prudential world cup. It was close to Sport’s greatest upset or India’s best ever sporting achievement. The ultimate epitome of triumph from regions of adversity.

It is hard for words to describe or do justice to the sheer ecstasy or joy amongst Indians at Lords and in India. It gave an effect of new epoch written in Indian cricket or a sporting renaissance.

India had achieved the equivalent of a David conquering Goliath .The scene was reminiscent of an invincible emperor or nation overpowered, when overpowering West Indies. India literally resurrected itself like a phoenix from the Ashes not only at Lords, but a week ago against Zimbabwe, after tottering at 17-5.

Although in terms of strength well below par with the might of the West Indies, India elevated fighting spirit or resilience to heights to overcome a more powerful adversary, rarely scaled in sport. It transcended energy exuded in volumes very rarely, in the sporting arena. Collective spirit in sport, was radiated at a helm.

World cup Final

India was bundled out for mere 183 at Lords and the result looked a foregone conclusion. A dazzling 38 by Krishnamachari  Srikkanth was the only bright spot, with some scintillating boundaries. Rarely has ODI cricket witnessed such a clinical or consummate bowling display as the Caribbean pace attack that day. Andy Roberts getting Gavaskar to knick an oustwinger, Holding piercing through the gate of Mohinder Amarnath to send his stumps crashing and Marshall trapping Shrikanth in front, were ample illustrations.

In pursuit of a target of 183 runs, Balwinder Sandhu astonishingly bowled Gordon Greenidge in the very first over , who shouldered arms to a delivery that swung back, down the hill. Viv Richards marked his arrival at the crease, as though he wished to finish off the task, having a flight to catch. He took the Indian bowlers by the scruff of the neck, as though he was performing a demolition operation. Till he was present, a West Indies win looked a mere formality.

 At 57 Viv held out to Kapil Dev at long on, who pulled off a classical catch, of a skier. A few balls later Larry Gomes edged an outswinger to Gavaskar at slip and then skipper Clive Lloyd held out to be caught by Kapil Dev. West Indies were now in dire straits at 66-5.The complexion of the game had turned like a 360 degree twist in a plot, in a Hollywood epic.

Rarely in cricket or sport, had viewers witnessed such a dramatic twist and turn. Seeing the Indian cricketers rejuvenated in the middle was a sight to behold. West Indies went into further disarray after the break, with Faoud Bacchus edging a wide delivery to wicketkeeper Kirmani, with the score at 76.

Then Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall put up rearguard 43 run partnership before Mohinder Amaranth intervened to dismiss Jeff Dujon shouldering arms and prompting Malcolm Marshall to edge the ball to Gavaskar at slip.Amarnath’s deceptive movement, trapped both the batsmen.Kapil Dev then trapped Andy Roberts and with the target 43 runs adrift, Amarnath rapped Michael Holding in front, to seal the title for India.

It is almost impossible to diagnose what caused the upset for West Indies. However this was manifestation of unpredictability or mysterious element in sport. Few games more conveyed how much sport was in the mind. No doubt the pitch was juicy for paceman, with grass and steep bounce. Still what won the day for India, was the sheer determination it radiated, which transcended intensity  rarely penetrated in team sports. The team simply stuck to it’s basic task.

West Indies reminded one of a might army or empire vanquished, like Napoleon loosing at Waterloo. Neverthless they were most sporting in defeat, coming to the dressing room, to congratulate the Indian team. Skipper Clive Lloyd remarked “Full marks to the Indians.”I was very happy to also see Pakistani cricketers Sarafraz Nawaz and Abdul Qadir join the victory celebrations and Asif Iqbal express his pride over the triumph of an Asian team in a world cup.

What was remarkable was that it was no single person, but a combined effort, that won India the world cup final. The blazing innings of Srikkanth ,the cameo of Sandeep Patil, the batting solidity and  seam movement of Amarnath, the catch of Viv Richards by Kapil Dev, the belligerence of Madan Lal ,Roger Binny and Balwinder Sandhu, all pooled together, to create history for India.

One of my most impactful memories was that of Madan Lal, who inspite of innocuous pace literally made the West Indies batsmen shiver, reminiscent of creating fire from no man’s land. Few cricketers did as much as the doctor ordered in a world cup final as Jimmy Amarnath, combining both ball and bat.

Possibly, no world cup final manifested the sheer spirit of the game, to as exalting heights. The atmosphere on the Lord’s cricket ground was like a festival of the crowds.

 

Previous Matches

In that week previously India comprehensively defeated Australia defending a target of 248 runs as well as England by 6 wickets, chasing down a target of 214 runs, in the semi-final at Old Trafford.

In the final group game against Australia at Chelmsford, India ripped through the flesh of the Australian middle order, to send them tottering from 46-1 to 69-6.The scene was reminiscent of new spirit propelling India. Both Madan Lal and Roger Binny capturing 4 wickets apiece, brilliantly exploited the overcast conditions, to obtain seam movement at its optimum level.

In the semi-final at Old Trafford on June 23^rd, India possibly gave it’s most clinical display ever, till then in the ODI game. England seemed to be cruising at 69-0, before Roger Binny enabled India to claw itself back and dismissed Chris Tavare and Graeme Fowler with moving deliveries. India then placed the brakes on the English batting, with Amarnath getting Gower to knick a delivery, Yashpal Sharma running out Alan Lamb, Amarnath breaking through the gate of Mike Gatting, and Kirti Azad sending Ian Botham’s off stump reeling. India stuck to it’s task with the organisation and commitment of an army battalion. The low bounce and slow track was perfectly conducive for India.

The jubilation in the Indian camp and amongst the crowds was simply unforgettable. English cricket simply received the hounding of it’s life, with the English writing off the Indians, completely. It was morale booster or fitting answer to the Indian crowds who were subjugated to humiliating racial discrimination in Britain. A knockout blow was given to age old colonial prejudices.

When replying the state of the game looked in suspense at 50-2, till the advent of Mohinder Amarnath, who in a partnership with Yashpal Sharma, carved the base for famous Indian win. After Amarnath was run out for 46 with India still 72 runs adrift , Sandeep Patil  blazed away from the start ,giving the English bowling the ultimate pounding of their flesh, scoring  51, to take India home. The temperament, calculatedness and organisation of Amarnath and Yashpal and the flamboyance of Sandeep Patil won the day for India. The towering sixes of Amarnath or Vic Marks and Yashpal of Paul Allot, are always flash in my memories and Sandeep  Patil’s  five boundaries ,in a single over, of Willis.

A week before the final India were on the verge of an exit from the world cup at Taunton against Zimbabwe , when reduced to 17-5 and 72-7.Kapil Dev ,played what was arguably the best ever innings in a world cup. With a dazzling or scintillating array of strokes, he took domination to zones rarely scaled and resurrected India from the grave .India recovered to reach a score of 266, and prevailed by a margin of 31 runs.

Analysis of Indian team

It is not easy to evaluate the true merit or accurately assess the greatness of the Indian team. Without doubt West Indies was the best team of the tournament, and England, Pakistan or Australia, on their day, were on par with India. This was proved in subsequent ODI series which India played at home against West Indies, England, Pakistan and Australia at home.

In full flow, no team looked as organised, clinical or focused as India. I would repudiate any fan who claimed India’s triumph was a fluke. Possibly in that week, India blazed glory, or scaled the heights, of the best ever World cup champions. Above all, no team ever gave as good an advertisement, of the unpredictability of the ODI game, taking surprise element to regions of the sublime. No team every shattered the myth of invincibility of West Indies in ODI Cricket. No doubt, India was grossly underestimated, before the tournament. India defeated, what was possibly, the best ODI side ever, on two occasions.

Noteworthy that in the very first game of the tournament. India overcame the mighty West Indies, by 34 runs. It proved India’s capturing of the title, was no fluke. Also evidence in India’s victory against West Indies in an ODI at Berbice, on the 1983 tour of West Indies, with India prevailing by a wide margin.

 

What fortified India was it’s plethora of all-rounders , great batting depth and determination of fast –medium bowlers to obtain movement in the air. The all-round skills of Kapil  Dev, Mohinder Amarnath,Roger Binny and Madan Lal proved handy  and the fact that even tail enders like Balwinder Sandhu and Syed Kirmani,were no mugs with the bat. Credit should also be given to the determination of Yashpal Sharma, and flamboyance of Sandeep Patil and Shrikanth, with the bat. High praise should also be given to Roger Binny and Madan Lal who unflinchinghly stuck to line and length, and fully exploited the seaming conditions to extract sideways movement. Pertinent that till today, Kapil Dev, is rated the best ever ODI all-rounder. Psychology of starting as underdogs too was a crucial factor, as well as the seaming conditions, which aided the bowlers.

Cultural Impact

The victory manifested anti-colonial sprit at helm and manifested sportsmanship and mysterious spirit of sport at a helm. Even the British Media saluted India as deserving winners and ‘true world champions.”

Significant that India rose above all regional and parochial boundaries that were such a predominant feature, with players from North India like Amarnath,Kapil Dev ,Madan Lal and Yashpal Sharma ,Sandeep Patil and Gavaskar from Maharashtra ,SrikKanth ,Kirmani and Roger Binny from South India. Elevated spirit of ‘Indians’ as a whole, as never before, instead of Maharashtrians, Punjabis or South Indians etc. Noteworthy that the team had a Christian member in Roger Binny, a Sikh in Balwinder Sandhu   and Muslims in Kirti Azad and Syed Kirmani , that elevated secular spirit or communal harmony.

The era marked a different era in cricket when the game was not a multi-million dollar business churning mercenaries, like today.

Tendencies prevailed of nation or anti-Pakistan chauvinism Being an admirer of Pakistani cricket, I commiserated with their loss of Imran Khan not being able to bowl, in the 1983 cup. Pakistan had in the previous world cups; come within the threshold of conquering reigning champions West Indies. Possibly the unluckiest team not to capture the coveted trophy till then, being a powerhouse of talent.

Post -1983 World Cup period

The defeat at the hands of India in the world cup stirred all conquering vengeance in the hearts of the West Indies players, which they illustrated when inflicting humiliation in the subsequent test series in India, which the won by a 3-0 margin, and the ODI series in a 5-0 clean sweep. One got vibrations that the World cup victory was an illusion. However India continued it’s run of glory in the World cricket championship in Australia in 1985, or Asia cup in 1984 and Rothmans Cup in1985 at Sharjah.

Regretful that India could not maintain this streak in subsequent word cups, till its triumph at home in 2011, and win no other world cup away from home. In 1987, as overwhelming favourites with Pakistan, it bowed down to England n the semi-final at Mumbai; in a virtual 180 degree contrast to the manner it overpowered them in the 1983 semi-final. Even if standards have improved and game become more competitive, India came within touching distance of winning in England in 2019, or possibly in Australia in 2015.India could simply never resurrect the sheer zest of 1983, overseas in world cups.

[deepdynamo]

When will these uncle stops these cringe celebrations year after year. They have been milking the world cup victory for the last 40 years.
Bored to death with stories that have been narrated million times by the ex cricketers, media and old uncles.

 

 

 

[nevada]

4 hours ago, deepdynamo said:

When will these uncle stops these cringe celebrations year after year. They have been milking the world cup victory for the last 40 years.
Bored to death with stories that have been narrated million times by the ex cricketers, media and old uncles.

 

 

 

It's time to retire the 83 batch and start interviewing the 2007 T20 WC batch. It's been 15 years already, are they ever going to get annual celebratory news coverage or do they have to wait 15 more years for the 83 batch to die or suffer dementia? Joginder's last over, Yuvi's six sixers, Gambhir providing the batting backbone, Bhajji's comeback, Uthappa's cameos, Rohit's useful contributions, Sreesanth's bowling - there's plenty to talk about and entertain audiences. 

[vvvslaxman]

49 minutes ago, nevada said:

It's time to retire the 83 batch and start interviewing the 2007 T20 WC batch. It's been 15 years already, are they ever going to get annual celebratory news coverage or do they have to wait 15 more years for the 83 batch to die or suffer dementia? Joginder's last over, Yuvi's six sixers, Gambhir providing the batting backbone, Bhajji's comeback, Uthappa's cameos, Rohit's useful contributions, Sreesanth's bowling - there's plenty to talk about and entertain audiences. 

 

2007 won't have as much attention as 2011 world cup win as world T20 due to volatile nature of T20.

[zen]

From 1983 to 1999, unexpected teams, relatively speaking, won the WCs: 

1983 India … Mohinder Amarnath was the man of the match in both SF & F. However, Ind is likely to lose the final 9/10 times. It was one of those days. 

 

1987 Aus … Both Ind & Pak were expected to clash in the final, however Aus & Eng, the two relatively weaker teams of the 80s made it. Aus won it while Eng lamented Gatting’s reverse sweep (or whatever it was)! 

 

1992 Pak … Pak had usually been a force at the WC in that period but in 1992, it was struggling relatively. Once it made it to the SF, it was a different ball game where it went on to beat both NZ and Eng, the two dominant sides in the group stage. 
 

1996 SL … Most thought SL’s bubble would burst but it never did! Jayasuriya smashed almost everyone (made Prabhakar bowl off spin) and De Silva kicked in the SF & F, man of the match in both the games. 
 

1999 Aus … Not really unexpected as Aus was one of favourites but all eyes were on SA and Pak was playing well too. Also famous for S Waugh’s, instrumental in Aus two WC wins 87 & 99, remark to Gibbs - “ … dropped the WC”. 
 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by zen

[nevada]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

2007 won't have as much attention as 2011 world cup win as world T20 due to volatile nature of T20.

Due to volatile nature it should command greater respect IMO. Only a team that isn't afraid of losing can pull it off. The 2007 team was exactly that. Now it's safe to say the Indian team won't win the T20WC anytime soon due to the safe brand of stat padding cricket they play.

[vvvslaxman]

26 minutes ago, nevada said:

Due to volatile nature it should command greater respect IMO. Only a team that isn't afraid of losing can pull it off. The 2007 team was exactly that. Now it's safe to say the Indian team won't win the T20WC anytime soon due to the safe brand of stat padding cricket they play.

 

It is probably something to do with unthinkable chance of India winning a world cup. That too beating almighty West Indies who reached third final in a row.  2007 world t20 was new for everyone. So it was a level playing ground.  EIther way one common thing between the two teams was both had depth. Both team had bowlers who could bat. batsmen who could bowl. Plenty of utility players. Even in 2011 we had similar combo. Tendulkar/Sehwag/Yuvraj/Raina could all bowl. India has to assemble an unit that can handle any kind of crisis. Cannot expect to have near perfect game every match. If India is 17/5 now i can guarantee we will lose even against minnow.

[Nikhil_cric]

On 6/25/2023 at 5:30 PM, zen said:

From 1983 to 1999, unexpected teams, relatively speaking, won the WCs: 

1983 India … Mohinder Amarnath was the man of the match in both SF & F. However, Ind is likely to lose the final 9/10 times. It was one of those days. 

 

1987 Aus … Both Ind & Pak were expected to clash in the final, however Aus & Eng, the two relatively weaker teams of the 80s made it. Aus won it while Eng lamented Gatting’s reverse sweep (or whatever it was)! 

 

1992 Pak … Pak had usually been a force at the WC in that period but in 1992, it was struggling relatively. Once it made it to the SF, it was a different ball game where it went on to beat both NZ and Eng, the two dominant sides in the group stage. 
 

1996 SL … Most thought SL’s bubble would burst but it never did! Jayasuriya smashed almost everyone (made Prabhakar bowl off spin) and De Silva kicked in the SF & F, man of the match in both the games. 
 

1999 Aus … Not really unexpected as Aus was one of favourites but all eyes were on SA and Pak was playing well too. Also famous for S Waugh’s, instrumental in Aus two WC wins 87 & 99, remark to Gibbs - “ … dropped the WC”. 
 

 

England were NOT a weak side in 1987. They were a good ODI side until 92. They became an obsolete side in the next World Cup cycle. They were easily favourites to make SF ahead of weak teams like NZ and they were atleast on par if not better than India. 

 

Australia were once again probably not favourites to win the whole thing but would have easily made SF's. But their superior out cricket helped them punch above their weight and beat everyone.

Windies would have been favourites as usual but they lost Holding and Garner were done by early 87 on the eve of the World Cup and Greenidge and Marshall did not play the World Cup for whatever reason. 

 

They didn't have 4 of their best players from the previous cycle. So ENG making semi's was not that big a surprise. 

 

And they got an easy opponent in India. 

 

 

PAK were 2nd favourites for 1992 after OZ who were overwhelming favourites and who flopped miserably. That World Cup cycle was PAK's best in their ODI history.

 

1996 - SL making semis should not have been inconceivable. They were beating top ODI nations consistently for previous 18 months and their batting strike rates as a team were superior to most teams. Making the finals and winning the Cup was an overachievement for sure.

 

If you look at W/L ratios of teams for 24 months before the Cup and the batting strike rates of these teams over the said periods, they were all top 4 sides with a good chance of making the semis. 

 

 

 

[zen]

3 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

England were NOT a weak side in 1987. They were a good ODI side until 92. They became an obsolete side in the next World Cup cycle. They were easily favourites to make SF ahead of weak teams like NZ and they were atleast on par if not better than India. 

 

Australia were once again probably not favourites to win the whole thing but would have easily made SF's. But their superior out cricket helped them punch above their weight and beat everyone.

Windies would have been favourites as usual but they lost Holding and Garner were done by early 87 on the eve of the World Cup and Greenidge and Marshall did not play the World Cup for whatever reason. 

 

They didn't have 4 of their best players from the previous cycle. So ENG making semi's was not that big a surprise. 

 

And they got an easy opponent in India. 

 

 

PAK were 2nd favourites for 1992 after OZ who were overwhelming favourites and who flopped miserably. That World Cup cycle was PAK's best in their ODI history.

 

1996 - SL making semis should not have been inconceivable. They were beating top ODI nations consistently for previous 18 months and their batting strike rates as a team were superior to most teams. Making the finals and winning the Cup was an overachievement for sure.

 

If you look at W/L ratios of teams for 24 months before the Cup and the batting strike rates of these teams over the said periods, they were all top 4 sides with a good chance of making the semis. 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I don’t connect with most of what you wrote (as it is by and large unrelated).  I am speaking in terms of winning the tournament (not necessarily SF where a team like Kenya has made it too). I am also speaking “relatively”.

 

Note that in ‘87, NZ was in Ind and Aus’ group, while Eng was in Pak and WI’s. Eng and NZ were not competing for a SF spot. 
 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by zen

[Nikhil_cric]

1 hour ago, zen said:

Unfortunately, I don’t connect with most of what you wrote (as it is by and large unrelated).  I am speaking in terms of winning the tournament (not necessarily SF where a team like Kenya has made it too). I am also speaking “relatively”.

 

Note that in ‘87, NZ was in Ind and Aus’ group, while Eng was in Pak and WI’s. Eng and NZ were not competing for a SF spot. 
 

 

My point was, in the hypothetical scenario they met NZ, they would have beaten NZ.

 

The only 2 teams who were stronger than them in that WC were PAK and Australia and they lost to both of them 

[vvvslaxman]

14 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

England were NOT a weak side in 1987. They were a good ODI side until 92. They became an obsolete side in the next World Cup cycle. They were easily favourites to make SF ahead of weak teams like NZ and they were atleast on par if not better than India. 

 

Australia were once again probably not favourites to win the whole thing but would have easily made SF's. But their superior out cricket helped them punch above their weight and beat everyone.

Windies would have been favourites as usual but they lost Holding and Garner were done by early 87 on the eve of the World Cup and Greenidge and Marshall did not play the World Cup for whatever reason. 

 

They didn't have 4 of their best players from the previous cycle. So ENG making semi's was not that big a surprise. 

 

And they got an easy opponent in India. 

 

 

PAK were 2nd favourites for 1992 after OZ who were overwhelming favourites and who flopped miserably. That World Cup cycle was PAK's best in their ODI history.

 

1996 - SL making semis should not have been inconceivable. They were beating top ODI nations consistently for previous 18 months and their batting strike rates as a team were superior to most teams. Making the finals and winning the Cup was an overachievement for sure.

 

If you look at W/L ratios of teams for 24 months before the Cup and the batting strike rates of these teams over the said periods, they were all top 4 sides with a good chance of making the semis. 

 

 

 

 

 

India should have won against England with 52 to get in 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand. But pitch was helping spinners. Mike Gatting mocked Kapil's miscued shot and ended up playing reverse sweep against golden arm of Alan Border. All matches could have gone either way. Gooch swept pretty much everything.  There was this controversy about Gavaskar getting bowled by De Freitas in the semi final. It was rumored tha the got out deliberately since he hated Kolklatta ground back in those days since he was booed severely in 1984/85 test against England after he dropped Kapil from that test for a bad shot in the 2nd test.  Much like 1996 world cup India failed on a turning wicket while chasing. Ironically Kapil Dev smashed the same Hemmings he got out to for 4 sixes in a row to avoid follow on 4 years later.  India and Pakistan reached final in 1985 benson hedges in Australia. So they were heavy favorites at home.   

 

We may something similar this time around. India may roll out a spinning track and end up failing to chase against some random spinners.

[Nikhil_cric]

15 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

 

India should have won against England with 52 to get in 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand. But pitch was helping spinners. Mike Gatting mocked Kapil's miscued shot and ended up playing reverse sweep against golden arm of Alan Border. All matches could have gone either way. Gooch swept pretty much everything.  There was this controversy about Gavaskar getting bowled by De Freitas in the semi final. It was rumored tha the got out deliberately since he hated Kolklatta ground back in those days since he was booed severely in 1984/85 test against England after he dropped Kapil from that test for a bad shot in the 2nd test.  Much like 1996 world cup India failed on a turning wicket while chasing. Ironically Kapil Dev smashed the same Hemmings he got out to for 4 sixes in a row to avoid follow on 4 years later.  India and Pakistan reached final in 1985 benson hedges in Australia. So they were heavy favorites at home.   

 

We may something similar this time around. India may roll out a spinning track and end up failing to chase against some random spinners.

We nearly failed in 2011 SF on a spinning pitch too. It took an almighty choke by YK and Misbah to get us over the line 

 

Even I think pitches that turn big will be detrimental to our chances. 

[vvvslaxman]

6 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

We nearly failed in 2011 SF on a spinning pitch too. It took an almighty choke by YK and Misbah to get us over the line 

 

Even I think pitches that turn big will be detrimental to our chances. 

 

Especially current line up. One of the worst was in world T 20 wher we were bowled out for 71 runs by Santner and co when we chased a paltry total.

[Vijy]

On 6/28/2023 at 6:37 AM, vvvslaxman said:

 

Especially current line up. One of the worst was in world T 20 wher we were bowled out for 71 runs by Santner and co when we chased a paltry total.

yes, brat and gill would be like mosquitoes that are gobbled up by lizards and frogs (spinners)

[coffee_rules]

BS Sanshu with a great sense of humor . Lol

 

 

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Balwinder Sandhu roasting Kapil Dev... pic.twitter.com/Z6JnnGqz0A

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