This Day, That Year

Year: 1983 Location: India

Jeetendra and Sreedevi launch a franchise model of song-and-dance dramas where men are always in white menswear, and women in Apsara-like costumes. Remember Thathiyya thathiyya O O! Gundallu….Gundallu

Fire rages in the states of Assam and Punjab in proportions never seen and heard before.

Phoolan Devi, the famed (?) dacoit surrenders enroute a life of dignity (remember she became an MP)!

Amidst all this, the Prudential Cup and the triumph happened! What happened that day?

On that day (June 25), the national cricket team lifted the highest prize in the sport, the World Cup—we are celebrating what is arguably the greatest sporting triumph of the nation in 2008.

Date: June 25, 1983 Venue: Lord’s

Pre-tournament no-hopers, India were playing two-time champions West Indies for the greatest prize, the Prudential World Cup. It was the final and the whole nation was watching with excitement. I remember in school, we were even asked to watch the match and come prepared on Monday morning for an essay.

The match began at 1045 London time (1515 IST) with earnest when the Indian openers, Gavaskar and Srikanth walked into the middle to face the fearsome battery of fast bowlers, Roberts, Garner, Holding, and Marshall. In the fifth over, tragedy strikes when Gavaskar edges Roberts to Dujon. The repair job was undertaken by an unlikely duo, the Mad Max clone Srikanth and the then best player of fast bowling, Amarnath. Couple of shots from Srikanth’s blade stands out in memory even today – the square drive on bent knees off Roberts and a pull shot again off Roberts for a huge six. Normal service for West Indies was restored when Holding sent Amarnath’s stumps flying and Marshall trapped Srikanth in front of the stumps for a well-played 38—incidentally the highest score of the match. Yashpal Sharma, the hero of the semi-finals followed them to the pavilion soon after and when lunch was taken at 1300 London time (1730 IST), India was 99/4. When play resumed 40 minutes later, lusty hitting from Sandeep Patil and some lower-order resistance pushed the score to 183 all out.

India 183 all out and West Indies 184/1 (36 overs) – This was a prediction during the innings break. Most of us felt that even though we had come this far, it would only fair that a team of real class such as West Indies won the World Cup. Those were the times, we had won precious little- coming to a final was considered a great achievement!

When the West Indians began their chase, nobody could imagine things that unfolded over the next four hours. Like in the Indian innings, tragedy struck when Greenidge shouldered arms to a seemingly-innocuous in swinger from Balwinder Sandhu. In walked Viv Richards and the situation was tailor-made for a destructive player like him. He began attacking the bowlers and all of us felt that the match would be over in 30 overs. He was in such a dominant form. But probably he played a shot too many. He pulled one off Madan Lal and ended up top-edging it. What happened was probably the defining moment of Indian cricket. The top-edge was sailing harmlessly when the Indian captain ran 25 yards backwards to take the catch. The great man was gone. Soon Lloyd was gone too. I still remember the words of Richie Benaud from the commentary box. “West Indies 66/5 and in complete disarray.” So it was. When tea was taken at 1715 London time (2145 IST), West Indies were 76/5 and a mountain to climb!

When play resumed 15 minutes later, 76/5 became 76/6 when Kirmani picked up a brilliant catch to send back Bacchus. They often say that no match is won till the last ball is bowled and last wicket is taken. Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall began a repair job and each time they scored a run, the heart beats of the Indian players rose and the hopes of the fans receded. Then a miracle happened. Mohinder Amarnath dismissed a well-set Dujon and soon they were all out for 140.

It was midnight in India when the last wicket fell and it was Diwali Redux. Never before have celebrations been as wild and frenzied as that night. A new religion—cricket was born that night. It’s been 25 years since that momentous day and my heart swells with pride when I watch the clippings. There may be other victories in cricket, and probably other sports. But I dare say that this is the greatest sporting victory yet!

Match Scorecard

India v West Indies @ Lord's, London
25 June 1983

Toss: West Indies (field)
Umpires: HD Bird, BJ Meyer
Match Result: India won by 43 runs

India

Sunil Gavaskar c Jeff Dujon b Andy Roberts 2

Kris Srikkanth lbw b Malcolm Marshall 38

Mohinder Amarnath b Michael Holding 26

Yashpal Sharma c sub b Larry Gomes 11

Sandeep Patil c Larry Gomes b Joel Garner 27

Kapil Dev c Michael Holding b Larry Gomes 15

Kirti Azad c Joel Garner b Andy Roberts 0

Roger Binny c Joel Garner b Andy Roberts 2

Madan Lal b Malcolm Marshall 17

Syed Kirmani b Michael Holding 14

Balwinder Sandhu not out 11

FOW 1-2 (Sunny Gavaskar), 2-59 (Kris Srikkanth), 3-90 (Mohinder Amarnath), 4-92 (Yashpal Sharma), 5-110 (Kapil Dev), 6-111 (Kirti Azad), 7-130 (Roger Binny), 8-153 (Sandeep Patil), 9-161 (Madan Lal), 183 (Syed Kirmani).

Extras 5b, 5lb, 9w, 1nb, 0pen) 20

Total (54.4 ovs) 183 all out

Bowling

Andy Roberts 10 3 32 3

Joel Garner 12 4 24 1

Malcolm Marshall 11 1 24 2

Michael Holding 9.4 2 26 2

Larry Gomes 11 1 49 2

Sir Viv Richards 1 0 8 0

West Indies

Gordon Greenidge b Balwinder Sandhu 1

Desmond Haynes c Roger Binny b Madan Lal 13

Sir Viv Richards c Kapil Dev b Madan Lal 33

Clive Lloyd c Kapil Dev b Roger Binny 8

Larry Gomes c Sunny Gavaskar b Madan Lal 5

Faoud Bacchus c Syed Kirmani b Balwinder Sandhu 8

Jeff Dujon b Mohinder Amarnath 25

Malcolm Marshall c Sunny Gavaskar b Mohinder Amarnath 18

Andy Roberts lbw b Kapil Dev 4

Joel Garner not out 5

Michael Holding lbw b Mohinder Amarnath 6

FOW 1-5 (Gordon Greenidge), 2-50 (Desmond Haynes), 3-57 (Sir Viv Richards), 4-66 (Larry Gomes), 5-66 (Clive Lloyd), 6-76 (Faoud Bacchus), 7-119 (Jeff Dujon), 8-124 (Malcolm Marshall), 9-126 (Andy Roberts), 140 (Michael Holding).

Extras 0b, 4lb, 10w, 0nb, 0pen) 14

Total (52 ovs) 140 all out

Bowling

Kapil Dev 11 4 21 1

Balwinder Sandhu 9 1 32 2

Madan Lal 12 2 31 3

Roger Binny 10 1 23 1

Mohinder Amarnath 7 0 12 3

Kirti Azad 3 0 7 0