India won the first World Cup under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. (ICC file photo)
New Delhi: The Indian cricket team is counted among the strong teams in today’s time. This team emerges as a contender for the title in whatever tournament it plays. But this was not the case in the 70-80s. India was not counted among very strong teams. The condition was that in 1983, when the Indian team reached to play the World Cup, no one took it seriously, but this team, captained by Kapil Dev, surprised everyone and won the World Cup, and this work was done on this day itself. That is, it happened on 25 June. India defeated the two-time world champion West Indies by 43 runs.
At that time it was not easy to beat the West Indies. This team was considered the legendary team of that time, which had a batsman like Vivian Richards and bowlers like Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding. But Team India defeated everyone. This victory changed the picture of Indian cricket. Wherever Indian cricket is today, there is a huge contribution of this title win.
read this also- India’s men’s and women’s cricket team will play in China
didn’t make big score
In this match played at Lord’s, West Indies captain Clive Lloyd won the toss and decided to bowl first. The West Indies bowlers did not allow the Indian team to score big. Team India was able to score only 183 runs. Sunil Galaskar was dismissed as the first wicket after scoring two runs. The second opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Mohinder Amarnath again tried to handle the team and shared a 57-run partnership. Marshall had dismissed Srikkanth on a total score of 59. Amarnath, who scored 26 runs, got out on a total score of 90.
40 Years ago On this day in 1983, Team India won its maiden Cricket World Cup title, by beating West Indies. Kapil Dev 🙌#ICCWorldCup #IndianCricketTeam pic.twitter.com/VxNpHZdiO9
— ɅMɅN DUВΞY 🇮🇳 (@imAmanDubey) June 24, 2023
From here again India kept losing wickets continuously. Yashpal Sharma (11) was dismissed after two runs. Captain Kapil Dev could not take his innings beyond 15 runs. Kirti Azad could not even open the account. Roger Binny could score only two runs. In the end, Madan Lal scored 17, Syed Kirmani scored 14 and Balwinder Sandhu scored 11 runs to take the team to 183 runs. Team India was all out in 54.4 overs. For the West Indies, Roberts took three wickets, Marshall, Holding, Larry Gomes took two wickets each.
read this also- Will Unadkat end the wait of 10 years in West Indies?
The bowlers did wonders
Looking at the West Indies batting, this target seemed very easy but the bowlers of Team India piled up its giants. Sandhu gave India the first success by bowling Gordon Greenidge. His wicket fell on a total score of five. Then Vivian Richards came on the field who started stormy batting. Meanwhile, Madan Lal sent Desmond Haynes to the pavilion on a total score of 50. Then came the catch that snatched the match from the West Indies. Richards pulls Madan Lal’s ball and the ball goes to deep square leg. Kapil Dev who was standing on the circle at square leg ran backwards and took a brilliant catch.
On this day, Kapil Dev scored an unbeaten 175 runs off 138 balls against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/XgRPal2eUR
— Sportsliveresult (@Sportslive91091) June 18, 2023
From here the match came in India’s lap. Larry Gomes became the victim of Madan Lal by scoring five runs. Windies captain Clive Lloyd was caught in the hands of Kapil on the ball of Roger Binny. Jeff Dujan and Marshall finally fought to win the team, in which they were unsuccessful. Amarnath dismisses Jeff Dozen. He played an inning of 25 runs. Marshall scored 18 runs and he also became the victim of Amarnath. Amarnath bowled Holding on the last ball of the 52nd over and made India the world champion by stacking West Indies for 140 runs.
read this also- Virat Kohli will treat his ‘pain’ in West Indies
He was the star performer
Amarnath was adjudged man of the match in the final match. He also took three wickets with an innings of 26 runs. On the other hand, if we talk about the star performer of the team in this tournament, the current BCCI President Roger Binny was the highest wicket-taker not only for India but in the entire tournament. He took a total of 18 wickets in his name. Captain Kapil Dev scored the most runs for India in the tournament. Kapil scored a total of 303 runs in eight matches.
Kapil played one of the most memorable innings in cricket history in this World Cup. He scored an unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe. His innings came when India had lost their five wickets for 17 runs. After this Kapil took charge and played a historic innings.
read this also- Why is the West Indies tour important for Rohit Sharma?