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How India won 1983 world cup final : a story untoldFiled under
Indian cricket
Indian team was quoted 66:1 by bookies before the battle began.. few Zimbabwe hiccups, some Australia demolition and loads of upsets including group win over windies & semi-final victory over England. and zoooom ~ Team India into cricket world cup finals.
25th June 1983. Not even 20% of Indians were aware of this event taking place as Lords in England got jam-packed for the final showdown. A total of 232,081 fans strolled in, nearly equaling the combined total of past two finals (160,000 for 1975 & 132,000 for 1979). Winston Davis had broken the record of best bowling figures by taking 7 wickets in an ODI for the first time just 13 days earlier in semifinal against Aussies, yet Captain Clive Lloyd dropped him for experienced Joel Garner. Won the toss, and opted for fielding. Idea was - blow the Indian batting apart. Most famous (underperforming) pin-up boy of Indian cricket at that  time was Sunil Gawaskar. Being an experienced opener, he also was capable to doing miracle right at the top. he didn't. caught by keeper Dujon off Andy Roberts. Fireworks came from Krish Srikanth - pulling, driving, lofting & late cutting = 38 off 57, including a six. Srikanth had found a good partner in Mohinder Amarnath, who was playing sheet-anchor role to perfection. 80 beamers he survived, to compile 26 runs.. most importantly - India were 90 for 2.Then came series of sweep shots, and flow of wickets. Yashpal Sharma was caught at mid-wicket (rather luckily by inexperienced Gus Logie) moments after Amarnath and Srikanth had departed. Kapil Dev, Kirti Azad & all rounder Roger Binny - all looked comfortable, but unhungry. Only Sandeep Patil & his sweep shots were tickling the scoreboard. Late resilience came from Madan Lal, Keeper Kirmani (14 off 43) & Bilvinder Singh Sandhu - a typical number 11, but also a true punjabi.. see the notes. India 183 all out, but more importantly - absorbed 54.4 overs in all. Banana Swing from captain Kapil Dev started second session of 1983 world cup finals. Sandhu took new ball from other end, and foxed Gorden Greenidge with an inswinger. ball hit windies opener on the fingers, and crashed onto stumps. Larry Gomes, Desmond Haynes were follwed by Vivian Richards - who wanted to finish the match early. 33 off just 28 balls he made, but Madan Lal was rolling arm over in a hurry. His 3 wickets stumbled World Champion caribbean cricket team to 66 for 4. Clive Lloyd's dismissal made it 66 for 5 - with his bad shot, going over covers finding Kapil Dev. Mohinder Amarnath was next. coming in jogging, hiding the ball, hitting the seam & extracting extra bounce. Windies Keeper Jeoffery Dujon was holding the fort, but got bowled. Malcom Marshal nicked one - dropped short of first slip. he again nicked the second, and this time the ball carried to Gawaskar. Rest my fellow cricket fan, is history. India won the 1983 world cup.
Few notes I made, as I watched the replay of this 1983 final, on Starsports the other day.. **Balvinder Singh Sandhu, wearing red turban underneath blue half helmet, took one on head from Garner. Keeper Dujon came in running, to ask if he was ok.. by the video I saw, I can promise Sandhu didn't understand his language. Or at least didn't like it, because he was fired up when Indians came out to bowl. He was their around the pitch, under the skin of West Indies tailenders - taking the revenge. **Larry Gomes & Vivian Richards used to bowl tricky overs in the middle of innings. Leg-stump line was very much allowed in those days. So Indian plan was - sweep them over square leg. Srikanth, Sandeep Patil & Madal Lal enjoyed their sixes, whereas Kapil Dev & Sandhu managed lusty fours. **Clive Lloyd pulled a groin muscle while taking his first single. Desmond Hayens did his running for rest of 16 balls he faced. **The umpires applied stricter interpretation to control negative bowling. No extensive wider balls & bumpers were allowed. yet, Sandhu will remember what he got. **What was the prize money for Indian team after winning world cup 1983? well, it was 20,000 pounds to them for winning the final match at lords, and 600 to Mohinder Amarnath as the man of the match. Excluding the silver-gilt medals and the Prudential Cup trophy Indian boys brought home.
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