A THRILLING
TRIUMPH FOR THE UNDERDOGS
India v West
Indies (Final) • Lord’s, London,
25 June 1983
25 June 1983
Lord’s was bathed in bright sunshine and ready
to crown the undisputed kings of cricket, the West Indies, with yet another title.
The conquerors from the Caribbean marshalled by the elder statesman Clive Lloyd
had won the first two World Cups, and were poised to make it a hat-trick on
this beautiful day against surprise finalists, India.
The Indian World Cup record had been dismal. In
two tournaments they had won a total of one match, against lowly East Africa in
1975. In 1983, the Australian captain Kim Hughes had rated the Indians as “dark
horses” to win the championship. They sprang a surprise in the opening
encounter by inflicting upon the West Indies their first defeat in the World
Cup. Then they nearly faltered against Zimbabwe before being bailed out by a
Herculean effort from their captain, Kapil Dev. But now in the final they were
not expected to take the title away from the reigning champions.
The match began true to form with Andy Roberts
and Joel Garner bowling extremely accurately. Garner’s steeply rising
deliveries bowled from his great height, were impossible to get away. Soon
Sunil Gavaskar fished at one from Roberts and was easily snapped up at the
wicket. Krishnamachari Srikkanth dazzled for a while in his customary fashion,
and even delighted the crowd with a hooked six off Roberts. He and Mohinder
Amarnath put on 57 for second wicket. Then Yashpal Sharma helped Amarnath in a
useful stand, and at 90 for two the Indian score bore a healthy look.
Disaster was round the corner as Amarnath was
comprehensively bowled by Michael Holding, and Yashpal fell to the gentle
off-break of Larry Gomes. Though Sandeep Patil played a useful knock, the
innings fell away in the face of some fine bowling by the West Indians. Had it
not been for a fighting last-wicket stand between Syed Kirmani and Balwinder
Sandhu, the Indian total would have looked even more pitiable than their 183
all out in 54.4 overs.
There was a sensational start to the West Indies
innings as Gordon Greenidge shouldered arms to an incoming delivery from Sandhu
and was bowled for 1. You could not blame Greenidge, for Sandhu himself thought
he had bowled an out-swinger. Instead, the ball came in sharply after hitting
the seam. That set the stage for a grand entry by the imperious Vivian
Richards. And he batted like the monarch that he often was at the crease.
As he smashed the bowling to all the corners of
the hallowed ground, an early West Indies victory looked most likely. Just then
he skied Madan Lal high over mid-wicket. Kapil Dev turned and ran after the
ball that was rapidly going away from him. After what seemed an eternity the
Indian skipper clung on to the prize. The door seemed to have opened for the
underdogs. They stuck to their task, bowled tightly, fielded brilliantly and
were constantly egged on by their captain. Wickets started tumbling; soon it
was 76 for six. Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall hung on for a while, and when
the day’s hero Amarnath trapped Holding plumb in front, the sensational upset
left everyone dumbfounded. "Now Indian mystics walk through fire",
screamed the headline of Tony Lewis' report in The Sunday Telegraph.
And even the diehard Indian fans were stunned by
this memorable win.
India : 183 all out (54.4 overs)
West Indies : 140 all out (52 overs)
(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted
on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).
The
Big Book of World Cup Cricket 1975-2011
ISBN
978-81-901668-4-3
Distributed
in India by Variety Book Depot, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Phones + 91 11
23417175, 23412567
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