India & World cup Cricket

India & World cup Cricket


India won her first World Cup under the Captaincy of Kapil Dev in 1983 by beating the toughest opponent of that times West Indies by a margin of 41 runs. Mohinder Amarnath who was declared as Man of the Match for his 26 runs and 3 wickets for 12 runs. He was also the Man of the Match in Semi Finals.

Way to The World Cup in 1983.


India lost three match series(2-1) in the West Indies before the world cup, but beat them (by 27 runs) in the title match at Berbice. The defeat of Clive Lloyd's champion team made a big splash in the English media and earned the Indian team the sobriquet, "Kapil's Devils".
India scores victories against Zimbabwe (Grace Road and Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells) but loss the match to Australia. It was Kapil Dev's brilliant 175 after a disastrous start (17 for 5 with Sunil Gavaskar, K.Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma back in the pavilion) that helped India to a motivating victory over Zimbabwe. Kapil added 60 runs for the sixth wicket with Roger Binny(22), 62 for the eighth wicket with Madan Lal(17) and 126 for the unbroken ninth with Syed Kirmani(24) and then Indian seamers restricted Zimbabwe to 235- 31 runs short to the target.
In the match against Australia at Trent Bridge, Trevor Chappel's charmed innings of 110 overshadowed Kapil Dev's 5 for 43 and enabled Australia to defeat India by 162 runs. However in the key knock outmatch at Chelmsford, India hit back through Madan Lal(4 for 20) and Binny (4 for 29)as Australia, chasing 247 was bundled out for 129.


Semi Final Match between India & England.

Fine fielding and tight bowling restricted England to 213 in the semifinal at Old Trafford. Mohinder's seamers and Kirti Azad's off-spin were utilized by Kapil at a crucial juncture. Not a single England batsman made a half century. Thereafter, Man of the Match Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil took control after Gavaskar and Srikkanth gave India a reasonably good start. Yashpal Sharma's cautious 115 ball 61 thwarted the hopes of England before Patil's 32 ball 51 hastened India's victory.

Final Match between India & West Indies.

In the final, there was a plenty of juice in the pitch for West Indian pace attack Garner, with the fine lift and line, was virtually unplayable in his first spell. In that 60 over game, India bowled out for 183 in 54.4 overs. West Indian chase was not good. They lost the wicket of their opener Gorden Greenidge cheaply. Thanks to that magic ball produced by Balwinder Singh Sandhu. Then came Vivian Richards who smashed the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. He cracked seven boundaries as West Indies raced to 50 in quick time. But soon Richards fell, top edging the ball high into the air for Kapil Dev to take a brilliant catch.Windies lost their momentum though Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall put up a brief resistance. The defending champion was outwitted by some clever bowling by Kapil, Sandhu, Madan Lal, Binny and Amarnath.
Kapil dev finished the tournament with 303 runs and 12 wickets. Yashpal Sharma made 240 runs, Amarnath 237 and Sandeep Patil 216. However it was the bowling that turned things around for India. Madan Lal (17 wickets at 16.76) and Binny (18 wickets at 18.67) exploited the conditions well, while Amarnath and Sandhu picked up 8 wickets each in the tournament.


Fascinating Facts of 1983 World Cup.

Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri did not figure in the X1 for the semi final and final. This indicates the depth in the side.
Syed Kirmani walked in at no 10. The wicket keeper batsman had a test hundred against his name.
Sunil Watson, a member of the World Cup squad in 1983 didn't play a single match in the tournament.
India made the Highest total, 373/6 against Sree Lanka on 26/05/1999 at Taunton (England ). A sparkling 183 (From 158 Balls) by Sourav Ganguly helped India to achieve a mammoth total in that match.