37 Years of Glory!

I was born in 1998. The year in which Sachin’s desert storm came. The year where Indian won 25 medals in Commonwealth Games which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The year when Anil Kumble took 200 ODI wickets. The year 1998 was also the year when India completed 15 years anniversary of their 1983 World Cup triumph. My grandfather used to tell me all of his stories of the World Cup 83. He was a true cricket lover and with him, I used to watch all the cricket matches. He was a huge Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev fan and he used to tell me how he followed up the WC 83 on radio and watched the final on a friend’s television.


India won their first global tournament in 1983 World cup which was then known as Prudential Cup. Kapil Dev a world-class all-rounder and the captain of the Indian team for the tournament. He was merely 24 years old then. He led a team that had the likes of Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Amarnath, and many other players who were way senior to him. The Indian squad which was later called Kapil’s Devils was the most unlikely team to have won the tournament. Their odds to win were 1 ratio 64. Therefore, the tale of the Indian cricket team was magical.

Indians won their first match against the mighty West Indies who won both World Cups contested before. The Champions of World Cup 83 won six out of eight matches in the tournament. But the highlight of the tournament for India was beating West Indies two times and the other was winning an unbelievable match against Zimbabwe where once India was once 17/5 and then ended up scoring 266/8. The match saw the miraculous 175 run innings by Kapil Dev. Unluckily, this match wasn’t televised as BBC was on strike that day but after this match, there was no looking back for India. 


It was a Double League Tournament where India played West Indies, Australia, and Zimbabwe twice in the league stages. After winning 4 out 6 matches in the league stages, India were up against the host England in the semifinals. They won the semis in a convincing fashion with 6 wickets and 32 balls in hand. Sandeep Patil played a blissful and entertaining 32 ball 51 run innings and sealed the game for India.  

Now India was against West Indies, the third time in the tournament. It was a green lively pitch were Indian batting was rattled for just 183 runs. The team’s spirit was low, their dream was about to shatter but the Indian skipper gave a motivational speech to the team. India took the wickets of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes but Sir Viv Richards was on fire. Viv was hitting the Indians all around the park. Madan Lal who was bashed for three boundaries by Viv in the last took his wicket in the next over.


After that, the virtuous former two-times champions were scrambled for 140 runs by Kapil and company.

The unreal scenes of Kapil Dev lifting the Cup at the Lord’s balcony was delightful but I could never know why did my grandfather had misty eyes whenever he used to recall it.


In 2011, when India lifted the Cup after 28 years under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.


I felt those emotions that my grandfather used to convey through his stories. I was fortunate that I could see him cheering for Men in Blue and enjoy my 2011 World Cup celebrations with him. 


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