India is now a cricketing superpower. More because of the commercial success of the white ball game back home. In many ways it was one innings on this day 43 years back that laid the foundation of this transformation. Today we celebrate the 43rd anniversary of this very special effort by Kapil Dev on 18 June 1983.
Back in 1983, winning the World Cup was only a dream, even for the most ardent fans of Indian cricket. But they would soon realize that some dreams do come true. The significance of this victory is further underlined because prior to June 25, 1983, India’s victories were hardly accorded the recognition they merited.
News of English county games were reported in equal measure and the sports pages of newspapers were duly reporting news of other sports, be it local hockey, tennis or kho kho. After 1983, all that changed. The genesis of the modern cricket page was born then.
What followed the World Cup triumph was a media revolution that has now made cricket in India a kind of secular religion. And all of this started with one special effort from the skipper, Kapil Dev on this day 43 years ago at Tunbridge Wells against Zimbabwe.
Kapil’s 175 against Zimbabwe, Tunbridge Wells, 18 June 1983
A BBC strike may have prevented recording of the match, but the significance of Kapil’s heroics is etched in gold in the nation’s memory. With the score reading 9-4 and then 17-5, 266 seemed far off. When Shastri was out for 1 and the Indian recovery seemed to have been stalled (78-7), dejection deepened further. What followed was simple mayhem.
The result—the highest ever individual World Cup score. India had survived.
In Kapil paaji’s words, “What happened after the Zimbabwe game was that we as a team started to believe we could win from any situation. If we could win that match after being reduced to 17-5 we could beat any team in the world from any situation. After that victory the captain had to do very little. The team was actually doing everything. They players would decide when they wanted to practice and I did not have to push anyone to do anything."
"Everyone was just that extra bit motivated to give his best. They would stay out at the nets just that bit longer and the self belief is what had changed after the Zimbabwe game. The other thing I can tell you about this game is that after winning the toss I had actually planned to take a long hot shower because I was to bat at number 6-7 and there was a lot of batting at the top."
"It was cold and the warm shower was something I was looking forward to. Just then someone called out for me saying I had to go out and bat. When I went out I asked the non striker what was happening and he said he couldn’t describe what was going on. None of our batsmen were beaten even once. Each ball they missed, they edged and were out. It was something extraordinary that was going on. All in all it was an extraordinary day.”
Ask some of his colleagues like Kris Srikkanth or Sandeep Patil, and they can’t still stop talking about this effort. “It was an extraordinary innings. In every sense it was the turning point in the campaign. At 17-5 we were literally down and out. Then at 78-7 more so. Kapil just refused to give up and as captain he led by example. Each one of us felt inspired and thereafter there was no turning back. Once we had won this game, we knew we were onto something special”, he said.
While many have scored more than 175 now, this innings will forever be a milestone effort in the history of India cricket.
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