India's 1983 World Cup Victory
Kapil's DevilsEight countries participated in the 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup also known as Prudential World Cup. The 3rd edition of the World Cup was full of dramatic cricket right from the start. Teams like India and Zimbabwe who were not playing well at those times scored upset victories over the West Indies and Australia respectively. England, Pakistan, India and tournament favourites West Indies qualified for the semi-finals.
The 1983 final was considered somewhat of an anticlimax, most expecting a clear West Indies win although India had beaten them in the preliminary rounds. The West Indies tumbled India out for 183, and were cruising on their way to a memorable victory at 2-57, before suffering a major collapse. They were annihilated by the Indian bowlers and were all out for 140, India winning by 43 runs. The heroes of the day were Mohinder Amarnath (3/12 and 26) and Kris Srikkanth (top scorer with 38).
Indian Team :
- Mohinder Amarnath
- Kirti Azad
- Roger Binny
- Kapil Dev (Captain)
- Sunil Gavaskar
- Syed Kirmani (wicketkeeper)
- Madan Lal
- Sandeep Patil
- Balwinder Sandhu
- Yashpal Sharma
- Ravi Shastri
- Kris Srikkanth
- Sunil Valson
- Dilip Vengsarkar
The innings of the tournament was Kapil's 175 not out. Coming in to bat for India against Zimbabwe at a disastrous 17 for 5, Kapil Dev turned the match on its head by blasting an undefeated 175 out of 266/8, with 16 fours and six sixes. He put on a Cup-record 126 for the ninth wicket with Syed Kirmani, whose 24 not out was India's next-best score.