25th June 1983, was the first time that India won the cricket world cup. It was the first time that India had made an appearance in the finals, and they were up against West Indies for whom this was their third consecutive world cup finals appearance. The world cup was hosted by the company Prudential that is why the world cup is also called Prudential world cup .The finals was played in Lord’s cricket stadium also called Lord’s in London which had had hosted world cup for the third time. India defeated West Indies by 43 runs. Kapil Dev lifting the Trophy from the balcony of the Lord’s cricket ground still remains the image of savor for the India fans. Even after 37 years people acknowledge this finals as the most memorable game played by the India cricket team.
India were the underdogs in the tournament, there was not much expectations from the team. However they defeated Zimbabwe in a crucial match, thanks to Kapi Dev who made 175 runs which lead the team to win the match. India was at 78 runs 5 wickets when Kapil dev came for batting his extraordinary innings took Indian team to victory. Unfortunately this historical match was not telecasted as British Broadcasting corporation was on a strike that day. In semi finals England was defeated by India by six wickets with thirty two balls remaining and Mohinder Amarnath becoming the player of the match. West indies defeated Australia in the semi finals by seven wickets with thirteen balls remaining and Vivin Richards became the man of the match.
West Indies and India made it to the finals, at that time West indies had really good bowling attack. So when they won the toss they chose to ball first and allowed India to Bat. First came Sunil Gavaskar but his innings was short as he got out for just two runs but Krishnamachari Srikanth and Mohinder Amarnath had a good partnership and brought the runs to the fifty mark. Then soon Srikanth got out making thirty eight runs, after that as the score was marching towards a hundred Mohinder Amarnath and Yashpal sharma lost their wickets after making twenty six runs and eleven runs respectively. Then came the captain Kapil Dev who stroke three boundaries in eight balls but got out in just 15 runs. Nor could the next players like Kirti Azad and Roger Binny could make runs, they did not even cross the double digit. Then Sandip Patil could only score 27 runs and The all rounder Madan lal came back to the pavilion after making 17 runs. India was all out in 54.4 overs making 183 runs.
Then came India’s turn to bowl, the first wicket was taken in just 11 balls by Balwinder singh sandhu that too of Gordon Greenidge who was really in a great form, he could only take 5 runs. West indies also had a great partnership of Desmond Haynes and Vivin Richards which enabled west indies to cross the 50 mark, but both of them were dismissed by Madan Lal and Kapil Dev respectively. Soon West Indies was all out in 52 overs making 140 runs and India won by 43 runs and Mohinder Amarnath becoming the Man of the match. No Man of the series was awarded that year.
This victory not only made these players a hero but also changed the perception of games in India. This also lead to a high commercialization of cricket as a game, people started to think sports as a career and also many people really got engaged to the game. This win also brought a sense of ” we can do it” for the Indian team.
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