The 1983 World Cup final was like a battle between David and Goliath. On one end, there were the mighty two-time Champions – West Indies – packed with great batters such as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, and a lethal pace bowling unit consisting of Malcolm Marshall, Sir Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, and Michael Holding. On the other hand was the young, enthusiastic Indian team led by Kapil Dev, which was still adapting to the ODI format (which at the time used to be a 60-overs affair).
When West Indies bowled out the Indian team for 183, it seemed that the history will see West Indies achieving a hat-trick of World Cup title wins. But fate had other plans.
Greenridge was the first to go early, getting cleaned up by fast bowler Balwinder Sandhu for just 1. But still, there was a long way to go into the match, and the balance was still tilted in Windies’ favour. Desmond Haynes and Vivian Richards then fell to Madan Lal in quick succession, and India managed to find a way back.
When Lloyd was dismissed by Roger Binny, and Windies went five wickets down for 66, there was a real glimmer of hope that India could cause a major upset. The wickets kept tumbling down, and eventually, West Indies were bundled out for 140.
On June 25th, 1983, India beat the mighty West Indies by 43 runs to win the match and claim their first World Cup trophy.
“It was the turning point for Indian cricket and for Indians. At a time when cricket was dominated by West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and others, a total underdog Indians became the world champions,” Kris Srikkanth, who was a part of the World Cup-winning team in 1983, said on Star Sports 1 Tamil show ‘Winning the Cup – 1983’.
28 years later in 2011, MS Dhoni’s India would go on to lift the ODI World Cup for the second time beating Sri Lanka in the final in Mumb
