Kapil’s Army Turned the Table on Favorite West Indies-1983

India was never ranked or thought of causing any sensation in the pre-tournament analysis of experts .In 1983 all-conquering and according to many one of the great cricket team ever West Indies was run away favorites for winning the third World cup in a row . But a very determined Indian team ably marshalled from the front by Kapil Dev Nikhanj surprised the cricket World Winning the cup from the grasp of West Indians. Cricket world started turning around .From then onwards West Indies could never be the same at World stage. Consistent cricket by India and a bit complacency from West Indies paved the way for the Indians winning their first World Cup in third attempt while in the first two they were ranked out siders.

The tournament started with two major surprises rocking world cricket .The first two group matches witnessed major surprises. ICC Associate Country Zimbabwe shocked strong Australia and India upset favorite Australia. The tournament witnessed a magical performance by great Indian All Rounder Captain Kapil against Zimbabwe in their match against Zimbabwe Batting first India was reduced to 5/17 with 5 of their top batsmen failing to reach double figures .Kapil coming into bat at number six not only weathered the storm but unleashed a brutal counter attack smashing 16 fours and six sixes in his 113 ball 175 runs hurricane innings . Kapil was known as Haryana Hurricane in any case. India got tremendous momentum from Kapil onslaught and looked all together a different team from then on. In the very next match they crashed strong Australia by 118 runs for storming into semifinals.

The 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup (also known as Prudential World Cup) was the third edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 June to 25 June 1983 in England Eight countries participated in the event. Unlike the previous two world cups the 1983 event was full of dramas right from the start. Unfancied teams like India and Zimbabwe who at those times caused major upsets over the favorites West Indies and Australia respectively. England, Pakistan, India and tournament favourites West Indies qualified for the semi-finals.

The preliminary matches were played in two groups of four teams each, and each country played the others in its group twice. The top two teams in each group qualified for the semi-finals.

Group A: England, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Group B: West Indies, India, Australia and Zimbabwe

Match Summary of Group Matches:

Group A

Match 1: England Vs New Zealand played at Oval London: England 322/6 (AJ Lamb 102, CJ Tavare 45, MW Gatting 43) beat New Zealand 216 All Out (MD Crowe 97, Willis 2/9, Marks 2/39 and Botham 2/42) by 106 runs.

Match 2 :Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka played at St Helens Swansea, Wales: Pakistan 338/5 (Mohsin Khan 82, Zaheer Abbas 82, Javed Miandad 72, and Imran Khan 56*) beat Sri Lanka 288 /9 (BSBP Kuruppu 72, RGD Alwis 59*, SarfrazNawaz 3/40) by 40 runs

Match 3: England Vs Sri Lanka played at county Ground Taunton :England 333/9 (DJ Gower 130, AJ Lamb 53, A LF de Mel 2/ 62, RJ Ratnayeke 2/66)beat Sri Lanka 286 All Out ( RGD Alwis 58*, LRD Mendis 56 ,VJ Marks 5/39 and GR Dilley 4/45) by 47 runs.

Match 4: New Zealand Vs Pakistan played at Edgbaston Birmingham: New Zealand 238/9 ( B Edgar 44 ,MD Crowe 34, JV Coney 33 , Abdul Qadir 4/21 ,Rashid Khan 3/47) beat Pakistan 186 All Out ( Abdul Qadir 41* , Javed Miandad 35 , Wasim Bari 34 , RJ Hadlee 3/20 and BL Cairns 2/21 ) by 52 runs

Match 5: England Vs Pakistan Played at Lords: England 199/2 (G Flower 78*, AJ Lamb 48*, DJ Gower 48) beat Pakistan 193/8( Zaheer Abbas 83* ,  RGD Willis 2/24 , IT Botham 2/36) by 8 wickets

Match 6: Sri Lanka Vs New Zealand Played at Country Ground Bristol: New Zealand 209 /5 (GP Howarth 76, GM Turner 50) beat Sri Lanka 206 All Out (RS Madugale, LRD Mendis 43, and RJ Hadlee 5/25) 60 by 5 Wickets

Match 7: England vs New Zealand Played at Edgbaston Birmingham: New Zealand 238/8 ( JV Coney 66* , GP Howarth 60, RGD Willis 4/42  ) , beat England 234 All Out ( DJ Gower 92* ,G Flower 69 , RJ Hadlee 3/32 , BL Cairns 3/44 ) by 2 Wickets

Match 8: Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka Played at Headingly Leeds :Pakistani 235 /7 ( Imran Khan 102* ,Shahid Mahboob 77 , ALF de Mel 5/39 )   Beat Sri Lanka 224 All Out ( S Wittimuny 50, RJ Dias 47 , Abdul Qadir 5/44 )  by 11 runs

Match 9: Paksitan Vs England played at Old Trafford Manchester: England 233/3(G Flower 69, CJ Tavare 58)beatPakistan 232/8 (Javed Miandad 67*, Ijaj Faqih 42 *) by 7 Wickets

Match 10: New Zealand Vs Sri Lanka played at Derby County: Sri Lanka 184/7 ( RL Dias 64 ,DSBP Kurrupu 62) Beat New Zealand 181 All out (Snidden 40* ,ALF de Mel 5/32)by 3 Wickets .

Match 11: England Vs Sri Lanka played at Headingly Leeds: England 137/1 (G Flower 81*) beat Sri Lanka 136 All Out by 9 Wickets

Match 12: Pakistan Vs New Zealand at Nottingham England : Pakistan 261/3 ( Zaheer Abbas 103 * , Imran Khan 79* ) beat New Zealand 250 All Out  ( JV Coney 51 , MD Crowe 43 , Mudassar Nazar 3/43 ) by 11 Runs

Group A Table

Team	Points	Played	Win	Loss	No Result	Run Rate
England	20	6	5	1	o	4.671
Pakistan	12	6	3	3	0	4.014
New Zealand	12	6	3	3	0	3.927
Sri Lanka	4	6	1	5	0	3.752

 England and Paksiatn advanced from the group. Pakistan could qualify through better run rates than New Zealand.

Summary of Group B Matches

Match 1 :Zimbabwe vs Australia played at Nottingham England: Zimbabwe 239/6 (DAG Fletcher 69*, IP Butchart 34 *)   Beat Australia 226/7 ( KC Wessels 76 , RW Marsh 50* , DAG Fletcher 4/42 ) by 13 Runs.FirstMajor Upset of the tournament

Match 2: India Vs West Indies Played at Old Trafford Manchester: India 262 /8 (Yasphal Sharma 89, SM Patil 36, beat West Indies 228 All Out (AME Roberts 37* RJ Shastri 3 / 26, RGH Binny 3/48) by 34 runs. Another major upset

Match 3: West Indies Vs Australia played at Headingly Leeds: West Indies 252 /9 ( HA Gomes 78 , SFAF Bacchus 47 , GF Lawson 3/29 ) beat Australia 151 All Out ( DW Hooks 45 , WW Davis 7/51) by 101 Runs

Match 4: Zimbabwe Vs India Played at Grace Road Leicestershire: India 157/5 (SM Patil 50 M Amarnath 44) Beat Zimbabwe 155 All Out by 5 wickets.

Match 5 : Australia Vs India played at Trent Bridge Nottingham : Australia 320/9 ( IM Chappel 110, GM Yallop 66* , KJ Hughes 52 ,N Kapil Dev 5/43) beat India 158 All Out ( Kapil Dev 40 , K  Srikanth 39 , KH MacLeay 6 /49 )by 162 Runs

Match 6: Zimbabwe Vs West Indies played at New Road, Worcestershire: West Indies 218 /2 ( GG Greenidge 105*, HA Gomes 75* )   beat Zimbabwe 217/7 ( AM Roberts 3/36 ,M Holding 2/33)  by 8 Wickets

Match 7: West Indies vs India Played at Oval London : West Indies 289/9( IVA Richards 119 , CH Lloyd 41 , RMH Binny 3/71)   beat India 216 All Out( M Amarnath 80 , Kapil Dev 36 , M Holding 3/40  ,AME Roberts 2/29 ) by 73 Runs

Match 8: Australia vs Zimbabwe Played at Southampton : Australia 272/7 ( GM Wood 73 , AR Border 43 )  beat Zimbabwe 240 All Out ( DI Houghton 84, RM Hogg 3/40 , IM Chappel 3/47 ) by 32 Runs 

Match 9: Australia Vs West Indies played at Lords London: West Indies 276 /3 ( IVA Richards 95 * , GG Greenidge90)beat Australia 273/6( KJ Hughes 69, DW Hooks 56 , GN Yallop 52*) by 7 wickets

Match 10: India Vs Zimbabwe played at Royal Turnbridgewell: India 266 /8 (Kapil Dev 175 *, PWE Rowson 3/47 , KM Kurran 3/65 ) beat Zimbabwe 235 all out ( Km Curran 73 , Madan Lal 3/42 )   by 31 runs  .Historic match for a magical Kapil Dev batting. India at one stage was 7/78 but Kapil single handed playing a superlative Innings destroyed Zimbabwe and rescued his team from near disaster.

Match 11: India Vs Australia played at Chelmsford; India 247 All Out (Yasphal Sharma 40, SM Patil 30) beat Australia 129 All Out ( Madal Lal 4/20 and RMH Binny 4 / 29)  by 118 Runs

Match 12: Zimbabwe Vs West Indies played at Edgbaston, Birmingham: West Indies 172 /0 (Desmond Haynes 88*, Foad Bacchus 80*) beat Zimbabwe 171 All out (Richards 3/41 , Garner 2/13 , Marshal 2/19)    by 10 wickets .

Group B Table

Teams	Points	Played	Win	Loss	No Result	Run Rate
West Indies	20	6	5	1	0	4.308
India	16	6	4	2	0	3.870
Australia	8	6	2	4	0	3.808
Zimbabwe	4	6	1	5	0	3.492

Semifinals :

Semi Final 1 : England Vs India Played on 22 June 1983 at Old Trafford Manchester : India 217 /4 (  Yasphal Sharma 61 , S Patil 51 , M Amarnath 46 ) beat England 213 All Out ( G Fowler 33 , CJ Tavare 32 , Kapil Dev 3/35 , M Amarnath 2/27 , Binny 2/43 )  by 6 Wickets

India already had springs in their legs .Their bowlers adapted so well to English condition that even England had little clue handle the seam and swing of Kapil, Binny, Amarnath and Co. Indian bits and pieces all-rounders also delivered and India roared into the epic final at Lords .

Semi Final 2 : West Indies Vs Paksitan played on 22^nd June at Oval: West Indies 188/2 ( IVA Richards 80* , HA GOMES 50*)  beat Pakistan 184 /8 ( Mohsin Khan 70 ,Zaheer Abbas 30 , MD Marshall 3/28 , ME Roberts 2/28 ) by 8 Wickets

Paksiatn had little clue to four prong West Indian fast bowling attack of Roberts ,Holding ,Marshal and Garner. None but Mohsin Khan and Zaheer Abbas could create any resistance. On the other hand Paksiatn bowlers could make little impression on flamboyant Caribbean abating.

Final was Played between India and West Indies at Lords on 25^th June 1983.India 183 All Out ( K Srikkanth 38 , SM Patil 27, M Amarnath 26, Roberts 3/32 , Marshall 2/24, Holding 2/26 , Gomes 2/49)   created history beating West Indies 140 all out ( Richards 33 , Dujon 25 , M Amarnath 3/12 , Madan  Lal 3/31 , BS Sandhu 2/32 )  by 43 Runs.

In the final, India lost the toss and was asked to bat first against a West Indies team that arguably boasted the world’s best bowling attack^. Only Krishnamachari Srikkanth (38 from 57 balls) and Mohinder Amarnath (26 from 80 balls) put up any significant resistance as Roberts, Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding ripped through the Indian batsmen, ably supported by Gomes. Surprising resistance by the tail allowed India to compile 183 (all out, 54.4 overs).When Indian chips were down Kapil Dev said “Team if this is not a winning total it’s definitely a fighting total” One of the popular quotes of all time. During the Indian innings Only three sixes were hit in the Indian innings, one from Srikkanth, one from Sandeep Patil (27 from 29 balls), and one from Madan Lal (17 from 27 balls). However, the Indian bowling exploited the weather and pitch conditions perfectly to bowl out the best batting lineup of the era for 140 from 52 overs in return, winning by 43 runs and completing one of the most stunning upsets in cricket history, defeating the previously invincible West Indies. Amarnath and Madan Lal (3-31) each took three wickets, and one memorable moment was the sight of Kapil Dev running a great distance (about 18-20 yards) to take a catch to dismiss Richards, the West Indies top scorer with 33 from 28 balls. Amarnath was the most economical bowler, conceding just 12 runs from his seven overs while taking 3 wickets, and was once again awarded the Man of the Match award for his all-round performance.

No one in their wildest of imagination could ever think about India winning the World Cup in 1983 dethroning West Indies, undisputed rulers of World Cricket at that time. But it was a super team effort, self-belief and extra ordinary discipline that made the Kapil Dev Army make history at Lords .And off course West Indies appeared a bit complacent also in the final after restricting India to 183. The turn of the match came when Kapil took an astonishing catch off Madan Lal to dismiss King Richards or otherwise it could be bread and butter for Master Blaster to take West Indies across the rope. West Indies had all the time in the world yet they hurried and really got panicked after Viv’s departure .Tight bowling and spirited fielding won the laurels for India. West Indies since 1983 shock could never become the same while India is now a dominant force in World Cricket.

1983 Prudential World Cup statistics

• Administrator – International Cricket Council
• Cricket format – One Day International
• Tournament formats – Round robin and Knockout
• Host – England
• Champions – India (1st title)
• Participants – 8
• Matches played – 27
• Attendance – 232,081 (8,596 per match)
• Most runs – David Gower (384)
• Most wickets – Roger Binny (18)
• MOM-M Amarnath (India)-26 run & 3 for 12 run