As BBC puts it: “The grandeur of Lord's may have played host to India's memorable 1983 World Cup final win, but the momentum of that unlikely victory was founded in far less salubrious surroundings.”
It happened that day; the stage was Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells and the date was June 18, 1983.
Twenty-twelve was not known of and Titanic- the movie was not yet made, maybe the world was not used to unexpected disasters.
Under overcast conditions, India won the toss and elected to bat against minnows Zimbabwe. The pundits might have expected the elite list of Indian batsmen to plunder the toddlers of international cricket but it was not be.
Two unknown commodities, Kevin Curran and Peter Rowan proved to too hot to handle for the Gavaskars and Srikkanths of India. Both the openers bagged ducks and soon Indians were trembling at 9/4 then 17/5 on a damp Kent wicket.
There were creased eyebrows and thumping heart beats, not only in the Indian camp, even the organizers were worried that the match might get over by the lunch time.
The BBC saw major disaster news coming their way- ‘a Zimbabwean victory’. They even phoned Dave Ellman-Brown, then chief executive of Zimbabwe Cricket Union, intending to come over and do an interview. David replied, "The game is not over.” And was he Oracle in disguise?
First it was Roger Binny with whom Kapil forged a steady 60 innings stand. It gave the team ephemeral relief as soon the cards started to fall again. First Binny, then Ravi Shastri with a rash stroke and India was reduced to 78/7. By lunch they somehow crawled to 106/7 but the show was yet to come.
What was there in Kapil’s lunch is a mystery even Sherlock Holmes has not been able to solve, till date. The captain courageous came back with renewed vigor and Curran was the first player to feel the heat when he was hit for successive sixes.
Soon he had put up a 62 run partnership with Madan Lal and by the time the latter departed Indians were 140/8.
Syed Kirmani joined his captain and they put up a record 126 runs partnership for the 9th wicket that remained unbroken till the next 27 years. Kiri’s contribution in that partnership was 24 (off 56 balls) and if this you think speaks volumes about Kapil’s dominance that day, thinks again!
Kirmani was the second highest scorer at 24 after Kapil’s 175 that day. India did the impossible and won the match by 31 runs and as Gavaskar recalls, “That 175 has to be in my view the greatest knock in the World Cup."
That knock got India to the finals but facing West Indies in those days did not call for any celebration, it only attracted more sleepless nights. Indians crumbled down to a meager 183 and with the likes of Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge, etc. the total was just a number. West Indies were 50/2, courtesy a wicket each by Sandhu and Madan Lal. But Viv Richards was looking at his ruthless best.
Things looked awry and Indian fans had lost all hopes of resurrection. It is said Gavaskar’s wife was there to watch the match but she left, once she sensed Richards in full prowess. Then something unusual happened.
Kapil recollects, “Maddipa (Madan Lal) literally snatched the ball from my hands and went on to bowl that over.”
Madan Lal’s gentle medium lured Richards to an aggressive pull and that shot too seemed to be headed for safety.
"I still don't know from where did he (Kapil) come to take that catch. When Kapil was running back waving to nearest fielder to get out of his way, I knew my time was over,” says Richards.
Kapil ran back more than 20 yards to take that impossible catch and the rest as is explained by Madan Lal, who after listening to the Kapil saga again and again, finally said, “Bas karo yaar [Stop it mate], I bowled the damn ball."
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