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Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan*
There is a very interesting sequel of anecdotes that lasted till the golden moments when India won the Prudential World Cup in 1983 for the first time. A group of people were seated on a garden fencing discussing cricket in the first week of June. A voice raged, “There is only one way that Indian can get the World Cup.” Everyone chorused “How”? The man in his early twenties said, “They have to steal it by night and bring it back on the first flight to New Delhi.” His name was Mukundan.
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After the first match between India and West Indies got over there were two warring camps arguing. One camp was that of Windies fans and the others were staunch Indian supporters. The Indian camp started chest thumping saying, “India was the first country to defeat the West Indies in a World Cup match.” The Windies camp countered them saying, “This is a one-off thing and will not affect the end results of the tournament.”
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As the tournament progressed there was a piquant situation where India were at 17 for 5 against debutants Zimbabwe. The Windies camp taunted the Indian supporters. “You dream of defeating the Windies and winning the Cup. Here you are faring so badly against a cub team.” However, there was a dramatic turn around with Kapil Dev scoring a century and India ending their innings at 266. Eventually, they defeated Zimbabwe. This proved to be the turning point in India’s fortunes in the World Cup.
Unlike in the previous two versions of the World Cup, where each team played only once against the other team in the league stage that resulted in the quarter finals, the 1983 World Cup required each team to play against the other twice. India lost to the Windies in their second encounter. They also lost their first-round match with Australia. The Windies camp was back to its jibes. “A single sparrow does not make a summer.”
The second-round match with Australia was a crucial encounter for both teams. Batting first, India had scored 247. It looked like an easy game for the Aussies as they had a powerful batting line up. However, they were bundled out for 120 and odd runs. The morning papers screamed on the front page “India in Semis.” The Indian camp was elated and there was an air of euphoria around the streets as in those days it was more of radio commentary and lesser number of television sets for the broadcast of the cricket matches. Meanwhile, the Windies too were demolishing their other opponents and heading towards the final stages of the tournament. Both the camps, namely Windies fans and Indian supporters were excited and brewing with enthusiasm.
India had its semi-final fixture with England. At one stage England were 68 for no loss at the end of 17 overs. After the opening partnership was broken, they ended their innings at 213. Unlike in the current one-day international matches that are 50 overs a side, the Prudential Cup matches were 60 overs for each innings. Sandeep Patil was the harbinger of victory as he thumped Bob Willis to the fence repeatedly in the same over. That’s when the climax happened as it became clear that India will be taking on the Windies in the World Cup finals.
In the first half, the finals looked one-sided as India was bundled out for 183. The Windies supporters looked upbeat and some of them were talking about how the bookies had lost a lot of money when India reached the final. They were however, subdued about the prospects of India winning the cup as the Windies had a powerful batting line up that included Gordn Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Hilary Angelo Gomes, Clive Hubert Lloyd among others.
When the Windies began their innings, Greenidge got out to an in-swinger from Balwinder Sandhu. They were 5 for 1. But that was not reason enough for celebrations as that brought Viv Richards to the crease. The Windies cruised to 50 when Desmond Haynes got out. Yet again there was not much jubilation as the Windies were 2 down for 50 in their earlier match with Pakistan, when batting second. The jubilation started when Windies lost Viv Richards at 57. It was a very tough catch taken by Kapil Dev. From then on everyone was cheering for team India to make a finish of the match. Within 10 runs, the Windies lost Larry Gomes and Clive Lloyd. The Indian supporters were at their noisiest best. There was a brief respite after they lost six wickets till the score reached 117. Mohinder Amarnath was brought in as a change bowler and he broke the partnership.
Eventually, they were bundled out for 140. It was an ecstatic moment for the country and the Indian supporters were left all by themselves to cheer and rejoice. For the Windies fans knew well that it was not the right time to mingle with the revelers.
However, months later, when the Windies toured India and played their first match at Jammu, there was a very sad undertone. The crowd was cheering the Windies not because they were fans but because they had a strong anti-India sentiment. It made me feel embarrassed as I myself was a Windies fan.
*The writer is a Mumbai-based journalist and novelist. He is the author of bestseller thriller, Operation Drug Mafia (Times Group Books). The views expressed are his own.
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