The day of June 25 for Indian cricket and for its fans is very historic. This is the date when the Indian team became the world champion for the first time. This was the third World Cup of cricket that was held in England. Today, 35 years ago, under the leadership of Kapil Dev, the Indian team had done that task, which was probably impossible for team India according to cricket experts.
When the Third World Cup started in 1983, no one would have even imagined that the Indian team is going to be a World Cup champion this time. Even in the then speculative market, India was quoted at 66 as compared to 1. Earlier, the Caribbean team was defending champions and this was their consecutive 3rd World Cup final. In such a way, Kapil Dev and his brave team performed the deeds of which no one could have imagined.
From the start of league matches in 1983 Indian team started showing signs of good form, as India had defeated the 2-time World Champion of the West Indies in the league stage of World Cup. After which Kapil Dev was the only one against Zimbabwe when he won the match by winning 175 runs and this campaign One step further was extended.
When India defeated host England in the semi-final, then even no one expected that India would win the World Cup, because in the final, Team India was in front of Clive Lloyd’s strong team, which had won both the titles before the World Cup 1983.
Toss was in favor of the West Indies and skipper Clive Lloyd invited team India to bat first. His team was the world’s deadliest unit of fast bowlers, and every batsman of that time was scared of tall West Indian bowlers.
Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding’s quartet were ready to attack with their pace battery on India. Team India lost four wickets under 100 runs. Chris Srikanth’s 38 runs in this innings was the highest score by an Indian, as a result the Indian team got reduced to 183 runs in 54.4 overs in that match of 60-60 overs.
Brief Scores
| Teams | Score | Overs |
| India | 183 | 54.4 |
| West Indies | 140 | 52 |
Gordon Greenidge, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, and West Indies had many legends and great batsmen, and the goal was modest. But when Balwinder Sandhu bowled opener Greenidge (1 run), the morale of the Indian team reached the seventh heaven. Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath were the stars with the ball that day for India with both of them picking up three West Indies wickets each. Skipper Kapil Dev too was in the picture after taking stunning catch while running backwards to dismiss the dangerous Viv Richards.
The performance of the Indian bowlers was such that the great West Indies team lost to 140 runs in 52 overs and India won the match and won the title with 43 runs. It was not just a win, but a victory that gave this game a new direction in India. Youngsters started dreaming of becoming a cricketer. The number of cricket fans started to grow in the country and the Indian team reached to great heights which all of us can see.
