World Cup Memories: When India changed cricket history by scoring just 183 runs

When Kapil Dev woke up on the morning of 25 June 1983, his wife Rumi was still sleeping. He removed the curtains from the hotel window and breathed a sigh of relief to see that the sun was shining outside.

He did not wake his wife, quietly made tea and sat by the window overlooking Lord’s Ground nearby.

Before the match started, Kapil addressed the team and said, ‘Just remember one thing, after the next six hours our lives are going to change completely. Whatever happens, we have to give our best. Do or Die. There should be no regrets later that we could have done this or that.’

After the toss, when West Indies captain Clyde Lloyd asked the Indian team to bat first, Kapil breathed a sigh of relief as he had decided to bat first if he won the toss. Can hope to defeat West Indies.

Indian innings ended on 183
West Indies put the early pressure on India when they dismissed the then world’s best opener Sunil Gavaskar for an individual score of just 2 runs. Apart from Srikanth and to some extent Mohinder Amarnath, none of the Indian batsmen could perform in this innings.

Both scored 57 runs for the second wicket and both were dismissed for a total score of 90 runs.

The memorable moment of the match came when Srikanth, on his knees, drove Andy Roberts’ ball across the boundary. The Indian team’s last pair of Syed Kirmani and Balwinder Sindhu somehow managed to push the score to 183.

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Fast bowler Malcolm Marshall was so incensed by the partnership that he threw a bouncer at 11th man Sindhu which hit his helmet.

Sindhu saw stars during the day. Syed Kirmani recalls, ‘I ran towards him to ask if he was okay. I saw Balwinder rubbing the helmet with his hand. I asked why you are rubbing the helmet, is it painful?

Then umpire Dickie Bird scolded Marshall for throwing the bouncer. He also asked Marshall to apologize to Sindhu.

Marshall came to him and said, “Man, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I am sorry.’

Sindhu said, “Malcolm, do you think my mind is in my head?” No, it’s in my knees.” Hearing this Marshall started laughing and the atmosphere became lighter.

Addressing his team members in the dressing room again, Kapil said, ‘We have scored 183 runs, the other team has yet to score 183 runs, we have to make them wait for one run at a time. Play to your full potential and do your best.”

Give 100 percent. Throw yourself where the ball goes. If we lose, we lose the fight. You just have to play your best cricket for three hours.

West Indies had just scored 5 runs when a ball from Balwinder Sindhu took Gordon Greenage off stump. It was called the ball of the tournament.

The turning point of the World Cup final came when Kapil ran about 25 yards off Madan Lal and took a catch from Vivian Richards at deep mid-wicket.

Arup Saikia writes in Mohinder Amarnath’s biography ‘Jimmy the Phoenix’ in 1983, ‘The catch was almost missed. Madanlal saw from the corner of his eye that Yashpal Sharma was also running to catch the catch. He tried to stop them by shouting that Kapil was moving towards the ball but Yashpal could not hear anything in the noise of the crowd. He also kept running towards the ball, it was good that he and Kapil Dev did not collide.