This month, that miracle - Blues Brothers at Cricinfo

It began with a sign from the gods, but few chose to read it. On June 9, India took on the West Indies and helped by a plucky 89 from Yashpal Sharma gave the Goliaths from the Caribbean Islands something to chase. Rain interrupted play that day and the match continued on June 10. Incredibly, despite a never ending last wicket partnership of 71, the West Indies lost. It was their first defeat in three world cups, but critics preferred citing it as an early aberration rather than evidence of a maturing of Indian one-day cricket.

The rest of the story is well-known. There was Kapil Dev’s 175 not out in a victory against Zimbabwe that ultimately proved inconsequential. India still had to beat Australia in the final league game, which it did, with Roger Binny and Madan Lal taking eight wickets between them.

The match that showed the new Indian steel was, however, the second one against the West Indies. With Viv Richards scoring an imperious hundred, the defending champions won. Yet, India battled grittily. Mohinder Amaranth scored 80 ignoring short-pitched bowling and blows on the body. Dilip Vengsarkar was hit in the teeth and had to retire hurt. It was an honourable defeat; there was no surrender.

In a strange, pre-modern media age, Indians got to hear of the early stages of the Prudential Cup on the radio and courtesy BBC commentary, but saw none of it. Only two matches were telecast live – the semi-final against England and the final itself. Even here, telecast was interrupted by that old Doordarshan chestnut: “Satellite link is temporarily not available”.

To anyone who watched those two pulsating, drama-filled matches, almost every ball was etched in memory for years afterwards. The 60-overs a side limited-overs match – what would you call it today: S60? – was far closer to Test cricket than, well, sometimes even contemporary Test cricket is.

In the semi-final, England set India a target of 214 in 60 overs, an asking rate of just about 3.50. Today, it would seem a joke. Then, in the cautious words of one television commentator, it was described as “gettable”. After the openers went, Amarnath and Sharma – India’s unlikely middle order heroes in an entirely unlikely ODI tournament – grafted and defended and built their innings.

Then, just as all of those before their television sets felt it was too late, the Indians opened up. An array of boundaries followed. Sandeep Patil came in and hit a 32-ball 50 – yes, there was fast scoring even before M.S. Dhoni! – and India was in the final.

The final itself is, at least for this cricket fan, not so much a match as a blur of images – Balwinder Sandhu’s banana in-swinger that bowled Gordon Greenidge as he shouldered arms; Jeffrey Dujon slapping the turf on being deceived by a slower one from Amarnath (did he ever bowl a faster one?); Amarnath again ambling in to bowl and hitting Michael Holding high on the pad.

Each of those dismissals was meaningful. Greenidge’s departure meant that the West Indies didn’t get the quick, smooth start they wanted. With Dujon ended the West Indies’ last chance – from 76 for 6, wicketkeeper Dujon and Malcolm Marshall had taken the score to 119. In getting Holding, India got hold of the World Cup. It was all over.

Like Tololing or Tiger Hill in another contest, another time, India eventually won the Prudential Cup inch by inch, besting the West Indies lower order ball by ball, run by run. It was a gripping, low-key but epic final hour.

The morning was sunny. Kris Srikkanth came in and blazed away to 38 – it was an era before Virender Sehwag, remember, Indian openers were only expected to defend and play copybook shots. A rasping square drive on one knee, which sent an Andy Roberts delivery to the boundary, was perhaps the shot of the tournament.

Then, as easily as they had dazzled, the Indians imploded. One hundred and eighty-three seemed no score at all. After the match, Kapil Dev was asked what he had said to his team as he led them out to field. “I told the boys, let’s go and play,” said the prosaic captain, who spoke with deeds rather than words. It was left to Sunil Gavaskar to come up with a more inspirational call: “Chalo jawanon, chal ke ladenge (Onward soldiers, it’s time to fight).”

Greenidge’s lucky dismissal – Sandhu tried to explain later that he had deliberately swung the ball six inches but never mind – only brought in Viv Richards. The King smashed Madan Lal as only he could and the commentary team was speculating on the match being done in 30 overs. It was time for the mother of all miracle moments.

Richards pulled Madan Lal, got it a bit wrong but seemed about to get away with it anyway. The ball climbed, Kapil Dev, running backwards, his eyes only on the ball, grabbed it mid-air. Richards was gone; almost as Richie Benaud was beginning to say: “Richards miscues but it doesn’t matter ... Another boundary for the great man, the West Indies on course for a hat-trick ...”

After Richards walked back, there was a sense of urgency and new energy in the Indians. This wasn’t going to be a walkover, no it wasn’t. This was a team supposed to be split between the Bombay and Delhi/Punjabi camps, between Gavaskar and Kapil. Yet, by the middle of the West Indies innings, the collective brains trust of the Indian team was in business. Gavaskar was pointing to positions, advising Kapil on field placing, while Syed Kirmani and Amarnath watched. When it came to the crunch, the Indians didn’t let each other down. It was a fairy tale; and Cinderella did it with time to spare.

Great events lead to great mythology. Immediately after India’s biggest ODI cricket victory, Dom Moraes wrote another of his incomprehensible essays, attributing the achievement to disagreeable “north Indian nationalism”. I’m still trying to figure out what he meant.

Twenty-five years on, the Prudential Cup has spawned thousands of articles, dozens of self-styled experts and even some anodyne PhD theses – this changed the face of Indian cricket, made it an aspirational calling for young people, introduced money and ODI mania to Indian cricket fans and so on.

Actually, the Prudential Cup of 1983 did little of the sort. True, the winning XIV were feted, met by the prime minister, serenaded by Lata Mangeshkar, a custom-written song (the remarkably unmemorable Bharat vishwa vijeta) and given DDA apartments in Delhi.

Yet, India’s one-day cricket binge was at least four years away, and should correctly be dated to the hosting of the 1987 Reliance Cup. Cricket commerce arrived only in 1993-94, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India sold television rights to private channels and began monetising its key properties.

True, the Reliance Cup would not have happened – India would not have bid for the right to host the 1987 world cup – if Kapil’s Devils had not won. Yet, it is perhaps best to remember June 25, 1983, for what happened that day in London, not for peddling spurious, post facto theories. Every underdog has its day; this month, 25 years ago, we had ours.

It is 25 years since India won the prudential world cup under Kapil Dev who was only 24 years old then. Captaining the Indian team at that age and also winning the world cup is no joke.

You never had the “jockeys”bowling for West Indies at that time. If you remember these were the exact words used by Sir. Vivian Richards referring to the present day fast bowlers from the Caribbean Islands.

The 1983 West Indian fast bowling quartet comprised of Marshall, Garner, Holding and Roberts in their ranks, each one capable of sending down shivers down the spine of the batsmen. India infact beat the West Indies twice in that world cup.

For sheer caliber of the players the Players of that generation were far ahead of the present generation. There were world-class batsmen and bowlers not to forget the world-class all rounders in Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham.You bet, you will never see such talented all rounders playing together at the same time.

The windies were the undisputed world champions then having won the cup in 1975 and 1979. When India was bundled out for 183 in the finals of the 1983 world cup, The west Indians were on the way to win the world cup for the third time in a row. Nobody gave India any chance considering the batting line up the West Indians had.

With the kind of players the West Indians had no team on earth stood any chance of beating them .It was a great team, each one a superstar in his own right. But what followed was one of the biggest upsets in one-day cricket. India beat the mighty West Indians to win the world cup for the first time at Lords.

It was unbelievable; the whole of India was celebrating and for the few Indians present on that day at Lords, it was agony and ecstasy. Agony when India was bundled out for 183 and ecstasy when Kapil Dev held the world cup with Indian team cheering from the Lords balcony.

The 1983 world cup winning team had six all rounders in Kapil dev, Roger Binny, Madan Lal , Kirti Azad, Sandeep Patil, and Mohinder Amarnath . Balwinder Singh Sandhu , the Number 11 batsman was no rabbit with the bat either. This combination of six all rounders in the team eventually helped India to win the world cup.

Madan Lal and Roger Binny were outstanding with the ball, Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil with the bat. Kapil dev's hurricane 175* against Zimbabwe was the turning point in the world cup for the Indians.

They looked like being humbled by the Zimbabweans but Kapil Dev produced one of the finest knocks in one-day cricket that turned the tie in India's favour. His catch to get rid of the great Vivian Richards off Madan Lal was another gem.

Madan Lal had this to say about that dismissal, " Even today everybody talk about the catch taken by Kapil to dismiss Vivian Richard's but forget it was I who bowled that delivery.

K Srikkanth's cameo knock of 38 was the highest score in the finals. And that beauty of a delivery from Balwinder Singh Sandhu to dismiss Gordon Greenidge is still fresh in memory of many a viewer who happened to see that match. Mohinder Amarnath played a vital role in India's triumph. He was the man of the match in the semi finals as well as the finals.

Year 2008 and the world cup winning team is coming together at Lords. We still remember Srikkanth puffing away to glory at the Lord’s balcony. I am sure all those who have seen that match will feel nostalgic. Thanks a lot to Kapil Dev and his devils for providing us something, which we can talk about after 25 years. It is all part of history now. Can history repeat itself?