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India's one memorable win from each edition of the World Cup

Kapil Dev and Dhoni - The two World Cup-winning captains for India
Kapil Dev and Dhoni - The two World Cup-winning captains for India

The 50-over Cricket World Cup is a mega event which happens once in every 4 years. India had participated in all the 11 previous editions of the World Cup and had won the trophy on 2 occasions, in 1983 and 2011.

The Asian teams, except Bangladesh, have been fortunate enough in winning the World Cup at least once. However, amongst the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, only Australia had managed to win the Cup for a record number of 5 times.

While South Africa was termed as habitual chokers, England and New Zealand were always the dark horses in every edition of the World Cup. The team from the Caribbean was dominant in the early editions of the World Cup before they faded away.

In this article, let us revisit Team India’s one memorable win in each edition of the World Cup. Since India had won only one match against East Africa in the first 2 editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, that has been ignored. Aside, the 2007 World Cup is not touched upon since India was knocked out in the preliminary rounds.


India vs West Indies finals at Lord’s in World Cup 1983

Srikkanth's 38 was the highest score from either team in the World Cup final 1983
Srikkanth's 38 was the highest score from either team in the World Cup final 1983

Team India surprised one and all by reaching the final of the World Cup 1983. The final was against the two-time champions, the West Indies. The Indians needed a final thrust to create history.

Whatever slim chance India had of winning the final, evaporated into thin air the moment Clive Lloyd won the toss and sent India in to bat on a green top at Lord’s. Andy Roberts accounted for Sunil Gavaskar early in the innings. Thankfully for India, Srikkanth was in his usual belligerent mood as he treated the four pronged Windies attack to disdain.

Srikkanth counterattacked with 7 fours and one six in an innings of 38 before perishing to Malcolm Marshall. When he was returning to the pavilion, Srikkanth never knew his 38 would remain the highest score of the final.

Mohinder Amarnath and Yashpal Sharma took India’s score to a decent position at 90 for 2 before things started happening.

The “Whispering Death” Michael Holding sent Amarnath’s off-stump cartwheeling. Then the part-time off-spin of Larry Gomes produced two crucial wickets of Yashpal Sharma and Kapil Dev. From a position of strength at 90 for 2, India slipped to 111 for 6 and was finally bundled out for 183.

In reply, Gordon Greenidge got out to a beauty from Balwinder Sindhu. But Richards was in a brutal mood to finish off the match early as he reached 33 off 28 balls with 7 fours. It was now or never for Team India. That was when the Indian captain Kapil Dev took that miraculous catch, running back 20 yards to dismiss the dangerous Richards. That caused panic in the West Indies camp as they lost Larry Gomes, Clive Lloyd and Bacchus in no time. Madan Lal accounted for 3 wickets in the middle overs.

At 76 for 6 chasing 183, West Indies were in danger of losing the match. The 43-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Jeff Dujon and Marshall caused some anxious moments to the Indian cricketers and the fans.

However, India had Jimmy Amarnath to wade his magic with the ball as he accounted for both Dujon and Marshall. When Amarnath trapped the last wicket of Michael Holding in front of the wickets, the world came to a standstill as India attained glory for the first time in a World Cup.

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