Picture Credit: X
Coming as underdogs, India stunned everyone after they defeated the strong West Indies side in the final of the 1983 Cricket World Cup at Lords on June 25. Led by Kapil Dev, India went on to create a history and finally got their hands on a world title in the third edition of the Cricket World Cup. They defeated West Indies, who were the previous two-time champions (1975 and 1979) in the final of the tournament.
Talking about the match, India were bowled out for 183 runs while batting first with Kris Srikkanth top scoring with 38(57) runs. After that, the Indian bowlers didn’t let the strong West Indies to chase a target as the previous two-time winners were bowled out for just 140 runs in 52 overs. With this, India registered historic victory which completely changed Indian cricket forever.
India’s 1983 World Cup journey
Talking about India’s campaign in the 1983 World Cup, they weren’t being looked at as a side which could win the trophy at the end. Apart from that, India were also placed in a group along with giants like West Indies and Australia. However, to everyone's surprise India defeated West Indies in their opening match of the tournament which ignited a hope among the Indian fans. After that, the Kapil Dev-led side defeated Zimbabwe in their next game but ended up losing against Australia.
Facing Windies for the second time in the tournament, India couldn’t repeat the previous win as then two-time winners registered a dominant win over them. In the next game against Zimbabwe, India had a disastrous start while batting first as they lost five wickets for just 17 runs. After that, Kapil Dev led from the front and played a memorable knock of 175 runs as India won the match by 31 runs. In the next game, India defeated Australia by 118 runs and confirmed their place in the semi-finals.
In the semi-final clash, India stunned hosts England to enter their first-ever World Cup final. For Indian team at that time, even reaching the final of a tournament like World Cup can be looked at as a big achievement for the country. However, the Indian team gave one more push and defeated West Indies in the final to be crowned as World Champions for the first time.
