Circa June 25, 1983. A magical moment and a proud moment for every Indian and more than that a very die hard cricketing fan.... India lifting the Prudential Cup stunning every one who watched it live, listened to it through radio. It looked like a fairy tale for me. As a young school going girl, with little-moderate knowledge on cricket, but loving the game. It was played on the house front portion by the siblings and their friends. As a ball picker | watcher, the interest grew naturally in me. Parents cemented interest in games if not play at least to follow.
The third edition of the World Cup was held in England with lots of expectations from the defending champions West Indies... There were the mighty Desmond Haynes, Holding, Logie, curly haired Larry Gomes, Marshall, Roberts. India had a daunting task of facing the mighty Windies in the finals. But, the path to finals was not an easy one. They had to fight against Aussies, Windies and the Zimbabweans.
In the Semi final, they had to beat the home team England to take berth in the finals. Whoa! What a herculean task for Kapil and his men. Little they might have even thought or the cricket lovers would have predicted from being an odds of 66-1 to finals!
Until Kapil scored an incredible 175 n.o., of 138 odd balls against Zimbabwe in the qualifying match, India was not at all looked up as a team that could emerge as a winner. This game made the world look at India! The Kapil Dev(il) created history by clinching the title. That proved as a turning point coming down from 17-5. Both the openers went out for duck and others just managed to open their accounts. And then on, winning continued...Chasing 183 was one of the easiest task for Windies. They must have thought it would have been simple. Richards scored 33 off 27 balls and perhaps must have been thinking to have an early dinner with his team 🤣 and some hits off the fence to score some quick runs.
Just when their thoughts sinked, India excelled in its fielding and bowling departments. Kapil's catch was something incredible. A loft to the on-side from Madan Lal's bowling was a game changer. Perhaps, he never thought the ball was a prey in the hawk eyes of Kapil. He ran. Ran. Ran and then the catch. I am sure we could not see any catch that can match this one. The devotion, commitment is something great from Kapil da!
Cricket has since then evolved to various formats and incorporated many new rules and regulations. Am sure any cricket loving fan will vouch for this series as one of the best(est)! And that catch as the most excellent catch of the century.
India might have won many Cups since 1983 - Asia Cup, World cup, T20, etc. But, there will be nothing as compared to this win that cemented cricket's primacy in India.
