1983 World Cup TODAY!
“If this is not a winning total, it definitely is a fighting total”
Kapil Dev’s words were motivating enough to adrenalize all of 11 men and defend an otherwise meagre target of 183 in 1983 World Cup !
25th June is probably the biggest day in the history of Indian Cricket. Ardent fans would know why. India played their first ever test match on this day in 1932, which is the first milestone among many to follow. It took the next big one some 51 long years to come. When India established itself on the face of World Cricket.
We were touted Minnows in the midst of several world powers, that included Australia, England and the runners up – West Indies. The latter were the toughest opponents to have set foot on the cricket field. 5 top batsmen, 5 most dangerous of the fast bowlers and 1 wicketkeeper. Never did a cricket team look this complete before. What made them invincible was the fact that they had won the inaugural World Cup (1975) and the one that followed it 4 years later (1979).
When we, the minnows, clinched the title in London, it was a day when the coming generations started to take notice of the game more than ever and began to play it every single day. More and more players started to emerge and we witnessed in what we call a big game of Cricket to have turned into the Biggest Game in the country.
Then, of course, Sachin Tendulkar happened to us and a billion people perceived the game as something of their own child and Sachin as their Biblical God. Commercialization started to take over the game as cricketing balls started to lose their colors from red to white and Uniforms started to get more colorized. One Day format took over the nation like flame takes over a moth.
The game started to grow bigger and bigger and the monetary aspects became too huge for a country like India. Indian Premier League was inevitable and there is no looking back ever since.