On June 25, 1983, India lifted the First World Cup.
On this day 39 years ago, India, under the captaincy of Kapil Dev, India lifted the first-ever world cup.
It was a day that will be written in the history of the Indian team. The legendary team claiming the first-ever title wasn’t a small thing. It reunited the entire world.
News Reports:
As the World Cup started in England, No one expected India to perform in such an unpredictable manner when they arrived. When the press interview happened, Kapil Dev was asked about their motives in this World Cup. He stated that “We are here to win” When the news reporter asked, “To win the World Cup?” he replied, “Yes,” and no one believed him and laughed.
World Cup:
The World Cup started with a big bang for India as they beat the world’s best team, West Indies, in the first match, all the people across the world were thrilled. Then consecutively won the second against Zimbabwe.
In the third match that was going to be played at Nottingham against Australia, they trashed India badly as they won the game by a huge margin of 162 runs. West Indies avenged themselves by winning the next match.
It was a do-or-die game against Zimbabwe. If India had lost, they would have been out of the race to win the title. As the batting started, India lost their five wickets for just a score of 17 runs.
World Record:
Then came out to bat Kapil Dev. He stood in the middle, keeping the hopes alive by scoring 175 runs with 16 fours and six sixes, setting a new world record at the time. Because of this, India won the match as the hopes of winning the title stayed.
India reached the semi-finals after winning against the Aussies. While everyone was saying that the IND was lucky to reach the semis and they couldn’t beat the England team, the IND did the impossible by winning the match and reaching the finals.
FINALE:
It was time for the final show, the finals that were played against the two-time World Champion West Indies.
The West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl, and the bowling squad of WI did their job well as they limited the IND team to just a total of 183 runs.
IND was on the verge of losing against the great batting line-up of WI.
Something magical happened that day. The IND team wasn’t going to give up so easily as the bowlers, Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath, took three wickets each and paved the way for IND towards victory.
India won the first World Cup as cheering and moments of joy were across the country as the team of Kapil Dev made the impossible event possible and lifted the Cup at the Lord’s Stadium.