1983-Facts and Fiction

Introduction

First of all, I wish I'd been born 50 years ago so that I could've seen India—that awesomely adorable team lifting the 1983 World Cup. And then born again in 2000 so that I could have my 2013 Champions Trophy team, too (because I wouldn't sacrifice it for anyone, not even Jimmy Amarnath).

I am so glad Bollywood finally took such a correct decision and made such a horribly beautiful movie to get us connected with that team. I've grown up hearing my father praising Kapil Dev and listening about Gordon Greenidge's bowled out when he gave judgement (as we call now, 'no shot offered') by Sandhu in the final, and they showed it so perfectly, and all the other wickets, too. Apart from the fact that they showed too many more boundaries than actually hit (like in Yashpal's 'Madras ka badla Manchester mein' match, he'd hit only 3 fours and they showed a lot more), everything was accurate, so it felt genuine.

Then, they focused so much on cricket than on off-field drama, something that most sports films don't (they focus more on drama). And the SONGS. They're the best.

But most of all, they showed the team bonding so—I don't know what word I can use for its brilliance, because it was perfect. So I got to watching video clips of the old players batting/ bowling (again, Jimmy Amarnath in particular, but others too) and reading articles and overall stalking them to all my heart's content. And so I decided to list all the fun facts I've discovered (and there are a LOT) and also write fanfics on them, because I badly want to. Only constraint to the latter is I can't write in Hindi and I can't imagine Kapil Dev speaking in English with his teammates (except when he wants to make them laugh when they're sitting with long faces).

PS: Who's your favourite player from the team? Mine are Jimmy (vice-captain Mohinder Amarnath) and Chika (Krishnamachari Srikkanth), in that order. Love most of the rest too, except Sunil Gavaskar. My father doesn't like him a lot (and he talks about that team a lot since my childhood) so I've got sort of wired to not liking him. Also, it feels heartbreakingly sad that Yashpal isn't there with them anymore. Apparently, the whole team cried while watching the screening of the movie, cause they missed him so much.

I'm rambling too much (because I'm obsessed), so asking again, who's your favourite?