The perfect mix of crazy and heart-warming is the governing criteria of any ICT team; be it 2013 or 2019 or long back in 1983.
This book is a compilation of every adorable moment of 83, and the wonderful facts I've collected about the team from bein...
It's not part of 1983, but most of the team was common, and I've discovered awesome stories regarding this tournament from my intensive research (ahaha), so I have to write them down somewhere. Since my next OS is based on this, I thought I'd write here itself.
The story: In March 1985, India won the 7-nation Benson and Hedges Cup in Australia, defeating Pakistan in the final, their second big victory in ODI cricket ever. Once again, they'd been considered underdogs owing to a very poor series against England just before the tournament. In the final, Cheeka and Shastri, the opening duo, batted Pakistan out of the game.
Sunil Gavaskar, the captain, fittingly put it as, "Let's call this Fluke-II, and the '83 World Cup Fluke-I."
Ravi Shastri, for his brilliant all-round performance, was Man of the Tournament, also called 'Champion of Champions' and was awarded an Audi, which the whole team had to ride, some sitting on the bonnet, some on the boot, the rest squashed inside. The image remains one of the most memorable ones in Indian cricket history, being one of the first tournament televised on colour TV in India.
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The team: Of the 1983 WC winning team, Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Krisnamachari Srikkanth, Madan Lal, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar, and of course Sunil Gavaskar were common. Roger Binny was also in the squad but missed the final due to high fever. Azharuddin, the 'wonder kid', Sadanand Viswanath, Kiri's successor keeper, and Laxman 'Siva' Sivaramakrishnan, all of 19 years of age, a brilliant spinner, and Chetan Sharma (Yash's nephew) were notable additions.
The team meeting on the eve of the final: You'd think they'd be discussing strategies to defeat Pakistan in the final; instead they were discussing what they'd do if they got the Audi.
Kapil, in typical Kaps-English, says, "If I get, 25% mine, the rest we share." [Like he'd sell it, keep 25% of the money for himself and give the rest to his team.]
Jimmy joins in and says, "Yaar jisko mila mila." [Whoever gets it, gets to keep it.]
Then Shastri, who would actually go on to win it, in his turn, says, "If I win it, I'll keep the car and can share only the Stephany."
How generous of him (:
A/N: Just like I grew up with my dad telling me of Sandhu's wicket of Gordon Greenidge, Kapil Dev's running catch of Viv Richards and his constant refrain, "Kapil Dev taught India to win", I also grew up with my mother telling me of her favourite player Shastri being crowned Champion of Champions and the Audi ride of the whole team, her dearest cricket-related memory.
It's only now I appreciate their sentiments, and I wonder why, with amazing cricket-crazy parents like these, I didn't get invested into Indian cricket of 1980s years ago (:
