Indian Cricket
Toofan At Tunbridge Wells
By Ananth
June 19 2008
The irony is that the innings was never officially recorded, due to a strike by BBC staff, who didn't cover this match at all. All we have are still photos, and eyewitness descriptions. There is a rumor that home video of the innings is floating around somewhere, but no one is sure. Surely one of the pivotal innings in cricket history deserved to be recorded for posterity.
It has been exactly 25 years, since June 18, 1983, the day on which Kapil Dev played one of the greatest innings in cricket, and certainly the most influential innings in the history of the sport. Consider the hoopla and never ending criticism if this was an innings by an Englishman or an Australian and Doordarshan failed to record it.
Anyway the mere description of the innings brings goose bumps to all Indians. Consider the odds. 9/4 when he came in, loses Yashpal Sharma to be faced with 17/5.
He strings together a couple of 50 partnerships with Roger Binny(22) & Madan Lal(17) and in walks the redoubtable Syed Kirmani as number 10. Then he scores nearly a hundred by himself in the ninth wicket partnership of 126! We can only speculate, but I'll take Kiri's word(in other reports) when he says it was the cleanest hitting he saw. We have to agree: 175 off 138 with 16 fours and 6 sixes was Jesoppian, more so considering he was playing with the tail and was captain. Granted this was against the minnows, Zimbabwe, but Zimbabwe had sprung an early upset of the disappointing Australians and India could well have lost momentum, since they ended only 2 wins more than the Aussies in the final table and yet to play the Aussies once more.
The odds of India winning the cup before the tourney was officially 66-1, a very accurate picture of the way the world viewed India as a cricketing nation. We were the inept cousins of the fiery Pakistani neighbours with their blistering pacemen and English bred players.
But India began surprisingly well, upsetting the favored West Indians in the opening game, but could win only one game against Zimbabwe peppered by heavy losses to Australia and the West Indies. Indian morale was low with semi-final chances looking slim. Then June 18th happened. And the rest as they say is history. I will not forget the finals day of June 25th either, since it was a microcosm of the whole event for India: prohibitive underdogs, make a modest total of 183, the greatest player of the day was sauntering towards an easy win when the captain plucks a great two handed running catch off a mishit and then the tide turns.
The BCCI is being forced to celebrate the 25th anniversary and has to invite Kapil, inspite of spite. Pawar makes a statement "we'll invite Kapil Dev since he was the captain" which makes me nauseous as he clearly implies "we'll invite Kapil Dev only because he was captain". What a bunch of losers running cricket here. The PCA is trying to stamp out any visible signs of Kapil Dev and the BCCI is making pompous little statements. I hope their arrogance is well punished elsewhere, but let us Indian Cricket Fans, celebrate this epochal event(that literally put India on the cricketing map: the Reliance World Cup of 1987 doesn't happen here if India doesn't win the 1983 Cup; it set the tone for India as a cricketing power). The joie de vivre of its indomitable skipper and the spirit he imbued in that team which made bits & pieces cricketers such as Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Sandeep Patil, Jimmy Amarnath, Balwinder Sandhu, Krish Srikkanth all step up at the right moments.
Thanks boys! We'll never forget you!
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
The other day I saw a comment from Mohinder Amarnath (who I guess was the MoM of that final) saying how "Gabbar" - not the one who posts here
- helped him in the World Cup final with that immortal quote, Jo dar gaya woh mar gaya Hence I thought I'll write something up, since it is June 18 and Pawar and the PCA are looking like the smallest of men, again.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:06:18:21:43:14 by ananthd.
Teams that work well together usually win over teams with individual brilliance that don't. It makes sense to have Half of Fame teams in sports like cricket.
Can we also celebrate the Australian World Cup wins in 1987, 1999,2003 and 2007?
I think that many world cup wins is deserved of celebration
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
Quote:Meet_New_Mr_India
I think Ganguly's team who made it to 2003 Finals should also make it to HoF considering the facts how poor we performed in NZ before the WC and first 2 matches of WC 2003. I will never forget that WC because of the sheer dominance Indian team displayed.
How about we celebrate the dominance Australia displayed in that World Cup final? It was awesome! India did not even have a chance in that game!
That is why it is so much FUN to BEAT you guys... Remember Perth 2008...
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
I think the 83 win was very important to Indian cricket, since we may not have seen the ODI glut from 84 onwards(starting with the WCC, Asia Cup, assorted Sharjah events, Reliance cup 87 etc) if not for that...
Similarly, I think the 87 cup was what made Allan Border shape the current Australian machine...
So was 96 for the Sri Lankans, validating them as a force...
But the 83 was key; if England or WI had won it, I doubt we'd have had a World Cup outside of England, or even one more at all, since Prudential was becoming increasingly reticent as sponsors....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:06:19:00:26:13 by ananthd.
Maybe one of the other mods, can do it...
My title for this piece would be Toofan At Tunbridge Wells...
Quote:But the 83 was key; if England or WI had won it, I doubt we'd have had a World Cup outside of England, or even one more at all, since Prudential was becoming increasingly reticent as sponsors....
If India did not enter the semifinals of the 1983 World Cup, the whole ODI boom that followed in India may never have occured. There would have been no Reliance Cup in India, no multi-million dollar deals that followed in the nineties which gave Dalmiya the power. India could still have been a middle of the table team instead of the financial power-house. And there would be no bas*tard Modi to insult these former cricketers.
All that would have taken for the history to take a different course was a mis-hit from Kapil early on in that innings.
The finest innings that I have seen in my life...that too against the mighty Aussies...
I used to be a regular in ICf that time, Gabbar, Birbal and others probably just joined...
I would rate 83 WC win and 2001 kolkata win at the same level...just because both looked impossible...
And it did not have the huge life altering implications that the Kapil 175 did...
So basically comparing Apples and Oranges...
Both are GEMS of the highest quality...the quality of the attack that VVS and Dravid (lets not forget his contribution) faced was incredible...
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
But as far as quality of batting under some severe crunch situation...then probably it is Gala vs Mcintosh...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:06:19:19:58:59 by Dada.
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
And India won by a mere 30 odd runs...
So he contributed there too...
_____
ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:06:19:23:07:39 by ananthd.
Kapil Dev was awesome - i mean AWEsome.
Powar is not even qualified to lick Kapil Dev's boots.
These imposters running cicket in India don't know any better. They are all worthless trash & garbage.
His non-stop 131 tests...2/3rd of whihc were on placid flat beds makes him a GREAT
More Indian Cricket headlines
- Player Contracts/Retainers Announced for 2021
- Indian Test Squad for Upcoming England Series Announced
- Indian Test, ODI, and T20i Squads for Australia Tour
- Two New Members of Senior Selection Committee Chosen
- Janini & Vrinda: New Wave of Indian Female Umpires Coming Up
- Wasim Jaffer: The Man Who Loved Batting
- India Start Next Phase of Test Championship as Favorites
- India U19 Reach World Cup Finals For Third Time in a Row
- Four Time World Champions India Announce U19 Squad
Indian Cricket latest threads
- DOMESTIC CRICKET LINKS BLOG
- Player Contracts/Retainers Announced for 2021
- Indian Test Squad for Upcoming England Series Announced
- Indian Test, ODI, and T20i Squads for Australia Tour
- Two New Members of Senior Selection Committee
- Janini & Vrinda: New Wave of Indian Female Umpires Coming Up
- Wasim Jaffer: The Man Who Loved Batting
- India Start Next Phase of Test Championship as Favorites
- India U19 Reach World Cup Finals For Third Time in a Row
- Four Time World Champions India Announce U19 Squad