Kapil Dev's World Cup-winning team share untold tales during film launch
It was a fun-filled afternoon as members of the 1983 Prudential World Cup-winning team gathered for the launch of a film based on the epic win. Though it took 34 years to make a film on historic achievement in Indian cricket, members of the team who were present at a suburban hotel shared the same bond as before. The team's former opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth set the ball rolling when he gave a humorous explanation on how serious they were as the World Cup approached. They had actually planned to treat the tournament in the UK.
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India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev (with champagne) celebrates the film’s launch on the famous win along with teammates and B-Town actor Ranveer Singh in Juhu yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
Tour, a holiday
"I got married to Vidya on March 30, 1983 and Sunny (Gavaskar) called me and told me to book a ticket for her from Bombay to US with a stopover in London. Sandeep (Patil) and Roger Binny booked the same tickets. So we were actually going for a holiday to US and on the way we played the 1983 World Cup. In the previous World Cup matches, we defeated only East Africa (in 1975), which were a bunch of Gujjus," said Srikkanth. Srikkanth praised skipper Kapil Dev for his motivation before the final clash against West Indies at Lord's. "Kapil was very serious. He said, 'We can beat them'. We won the World Cup because of a one mad man, Kapil Dev, who had so much self-belief," Srikkanth added.
Unique team meetings
When it came to Sandeep Patil's turn of recalling events before the iconic match, he elaborated on how the team meetings were conducted by the skipper. "Kapil said, 'Sunil you have to bat, Cheeka (Srikkanth) you have to hit, Jimmyji (Amarnath) appko khade rahna hai, Yash (Yashpal Sharma) apko tagda ho ke khelna, Sandy (Patil) tu sher banana, Kirti (Azad) you need to be strong. Kiri (Kirmani) 'keeping karni hai. And with that we got done with our team meeting. When Kapil left the room — we spoke to our two seniors — Sunil (Gavaskar) and Jimmypa (Amarnath) and asked them what exactly Kapil wanted to say," he said. Patil, who scored an unbeaten 51 in 32 balls while chasing's England's 213 as India won the semi-final against England by six wickets, also explained how he delivered that crucial knock.
"On that day, in the morning, the English newspapers read: 'Free way for England for the final'. We all felt hurt by it. I remembered Sunil, Kapil and Jimmy told us at the breakfast table, 'See boys, what is written about us'. When my turn came after Jimmy got out, I told myself that whoever is the bowler, Bob Willis or his father, I will hit him," Patil recalled.
Confident Madan Lal
On the turning point in the World Cup final when Madan Lal bowled to Vivian Richards, Kapil explained: "Before that over, Madan Lal was hammered for two-three fours and I wanted to replace him, but he insisted on giving him another over as he had claimed the wicket of Richards in an earlier match. Though my conscience told me not to give him the ball, looking at his confidence I finally handed the ball to him and the rest is history," said Kapil.
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