- On June 25, 1983, the Lord's Cricket Ground witnessed 14 men beat the two times World Champions West Indies, putting India back onto the cricket world stage.
- March 1983 Indian cricket team gets selected for the third world cup to be held in England in June but none have their expectations from the team,while officials aren't happy with appointment of new captain Kapil Dev over Sunil Gavaskar.Indian cricket team starts with a bang at the world cup by winning their first two matches against giant West Indies and Zimbabwe but loosing their next two matches against West Indies and Australia puts them in a do or die situation against Zimbabwe to stay in the tournament.During the big match against Zimbabwe half of the team is back to the pavilion much before the 10 overs with the score as 17 runs for 5 wickets.Kapil Dev plays a one man show by getting good winning score for the team and keeping their hopes alive in the tournament further the team spirit brings them to the final at Lords against the two time world champions giants West Indies.The team which was not considered worthy by everyone creates History only due to confidence of one man Kapil Dev.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com
- A young Kapil Dev (Ranveer Singh) was given the opportunity to be the captain of team India. Kapil was made captain, replacing Gavaskar. The all-rounder, also known as the Haryana Hurricane, had brought a newfound fervor to the team. Though individually, the Indian team consisted of some talented players, they still had a long way to go before they learned how to play like a team. PR Man Singh (Pankaj Tripathi) Manager of the Indian Cricket Team at the 1983 World Cup. He pays Rs 9800 excess baggage fee to carry all the pickles to London as the food there is bland. 1st June 1983, the team assembles in London. The team didn't even have a proper transportation arranged when they reached the airport.
Kapil's wife Romi Bhatia (Deepika Padukone), lives in his ancestral home in Haryana. Raj Kumari Nikhanj (Neena Gupta), Kapil's mother wants him to win the cup for India. The players received 15 pounds a day as allowance. They have to wash their own clothes as laundry costs 10 pounds per load.
Krishnamachari Shrikant (Jiiva), the Indian opener, rightly said that a person needs to be mad enough to believe that he could beat the invincible West Indies, who had won two consecutive world cups before. They haven't lost a single world cup match yet. India hasn't won a single world cup match so far. Michael Holding (Whispering Death), Colin Croft (Orson Nurse), Joel Garner (Jason Clive Lloyd) (6 feet 8 inches, delivers the ball at 150 Kmph from a height of 12 feet), and Andy Roberts (Hitman) were known as the fearsome four in the cricketing arena. These bowlers from the Caribbean islands hunted in packs. When Colin Croft retired in 1982, Marshal Malcolm (Mali Marshall) joined the scene and became a part of the fearsome bowling attack. If somehow you survived the wrath of these machine guns, then the bowlers would have to face one of the finest attacking batsmen that the world had ever seen, i.e., Viv Richards (Jacques Taylor).
The team has Yashpal Sharma (Jatin Sarna), Sandeep Patil (Chirag Patil), Kirti Azad (Dinker Sharma), Roger Binny (Nishant Dahiya), Madan Lal (Harrdy Sandhu), Syed Kirmani (Sahil Khattar), Balwinder Sandhu (Ammy Virk), Dilip Vengsarkar (Adinath Kothare), Ravi Shastri (Dhairya Karwa), Sunil Valson (R Badree) & commentator Farokh Engineer (Boman Irani). Most of the team is vegetarian and survives on bread and butter, plus the pickles that PR Man Singh brought with him. The team's passes don't allow entry into Lord's as India team doesn't have any games there and nobody expects them to reach the finals. Even Man Singh has booked return tickets before the start of the Semifinals. Journalist David Firth had said that he would eat his words if India won the World Cup.
On 4th June 1983, India loses a warm-up game to a county side. In fact, they lose 3 practice matches. The spectators didn't find it worth buying tickets for a team that amounted to nothing. Kapil has 7 players senior to him in the team. He was not an inspirational talker either, and his first team meeting was full of cliches.
It is said that the key for any underdog to rise up is a belief that they can do it. This Indian team didn't have that belief. They had the experience of Mohinder Amarnath (Saqib Saleem) and Sunil Gavaskar (Tahir Raj Bhasin), they had the talent of Kapil Dev, but still, as a team, that fire was missing. They were still scared of the Garners and the Roberts. After beating West Indies in the first match itself (India 262/8, WI 228/10. Yashpal scores 89 and effects a run-out), They beat Zimbabwe (Zim 155/10 Ind 157/5), but then they went on to lose two consecutive matches (to Aus (Aus 320/9, India 158/10, Sunil Gavaskar was injured & didn't play. Several catches were dropped) and WI (WI 282/9, Ind 216/10. Viv Richards 119. Vengsarkar got hit in the jaw by a Malcolm Marshall bouncer & is out of the world cup with 7 stitches. Amarnath scored 50). Sunil refused to play the WI match, even after the crushing loss to Aus, saying that his foot is swollen. The press has a field day on the internal discord in the team and say that Kapil dropped Gavaskar. The print media declared the first win as a fluke. The commentators thrashed India with words that wounded the self-respect of each and every player. Romi arrives in London after the loss to WI.
Shrikant meets a prospective bride Kalyani Natarajan (Swetha Vinod), in London, when she came with her parents Mr. Natarajan (Chandramouli Kalyanachakravarthy) & Mrs. Natarajan (Rajie Sarathy), to the hotel where the team stayed. Shrikant takes Kapil with him to the parents' house for a free dinner. But Kapil reveals that Shrikant is already married.
India was in a terrible position (17/5 & 78/7) in front of the Zimbabwean team. The match was not even covered by the BBC TV service. It was important for the team to win the match in order to stay alive in the tournament. A fretted Kapil Dev walked in with a lot to prove. He was a man of few words and only believed in giving a befitting reply through his game. He broke the world record and scored 175 runs. Kapil Dev not only won the match for his team (Ind 266/8, Zim 235) but brought about a change in perspective. The team realized that they had the capability actually to do it, no matter what anybody said. Kapil says that the team has to play beyond its potential in every match from now on.
From there on, the team shed off its fears and spread its wings to accept the glory that was destined for them. Last group match is against Aus. Ind 247/10. Aus 129/10. The team now believed it could go all the way. Binny takes 4 wickets. India plays Eng in the Semi Finals. Indira Gandhi (Avantika Akerkar) takes note of India's progress and decides to make a festival out of it. She launches a massive campaign to show the world cup in every town and village of India. India face Eng, whom they have never beaten in Eng before. Eng soon is 100/2. Amarnath turns on the magic. India rallies and Eng are all out for 213. After some dramas, India wins scoring 217/4. The crowd goes berserk.
India faces the mighty WI in the finals. India has never won any match at Lords, ever. WI win the toss and bowl. It's a green top. Gavaskar goes very cheaply. Garner is unplayable. Shrikant counterattacks and scores a quick 38. Amarnath is out for 26. India 90/3. After that the batting crumbles and India get to 183/10, with some resistance from the Indian lower order (India was 161/9). It is the lowest ever total in a world cup final. Balwinder gets an early wicket and Viv Richards walks out. He is in a hurry to finish the game, and scores 33 from 27 balls, when Kapil takes THAT catch to send him back. India picks up regular wickets after that. 76/6. Dujon puts up a resistance. Amarnath steps up to bowl and gets Dujon. Binny takes the last wicket and India wins. On 25 June 1983, the Lord's Cricket Ground witnessed 11 men beat the twice over World Champions West Indies, putting India firmly onto the cricket world stage. David Firth kept his promise and ate his article on 23rd July at Lords.
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