I’m in love with all rounders. Real ones, not the Jacques Kallis or Steve Waugh kind.
That was controversial.
By all rounders I mean, Miller, Sobers, Benaud, Gilchrist, Botham, and Khan. These sorts of blokes People who can win matches with either bat, ball or gloves.
So in the spirit of India being a half way decent team again, let’s talk about the last world cup India won. 1983 when they somehow toppled the great West Indies.
There was this dude who played for them called Kapil. Rhymes with apple.
We could talk stats.
Runs 303. Average 60. Strike rate 108. 4 more players scored more runs than him (no where near as quick). 2 players scored quicker than him (but they both made less than half the amount of runs.
Or 12 wickets at 20, which for him really wasn’t that spectacular. But hey I’d take it.
Really though the stats mean jack shit. India at the time had a really handy side, but the truth is they quite often have really handy sides.
Gavaskar, Shastri (before he became the new Richie Benaud) and Srikkanth. Were holding up the batting side of things. Maden Lal and Binny took 17 and 18 wickets respectively for the tournament.
Dev however did the heavy lifting. Maybe it was the mullet.
When their tournament was disappearing against of all teams Zimbabwe, the team who had already beaten Australia, Dev and his mullet stood up.
India were 5 for 17. Gavaskar and Srikkanth were out. Both for ducks. Shastri was only a youngster and was yet to come in, but when he did come in, his score of one hardly made a difference.
The second top score was 24, by the number 10, who was involved in a 126 run partnership. The Indians ended up making 266 off 60 overs. Hardly a brilliant score but hey they were 5 for 17, so you take what you can get.
Dev played some ok shots and scrambled his way to 175 not out off 138 balls.
That would be amazing now. But in 1983 that must have twisted anuses inside out.
The amazing thing is that if he hadn’t have made those runs, India wouldn’t have made the semi’s which makes it harder to win the final. I’d think.
Some will say, well it was only Zimbabwe, how hard could that have been, well other than the fact they had rolled the Aussies in the tournament, how about this argument. Try scoring at a strike rate at 120 for 138 balls when your team mates have all crawled up and died and your batting with the number 10.
6 sixes and 16 fours. The balls on this dude must be the size of a Jupitor. If any of those sixes doesn’t clear the fence (that’s what they called the rope in those days) India goes home having been knocked out of the tournament by Zimbabwe (Dave Houghton’s boys).
How many effigies would have been burnt if that had happened.
India won the final as a team, but they got there riding a beautiful mullet into the final.
