Thread by @Raja_Sw

Ok, am going to talk about something different now.
83.
Not the film, but 1983 – the year when India won the ODI World Cup.
Have often been asked by younger generations how it felt for Indians then.
Hence this long thread.
Pls bear with me - or you can mute me. :-)
1/

First of all, I can only speak for myself and my limited environment.
I don’t claim to speak for all Indians and their feelings/reactions.
India is too diverse and distributed a country, that too much less connected then, for me to be so presumptuous as to speak for all.
2/

The most important thing to remember is how different the India of 1983 was from today's India.
No internet, very little media out there compared to today.
Almost all of this was print media.
TV was expanding, but even then not many had access to it outside cities/towns.
3/

Today, even non-cricket fans get sucked into cricket news, whether they like it or not.
Such is cricket's proliferation in India today.
It wasn’t so in 1983.
It was still a very popular sport – but many people had plenty of real-life struggles to deal with.
4/

For cricket fans like me, the biggest thing about the 1983 win was the fairytale feeling.
We had seen India being thrashed in England in 1975 and 1979.
1983 was also being played in England.
And I had a particularly low opinion of India in England (Scars of ’74). :-)
5/

For me, if we’d won even one match in WC83, I’d have been happy.
Yes, we’d won an ODI in West Indies a couple of months earlier, but to me, that was a one-off.
I didn’t rate us in ODIs.
Except Srikkanth and Kapil, I considered the rest mainly "Test" players playing ODIs. :-)
6/

When we won the opening game against West Indies, I was thrilled.
I thought “Whatever happens from here, we’ve beaten the WEST INDIES. That’s enough for me. Already overachieved. :-)”

I didn’t realise the journey had just started. :-)
7/

We beat Zimbabwe, got thrashed by Australia, and lost to West Indies (return game).
Looked like it was returning to business as usual.
And when it became 17/5 against Zimbabwe, I was thinking “Same old!”.
That Kapil 175* rightly belongs as one of the greatest-ever in ODIs.
8/

Listening to that 175* commentary was a privilege.
I couldn’t believe what was happening.
Binny, Madan Lal, Kirmani deserve credit too for hanging in there with Kapil.
That innings reminded me of Kapil’s 89 (one of my fav inngs) at Lord’s 1982.
But this time, a happy ending.
9/

The sweetest win for me was against England in the semis. :-)
(Wins against England are ALWAYS the sweetest for me - in any format. :-))
I was already thrilled that we’d got to the semis.
But now, I was totally prepared for a thrashing, as at Lord’s 1975.
10/

But the fairytale was still unfolding.
First Mohinder and Yashpal Sharma, then Yashpal and Sandeep Patil.
214 might not seem like a big score to chase today, but believe me, for India IN England then, in any ODI it would’ve been huge. And this was a World Cup semi-final.
11/

Then the FINAL.
I’d like to know ONE person (outside the team) who gave us a chance. :-)
If you find someone, he’s probably lying. :-)
As for me, I was still basking in the glory of beating England, finding it hard to believe.
That was enough for me. :-)
12/

I remember, my brother and I were listening to commentary together.
Srikkanth was batting really well, got to 38.
I told my brother “He’s going to get out this ball”.
And he did.
My brother was furious at me. :-)
Thanks to help from the lower-order, we somehow got to 183.
13/

To be honest, though it seemed a poor score, I was already relieved we even got that far.
I had way too much respect for the Windies quicks.
At least our defeat wouldn’t be all THAT humiliating.
That’s how low my expectations were.
I suspect I was in good company. :-)
14/

When Windies batted, and Sandhu got Greenidge early, I was happy, but nothing more.
Viv was his usual self, dismissive as always.
He was my fav non-Indian cricketer at that time, and in any other game, I wouldn't want him to get out.
But this one time I REALLY wanted him to.
15/

Even after Viv got out, I had no hope.
Lloyd had ALWAYS been a thorn for us – and was a big-match player.
But even he got out - and suddenly they were 66/5!
There was something beginning to happen - even my ever-pessimistic self could sense it.
I immediately dismissed it. :-)
16/

All along, my thinking was "We've come this far. We've put up a terrific fight. We're going to lose this, but we've given the mighty West Indies one hell of a fright here. That itself is amazing."
This was my way of preparing myself for the disappointment that could follow.
17/

There was still Dujon to deal with.
And though I didn’t rate any of the West Indies quicks as batsmen, it needed just one of them to stick around with Dujon (who I definitely rated).
He and Marshall began chipping away.
To their credit, the Indian bowlers gave NOTHING away.
18/

Wickets kept falling.
When the last wicket fell, and we had finally won the World Cup, it felt surreal.
It didn't sink in at all.
You, who have ZERO ODI credentials, don't play THAT West Indies team, and win against them TWICE in a tournament.
Just does not happen.
19/

To me, THAT is the most important difference of them all.
Today, India has a fantastic squad.
They're expected to do very well in every tournament.
Most ppl expect them to win.
Or at least get to the finals.
In 1983, most of us had zero expectations of the team winning.
20/

And that's what makes that win SO special.
Not just that it was India's first World Cup win, but because it came from a team that was rank outsiders.
That is why it was a fairytale.
India winning a cricket World Cup today wouldn't be a fairytale story for me.
21/

Ok, now a surprise for some ppl. :-)
Esp those who have only seen the internet era, 24/7 media, tournament build-up months before schedule.
Today's is a very commercialised world of cricket (nothing wrong w/ that, btw).
In 1983 it wasn't so.
Not in India at least.
A story.
22/

The day after the win, I had to go somewhere.
My neighbour offered me a lift in his car.
In the car, all excited, I brought up the topic “So did you listen to the commentary last night?”
He: What commentary?
Me: World Cup. I can’t believe we won.
He: Oh, we won? Ok.
23/

And he was someone who was fairly into cricket.
It might be hard to believe today, but in those days ODIs were really not taken that seriously.
Sure, World Cups were different – they were not “just ODIs”.
Even so, cricket that mattered most for most Indians was Test cricket.
24/

I was in small-town India in 1983 – I don’t recall any celebrations in my area.
Later, I read that the players were feted, there were celebrations in the cities. Players treated like heroes.
In my area, the response of my neighbour pretty much typified the situation. :-)
25/

We need to realise that today, with so much connectivity, TV proliferation, internet, cricket facilities in B/C towns, there isn’t that much of a gap between cities and rural India.
This wasn’t the case in 1983 – at least not where I lived.
I didn't have a TV.
26/

To its credit, sports media (print) faithfully, and enthusiastically, reported events in as great detail as they could.
They were my main source of information, other than listening to radio commentary ofc.
But in terms of volume - a small fraction of what media is today.
27/

Winning WC83 ofc changed things for Indian cricket.
India began getting more respect as a serious cricketing power, even in ODIs.
The players themselves got a tremendous confidence boost, which saw them win the World Championship of Cricket (held in Australia) in 1985.
28/

But most importantly, India winning WC1983 made many more Indians get interested in cricket.
Everyone loves a winning team. :-)
This interest only increased manifold as TV began proliferating across the country.
Another big step was India co-hosting World Cup 1987.
29/

A few years later, liberalisation would happen, there'd be a scramble for TV rights, sponsorships would explode, BCCI would learn to capitalise, and monetise its biggest property - Indian cricket.
The landscape of cricket in India would change forever.
30/

Yet, through all this, the achievement of that 1983 squad would remain special.
Rather, the legend would only grow with time.
And rightly so, considering where they started (as no-hopers) and where they ended (as World Cup winners).

Thanks for reading.
31/31