India’s limited-overs cricket received a shot in the arm when the team, dubbed ‘Kapil’s Devils’, marched to a sensational World Cup triumph at Lord’s in 1983. It set off a belief among the other teams that they, too, can dream of winning cricket’s showpiece event.
Dilip Vengsarkar, member of the 1983 World Cup squad, recalls the memorable campaign.
Have you all started getting bored of celebrating the achievement every year or every five years?
The thing is we have been playing with each other for so long that it doesn’t feel like such a long time has passed. Yes, it’s been 40 years and we have still remained friends. We even have a WhatsApp group so we constantly keep in touch with each other. It’s always great meeting with these guys because I have been playing with some of them since my schooldays.
Who is the most active member on the WhatsApp group?
Sandeep (Patil), Kirti Azad and Balwinder Singh Sandhu . They are very active.
This is the first 40-year celebration. Have you discussed the plan for the rest of the year?
Not really but people do keep asking us for an event. It’s great to be together. Doesn’t matter where we are. Whenever we are together, we have a great time.
Who handles all the planning?
Kirti Azad is the guy. He keeps in touch with everyone and plans everything including the logistics — the venue, hotel bookings and travel plans. He even tells us what to wear! It’s a great help to all of us.
Was he as active in planning during the 1983 World Cup?
No. We all were playing and Man Singh would do all of it and we would focus on cricket. Man Singh was great at his job, he was a great administrator. We are very happy to have him around as well.
Can you tell us the most unforgettable memory from the 1983 World Cup?
My memory is of getting injured in the match against the West Indies when we were doing very well. I had a very good partnership with Mohinder Amarnath and we were doing very well. We were 80-odd for one and we thought we would chase it down. But then I got hit, had to go back and we were all out. If I would not have been injured, it may have led to us defeating the West Indies one more time.
Do you think India winning the World Cup will be a fitting end to the 1983 celebrations?
Yes, very much. I hope so since we have a fantastic team at the moment and they have done really well. They have beaten Australia in Australia and other top teams in the world, so I just hope they do it this time around. Since the World Cup will be played in India, home conditions, home crowd, home support, I am sure they will do extremely well.
Comments
SHARE