Kapil's 175*

The day was June 18, 1983. Cricket World Cup 1983 hosted by England. England had hosted the two prior World cups too - in 1976 and in 1979 and in both World Cups, India didn't perform too well. So in this tournament too, nothing much was expected of India. 

But no one expected that the captain, all of 25 years old then, could upset the applecart. Most believe, including me, that the turning point for India came about on 18th June, 1983 in Turnbridge Wells where India played Zimbabwe.

It was a glorious summer day (as we are led to believe) and India was playing Zimbabwe. Two teams that were weak and didn't really attract the sort of spectators that other teams attracted then. The match was also scheduled in a remote 'village ground' called Turnbridge Wells. There were a few other matches being played that day and all matches were of 60 overs per side those days and all were day matches. BBC, the sole telecast provider sent in their camera and crew over to cover the other matches and there were no cameras for this match since it was being played between two lowly ranked sides.

I was employed in National Productivity Council (NPC) those days and had joined the Hyderabad office of that organisation in January that year. However, since we could be asked to join any team in any other site, I was deployed in Bangalore for about a month or two. It was on June 18th that I found myself in the client organisation's small office (pumping station of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) in the outskirts of Bangalore.

I had a team-mate from my PG batch who was equally a cricket fan and he had a small transistor radio. This came in handy because we could come back to the guest house and listen to the radio commentary. We both came back to our rooms around the time India started batting and realized with deep agony that India was reduced to a paltry score of 9 runs for the loss of 4 wickets and in strode the captain Kapil Dev. Soon it became 17 for 5. My room mate and I decided to skip the rest of the commentary and went for a long walk to the 'market' about 3 kms away. We walked slowly taking in the rural scenery and the balmy June weather near Bangalore; had some tea and snacks in a road-side eatery and made our way back equally slowly. 

After reaching the guest house and finishing with our dinner, we both went back to our room and turned on the transistor to hear that Zimbabwe were batting and India had scored 266/8. An unbelievable score. The commentators were oftentimes mentioning how Kapil Dev singlehandedly took India out of deep waters by scoring a rapid unbeaten 175 in the company of Madan Lal and later in the company of Syed Kirmani. 

I sorely miss not listening to the full commentary of India innings! It must have been one hell of a performance. Even now we hear people talk of Kapil Dev's batting and captaincy in the World Cup. It is widely believed by fans, critics, and players alike that Kapil Dev instilled a sense of confidence and self-belief to the team members that they could win from any position!

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of that momentous day today, I thought I should mention what I was doing on that day - or more honestly, what I didn't do that day!