Giant Killers: When India Routed the West Indian Cricketing Giants

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..."

This is an excerpt from the speech that the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave, when India ganied her independence as a British colony after 200 years of abject slavery and misery in 1947.

The thought and the profoundness reflected in the words, though is not just restricted to India's independence struggle; at least not at the time when it was uttered; but definitely as a prophesy for a sporting event, 36 years down the line.

An event which would go on to make every Indian proud of his nationality: past as well as present, old as well as new and men as well as women!

The year was 1983. The year when India won the crown of the third edition of the Cricketing World Cup [then known as the Prudential Cup] and when her sons gave every fan a genuine reason to feel overwhelmingly content.

However, more than the win alone, it's the befitting reply to their mighty opponents which makes the taste of victory sweeter still! After all, defeating the tournament favourites isn't exactly something that happens every now and then!

Perspectively though, playing in the final of a monumental event like the World Cup for the first time, the Indian underdogs had every reason to be proud of their shining performance in the eight team series. Winning it, though would have been an even better accomplishment for the country.

Easier said than done! Squaring against them was the two time winner and the defending champion: West Indies!

A recently turned cricket fan might scoff at the name, but for people who have breathed in and out of the game, just imagining the West Indian side of that bygone era is enough to shake every fibre in the body!

With a looming presence and a reputation to win every match contested, the West Indies boasted of a complete and all round attack: Haynes, Richards, Lloyd had enough artillery to get any bowler frustrated while their bowling attack in the form of Marshall, Holding and Dujon just ripped apart the opposition batting without any second thoughts.

To cut the long story short, words aren't enough to describe adequately what a powerhouse of cricket West Indies was in those days; they were the Gods of cricket, ruling the sport with their mental and physical game!

That year the lot fell on India to face them, face embarrassment as the odds that West Indies would lose was highly improbable.

No country had ever come closer to challenging the Indies, not even the inventors themselves and the chance that a minnow by cricketing standards could achieve the feat was a highly ludicrous thought: The ultimate height of optimism!

Yet within heart of heart of every Indian, a slight hope lingered: a small light goading and prodding its team to give in their wholesome; to fight for a chance to be etched in history, for a chance to do what no one ever had and a chance to prove the arrival of a new strong challenger to the sport!

And when the action began, little by little the hope started fading and diminishing. The West Indies bowlers were living up to their expectations, while the Indian batsmen who had done so well till the previous matches were clearly struggling.

Choking and sputtering they managed to put a total of 183 runs [184 to chase] with the anticipation from the Indian side already beginning to ebb. Scoring 184 from 360 balls was as easy as a practice match for the West Indian stalwarts; or so they thought!

The Indian bowling attack began badly. Each of the best available Indian bowler was sent thrashing by the "Pedigreed" West Indian batsmen without any mercy. Insult became injury as West Indies looked poised to claim a hat trick championship at Lord's.

And suddenly, it all changed. The Carribean wind became an Indian zephyr turning the tide in India's favour. The bowlers who were literally balking at the immense strength of the batting onslaught, received the support of the pitch consequentially making the batsmen play heavily.

The West Indian "star" batting line-up which was cruising along suddenly found itself out of depth. Invisible chinks made themselves visible to the naked eye and the fortress of the mighty Indies was on the verge of getting breached!

And then it was all over: over and resounding, when Mohinder Amarnath finally dismantled the stumps of the last standing West Indian batsman. The minnows had done the unimaginable; they had vanquished the invincibles and convincingly so!

This Indian win over the monolith of cricket, was a testimony to the spirit of the players.

They defended a paltry score, didn't give up when most of everyone would have expected them to, but most of all the victory was for their courage in standing up to the West Indies; had they also believed in the norm of no one dares to dream while the West Indies are around, 1983 would have been a source of different history altogether!