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1983 World Cup Indian Team (Image Credit : Twitter)
On June 25, 1983, Kapil Dev-led Indian team won their first-ever World Cup beating the West Indies in the final at Lord's. However, the journey toward the coveted trophy wasn't an easy one for the Indian Team. After all, they didn't have many supporters of their dream that they can win the showpiece event. Also, not to forget, English media didn't give them a chance as well.
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However, Dev believed that the team can reach the milestone. The other players were still in doubt about the achievement. After all, they had won only one game in the last two editions. The team started well in the tournament by beating the Clive Lloyd-led side in their opening game by 34 runs. They then beat Zimbabwe by five wickets.
At this stage, it looked like the team is meant for doing something special. However, they lost to Australia by 162 runs and the team was shaken up. Before they could recover from this, Lloyd's men took revenge on the Indians and beat them by 66 runs. Now, they were in a do-or-die situation for the rest of the games.
They needed to win handsomely against Zimbabwe and Australia in their last two league games. In the game against Zimbabwe, they were tottering at 17/5 and looked like the dream to win the cup will have to wait for another four years. Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev played an innings of 175 not out which is still remembered by the fans.
He was ably supported by the likes of Roger Binny, Madan Lal, and Syed Kirmani. The team went on to win the game by 31 runs and kept the semis hopes alive. Now, they needed to win big against Australia. The team did this by winning the game by 113 runs and advanced to the final. Now, the team which wasn't a title contender was now playing the semifinal.
They beat hosts England by six wickets in the semifinal game and had a chance to clinch the title. However, this wasn't going to be easy against the defending champions. With the grit and determination, they managed to win the game by 43 runs and gave a new life to Indian cricket.