The 1983 World Cup victory will always be etched in the memories of Indian cricketers and fans. It was India’s maiden World Cup triumph, which eventually transformed the face of cricket in the country.
India were the ultimate underdogs in the competition and had defeated two times World Champions, West Indies, in the final to lift the coveted trophy at Lord’s.
On Wednesday (May 13), legendary pacer Michael Holding recalled that historic final and admitted that West Indies were perhaps overconfident against India.
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"I am going to be totally honest. We were perhaps overconfident. We did not think that India was going to be our problem in the World Cup. Yes, they might have beaten us a couple of times before the World Cup but we always thought we would be able to overpower them, especially with our fast bowling that we had," Holding told sports analyst Joy Bhattacharjya in the latest episode of Sony Ten Pit Stop.
Kapil Dev and company were able to defend a target of 183 in the summit clash. India had restricted West Indies from making a hat-trick of World Cup wins by beating them with a margin of 43 runs, with Mohinder Amarnath and Madan Lal picking up 3 wickets each.
"Especially, in that final, we just took it for granted, having bowled them out that cheaply. The runs would have been knocked off quite easily. That is what happens when you take things for granted, when you underrate people and they lift their game,” Holding said.
"They were the underdogs, they had nothing to lose. Kapil Dev and that team just went out there and performed at their very best and took us by surprise because we were overconfident and took it for granted.
"That was a good Indian team. As we have seen as time went on, right after that World Cup, they went to Australia and won in 1985. Not many Indian teams went to Australia... even now, go to Australia and be as successful as that team," he added.
Michael Holding also said he wouldn’t oppose Ravi Shastri's claim that the Indian team of 1985 was qualitatively superior to the side that won the 1983 World Cup.
“I go one step ahead and say the team of 1985 was a stronger team compared to 1983. You know, I was part of both teams, I played in the 1983 World Cup and 1985, when you look man to man, 80 per cent of that 83 team was still there, but then some of the youngsters that you got in there like a Sivaramakrishnan, Sadanand Vishwanath, Azharuddin, those kind of guys came in to add to the experience you already had of 83 (and it) was fantastic,” Shastri had said during a Facebook live interaction with Sony Sports last week.
In fact, the India coach also stated that the class of 1985 could have given the current Virat Kohli-led side a run for their money in limited-overs cricket.
"I wouldn't try to contradict Ravi with that at all. Even in that final, when India played Pakistan, Sunny did not bat at all. It was kind of a team that did not require Sunil Gavaskar to bat, you know how strong that team is. Ravi and Kris Srikkanth opened together and had a fantastic partnership and said they didn't require Sunny. There were other guys as well. Azharuddin, young guy, coming into the team.
"That 1985 one-day series, in Australia, on hard bouncy pitches against West Indies, Pakistan, Australia with all those fast bowlers. Just think of the overall competition, you would have thought India would have got blown away. No, they didn't. India had a very, very good team," Holding opined.
