India’s World Cup victory in 1983 is the most significant event to have ever happened in the rich cricketing history of the country. It not only helped India to establish itself as one of the superpowers in world cricket but also changed the face of the game in the country forever.
The entire campaign was memorable for India, it was full of ups and downs. Nobody gave them a chance when the tournament started but India kept surprising everyone one match after another.
On recalling India’s performance in the tournament, there are a lot of incidents that come to mind. But let’s take a look at their journey during the mega event through some of the most significant numbers.
6 – Total number of 50+ scores by Indian batsmen during the tournament. It was the joint lowest by any team in the tournament. New Zealand and Zimbabwe were the other two teams with the same number of 50+ scores.
7 – Total number of ducks by Indian batsmen during the mega event. It was again the joint most by any team with Pakistan and Sri Lanka being the other two sides with 7 ducks during the campaign.
303 – Kapil Dev’s tally of runs during the tournament which was also the most by an Indian batsman. Overall, it was the fifth highest aggregate of runs by an individual. Only David Gower (384), Vivian Richards (367), Graeme Flower (360) and Zaheer Abbas (313) had more runs than Dev.
4 – Number of Indian batsmen with an aggregate of 200 or more runs during the tournament. It was the joint most from any team with England, Pakistan and West Indies being the other three. Kapil Dev (303), Yashpal Sharma (240), Mohinder Amarnath (237) and Sandeep Patil (216) were the Indian batsmen to cross the 200-run mark.
175 – The highest individual score during the tournament. It was Kapil Dev who saved India after a disastrous start in the game against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells. India were 4 for 9 when Dev walked out to bat and then got reduced to 5/17 soon. But Dev went on and on from one end to smash an unbeaten 175 off just 138 deliveries to take India to a total of 266/8. Zimbabwe were later bowled out for 235 and India won the match by 31 runs.
126 – The ninth wicket partnership between Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells. It was the highest ninth-wicket partnership recorded in ODIs at that time and it stood the test of time for 27 years until it was broken by a partnership of 132 between Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews for Sri Lanka against Australia at Melbourne
68 – Total wickets taken by India during the course of the World Cup. It was also the most by any team. Not only that, India recorded the best bowling average (22.51) and strike-rate (38.2) among all teams as well.
109 – Dev’s overall strike-rate during the tournament which was also the third highest. Only Graham Dilley (120) and Rod Marsh (110.93) had a better strike-rate than Dev during the event.
51 – Sandeep Patil’s score during the semifinal against England. He smashed 51* off just 32 deliveries and thus recorded the second highest strike-rate (159.37) by a batsman in a knock of 50+ runs during the tournament. Imran Khan’s strike-rate of 169.69 during his knock of 56* off 33 during the the group game against Sri Lanka at Swansea was the best.
18 – Total wickets taken by Roger Binny in the mega event. It was also the most by any bowler. His 18 scalps came at an excellent average and strike-rate of 18.66 and 29.3 respectively.
3 – Total number of Indian bowlers with 10 or more wickets during the tournament, which was also the joint most for any team. Binny (18), Madan Lal (17) and Kapil Dev (12) were the bowlers with 10+ wickets to their name. West Indies was the only other team with this record and Michael Holding (12), Malcolm Marshall (12) and Andy Roberts (11) were the bowlers to achieve the feat for them.
4 – All-rounders with at least 200 runs and five or more wickets during the tournament. Two of them — Kapil Dev (303 runs and 12 wickets) and Mohinder Amarnath (237 runs and 8 wickets) — were from India. The other two players were Kevin Curran (212 runs and 5 wickets) from Zimbabwe and Larry Gomes (258 runs and 9 wickets) from Zimbabwe.
14 – Total dismissals effected by Syed Kirmani during the tournament, the second highest by any Wicket-Keeper during that event. Only Jeffrey Dujon (16) had more. Kirmani’s 14 dismissals comprised of 12 catches and two stumpings.
7 – Most catches taken by a fielder during the 1983 World Cup and the record belongs to Kapil Dev. The next best was five by Allan Lamb (England) and four each by Clive Lloyd and Desmond Haynes of West Indies.