"In every cricketer’s career, some days when you come out... it’s just your day, manufactured by god and given to you. Whatever you do, nothing can go wrong. Perhaps, that innings was like that for me." ~Kapil Dev, via Scroll
The rest of us dream of stuff like this. Kapil Dev lived it. It is ironic how it will forever be etched on our memories. A perfect cricket innings, and an even perfect script.
India needed a win against Zimbabwe to remain in good stead for Semifinals qualification in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Two deliveries into the
20th match of the tournament, India lost Sunil Gavaskar, caught behind off Peter Rawson - 0/1. Kris Srikkanth followed, losing his wicket to Kevin Curran - 6/2. Rawson then got Mohinder Amarnath out on 5 - 5/3. Sandeep Patil too could not do much glancing a leg-side delivery to wicket-keeper Dave Houghton - 9/4. Kapil Dev was the next batsman in but the collapse wasn't over as Yashpal Sharma gave Rawson his third wicket of the match - 17/5.
"We were all very disappointed (at 17/5 in 13 overs), we just stayed back in the basement of dressing room." ~Mohinder Amarnath, via Scroll
"I didn't have much time to think. It happened so fast. Before I even put on my pads, I was scrambling to get ready for that. And, when I walked over to the wicket, the captain was standing over there and waiting for me." ~Roger Binny, via Aaj Tak
Roger Binny walked out to partner Kapil Dev, who
said to him, "
Don't try anything. Let's play singles." They did, adding 60 runs for the sixth wicket.
According to Binny, he had never seen Kapil play like that. He was known to be an aggressive player, but he curbed his natural instincts for the team's sake. He continued this way even while batting with Madan Lal, who joined him at 78/7, Ravi Shastri being the latest casualty. Lal departed for an individual score of 17, leaving India in a precarious situation at 140/8. They were still in the fear of being bowled out for an under-par score. Then Kapil Dev happened.
With India continuously losing wickets at the other end, Kapil had to play low-risk shots and build partnerships. That all changed with the arrival of wicketkeeper-batsman Syed Kirmani. In fact, it was Kirmani who urged Kapil to play attacking cricket in a bid to maximise India's score.
“I walked up to Kapil, who was standing there, his head down. It was a 60-over game and we still had 35 overs left in our innings. I told Kapil, ‘Listen Kaps, we are in a do-or-die situation. We just cannot sit and die. Maar ke marne ka hai (we will go down hitting).’
I tried to inspire him saying, ‘You are the best hitter in the Indian team. I will take singles and will give you strike. You will try to hit every delivery.’ He said, ‘Kiri bhai, humko aur 35 overs khelna hai (we still have to play 35 overs). I will try my best.’ ” ~Syed Kirmani via The Indian Express
What followed was power-hitting of the highest quality. Kapil took advantage of the fact that this match was played on a pitch at the very edge of the square at Turnbridge Wells. According to
Cricinfo,
Kapil gave no real chances, if one excepts a very difficult one to Grant Paterson on the boundary in the nineties and a number of miscued strokes that fell clear of the fielders. Otherwise it was an amazing innings of clean striking against a quality attack, a performance that Kapil never equalled in a similar situation at any other time in his career.
"The one thing that really sticks in my mind about that innings is that he didn’t miscue one ball. Everything he went for he hit like a tracer bullet along the ground or like a missile out of the ground. It wasn’t like we dropped him or he had a close shave, he didn’t give a chance." ~Dave Houghton, ZIM wicketkeeper during the match, via BBC's Stumped
"Kapil hit balls pitched on a good length and hit them right out of the ground. All those sixes landed 10-15 yards outside the ground. It was a tremendous but calculated display of hitting. It was not slogging." ~Balwinder Singh Sandhu via CricketCountry
Kapil eventually finished on 175* off 138 balls. He hit 16 fours and 6 sixes in his innings. After reaching his hundred (first for an Indian in limited-overs cricket) in the 49th over, he made 75 more runs in the last 11 overs. Kirmani, meanwhile, stayed unbeaten at the other end on 24 as India finished on 266/8 in 60 overs. The following are some stats from the game:
- Kapil dev became the world record holder for the highest score in cricket at that time. His record was broken in 1984 by Viv Richards, during another epic innings.
- It was only the second instance of a batsman batting six or lower in the order scoring a century.
- It is the highest score till date by a batsman batting at six or lower in an ODI.
- In World Cup history, it is the only instance of a batsman scoring 150-plus after coming in to bat at No 6.
- Kapil’s unbroken partnership of 126* with Kirmani is the only instance of a 100-plus stand for the ninth wicket in World Cup history. It’s currently the second-highest of all-time in ODI cricket for the ninth wicket.
- To this date, it remains the highest percentage of runs scored by an Indian batsman in a completed ODI innings and second-highest ever, behind only Richards’ all-time classic in 1984.
In an unfortunate turn of events, this match was not televised or recorded. A knock for the ages and a lesson for all future cricketers will always remain unseen by those who were not present at Turnbridge Wells on 18th June, 1983. However, we do not need a highlight reel to realise the enormity of Kapil Dev's innings. The impact can be felt already.
India went on to win the match by 31 runs despite a fighting knock from Curran. Madan Lal picked up three wickets. Kapil himself took one wicket in addition to two catches, capping off a Man of the Match performance.
The Indian team eventually won the 1983 Cricket World Cup at Lord's on 25th June, 1983 making it the country's biggest achievement in the sport at the time.
Some interesting facts from the epic match:
- Dilip Vengsarkar could not watch Kapil Dev’s 175 because he was in London during the match. He was injured and couldn’t travel to Turnbridge Wells, so he couldn’t watch the magnificent knock.
- It is a misconception that the BBC was on strike when Kapil Dev scored 175 against Zimbabwe 37 years ago. The India-Zimbabwe game was seen as not worth sending a video crew for and hence no footage of this knock exists. The game took place on 18th June, 1983 along with 3 other games England v Pakistan, New Zealand v Sri Lanka and Australia v West Indies. UK had 2 channels at the time and those 2 channels showed the ENG-PAK game and the AUS-WI game, which were considered to be more important.
- However, radio commentary was present that day and parts of it can be heard in the clip below:
The above audio clip was taken from an episode of BBC's Stumped podcast. Commentator Bob Nixon can be heard covering the moment when Kapil Dev reached his century as well as the one when he broke the world record.
"It is a lovely sight here with those rhododendrons in full bloom as Rawson comes in to Kapil Dev who has 99...this one is nudged into offside and they go through for the single. (cheers and applause) and he’s got it! There’s going to be applause from all the Zimbabwean players never mind all the Indian supporters."
"In comes Fletcher, loping in from the far end to bowl to Kapil Dev... bowls a full toss. Hoicks it to mid on, goes on to 172 and it is a record for the Prudential World Cup. And that is the difference between these two sides...."
- Jeffrey Richards, who owns a house outside the Tunbridge Wells ground, told PTI in June 2019 - One of those sixes hit the roof of our building. He was a strong lad that Kapil Dev fellow, wasn’t he? We bought this house after 1983. When the original owner was selling it off, one of his calling card was Kapil Dev’s six hit the roof of this house. He was proud of it.
- According to Cricinfo, one Indian supporter made himself a lot of money as he had brought his video camera to the match and captured Kapil's great innings on it from his place in the crowd. Kapil was very happy to buy the tape off him for a large sum.
"Kapil was just that kind of a captain. He had that positiveness about him that, you know, nothing was impossible. And that innings of 175... what a pity that it’s not been recorded. It was batting of the highest class. It’s the best ODI hundred I have seen and I have seen a few. I know it’s taken mythical proportions, and it deserves to. It was really a game-transforming moment, not just match-transforming. It completely transformed the game as far as Indian cricket is concerned." ~Sunil Gavaskar, via Breakfast With Champions
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