THE GLORIOUS GAME OF UNCERTAINTIES

Like life, cricket is full of uncertainties and that’s why it is said that till the last ball is bowled… a cricket match can never be predicted. Time and again upset matches and underdogs have beaten champions and world class teams to botch up the prospects of a winning team. And this trend, as far as the One-Day International World Cup is concerned, started way back in the summer of 1983.

Believe it or not, today’s kids who are seeing Rohit Sharma’s willow pulverising Pakistan’s bowling attack, may not have an idea that India had a disastrous start in the World Cups which began way back in 1975. Called the Prudential World Cup for the first three editions, India was done and dusted by the second World Cup four years later in 1979. But as I said, Cricket is a glorious game of huge uncertainties, anything can happen in the Gentlemen’s Game and that became evident in the fourth match of the tournament in 1983 when India took on West Indies… oops considering the year and India’s cricketing status then… the sentence should read when West Indies took on India in Manchester on June 9, 1983.

Even in India people never hoped against hope about the results, but by 9pm, the All-India Radio bulletin humbly went on to announce India’s FIRSTEVER victory in a league match in World Cup and that too defeating the twotime defending champs the West indies by 34 runs! However, for the record, India’s only previous win in the tournament history actually had come against East Africa in 1975 while on the other hand, West Indies had not lost a single match until that day, winning both the 1975 and the 1979 editions. And unfortunately, in 2023… West Indies failed to qualify for the World Cup!!! What a glorious game of uncertainties.

History repeated itself on Sunday night when Afghanistan registered their first win by defeating the defending champions England by a whopping 69 runs. Batting first, Afghanistan had a brilliant start and finish… scoring 284 in 49.5 overs. With the pitch starting to grip and offer turn in the first half, that felt like a good challenge for Jos Buttler and team, especially with the spinners Afghanistan had.

Again in 1983 India went on to reach the final of the Prudential World Cup and met the Mighty West Indies. But whatever is destined has to happen. In the afternoon of June 25, 1983 India scripted history and today it is narrated like a folklore how the battered and bruised Team India (remember Dilip Vengsarkar’s injury in a league match that virtually kept him out of the tournament) held on to their hopes to lift the cup at the balcony of the famed Lord’s.

Also, since then, West Indies has never won the Cup again and now are even out of the tournament, while India grew from strength to strength and today BCCI is among the richest sporting boards in the world.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Robin Roy The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India