A look back at two World Cup titles in 40 years, 1983 and 2011

New Delhi (Uttam Hindu News): June 25, 1983, March 23, 2003 and April 2, 2011 – These are the three dates when India competed in the final of the ODI World Cup. In these three years, we captured the trophy twice while in 2003, India had to face defeat against Ricky Ponting-led Australia. Now on Sunday, November 19, India has a chance to settle its old scores, because once again there will be a clash between India and Australia in the title match of the World Cup 2023. The special thing is that the journey of these two teams also started against each other in the tournament, where India won.

Interestingly, during their title win in England in 1983, the Kapil Dev-led team started their campaign with a 34-run win over defending champions West Indies and on a memorable day on June 25, defeated the same team by 43 runs at Lord’s. Won the trophy by defeating. Could history repeat itself at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday? This time there is something special in India’s journey in the World Cup. His dominance with the bat and pin-point accuracy with the ball have been remarkable.

Under the leadership of captain Rohit Sharma, India entered the final by defeating New Zealand by 70 runs in the semi-finals. This was their first win over the Kiwis in a knockout match at an ICC event and their 10th consecutive win.

A look at the spectacular victory of ’83
The top eight teams competing in the Prudential Cup included West Indies, Australia, hosts England, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. India began their campaign by defeating two-time defending champions West Indies against all odds and laid the foundation for a remarkable journey. However, in the first encounter, West Indies defeated India by 66 runs. Then came the tournament match against Zimbabwe in Tunbridge Wells on 18 June.

Amidst the crisis when the team was at 9/4, Kapil Dev scored an unbeaten 175 out of India’s total of 266/8, which Zimbabwe failed to achieve by a narrow margin and lost by 31 runs. Wisden described the match as “a remarkable match containing one of the most brilliant innings ever played in this form of cricket.” This important win ensured India’s place in the semi-finals by finishing second behind West Indies in Group B.

India defeated England in the semi-finals at Old Trafford and restricted the hosts to 213 runs. Mohinder Amarnath’s all-round performance (2/27 and 46) played a crucial role as India won by 6 wickets to book their place in the final.

The climax of India’s tour came on 25 June, when they once again faced the West Indies. This time the final was at Lord’s.

West Indies, famous for its dangerous fast attack and strong batting order, was considered a strong contender to win the cup for the third consecutive time.

India, who came to bat first, had a bad start and Sunil Gavaskar became the victim of Andy Roberts for 2 runs. A brief partnership between Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Amarnath took the team past 50 runs. Earlier, India lost some early wickets with Yashpal Sharma, Kapil. Thus India had lost six wickets at 111/6.

After this, some useful contributions from Sandeep Patil and Madan Lal helped India score 183 runs. However the target seemed too small for the strong Windies line-up.

In reply, West Indies lost early wickets. Balwinder Sandhu bowled Gordon Greenidge. After a short partnership, Madal Lal dismissed Desmond Haynes and Vivian Richards. Within no time the defending champion’s score became 57/3. From then on, the Windies kept losing wickets at regular intervals and India eventually won.

2011: Wankhede

After winning the title in 1983, India was not very successful in the World Cup.

Nine years after the semi-final loss to England at home in 1987, a poor performance against Sri Lanka at the same stage in Kolkata and a heartbreak in the final against Australia in Johannesburg, fans were wondering when the situation would change. But times changed and in the year 2011, India captured the World Cup.

India jointly hosted the World Cup in 2011 with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

India qualified for the quarter-finals by finishing second behind South Africa in Group A.

With the help of half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni’s team won by six wickets in Ahmedabad and defeated three-time defending champions Australia in the quarter-finals.

A much-awaited semi-final match against arch-rivals Pakistan in Mohali in which the Prime Ministers of both the countries, Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani were present in the stands. India won by 29 runs with the help of Sachin Tendulkar’s 85 runs and secured a place in the final with Sri Lanka.

Then, on 2 April at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Kumara Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat first.

After a slow start, Sangakkara added 62 runs with Mahela Jayawardene before being dismissed for 48. But despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Jayawardene played a quickfire 103 to help Sri Lanka post a challenging 274.

In reply, India had a poor start. Virender Sehwag became the victim of Lasith Malinga on the very second ball of the innings. The next blow came to India in the form of Sachin Tendulkar.

However, after this there was an important partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli.

After Virat’s dismissal, Dhoni promoted himself to the top order and made a match-winning partnership of 109 runs with Gambhir.

After Gambhir was out on 97 runs, Dhoni (91 not out*) and Yuvraj Singh (21 not out) led India to victory.

There is no doubt that the fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will be hoping for a similar finish.