'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Former India all-rounder Karsan Ghavri was one of the earliest exponents of pace bowling in India. His partnership with legendary Indian paceman Kapil Dev is still remembered fondly.
After participating in the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 without much to show in terms of results, India stunned everyone by beating West Indies to become world champions for the first time in 1983.
Karsan Ghavri talks about India's 1983 World Cup-winning campaign
“In the first two World Cups, we never prepared ourselves, never made any strategies and before that there was no ODI cricket in India. We participated and did very badly in 1975 and 1979, only winning the one game against East Africa,” Karsan Ghavri told Indranil Basu in an exclusive interaction on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page.
“We only played in 6-7 ODIs apart from these two World Cups. The second one was an even bigger disaster than the first because we didn’t win a single game. However, it was a great learning experience and though us a lot,” the 69-year-old told Sportskeeda.
However, all of that was to change come 1983 in England. India played West Indies, the two-time reigning world champions in their first game of the World Cup and to everyone’s surprise, defeated the Caribbean boys by 34 runs.
Batting first in the game, India scored 262 runs with Yashpal Sharma top-scoring with 89 and all-rounders Madan Lal and Roger Binny chipping in with useful scores. In reply, West Indies were restricted to 228, with Binny and current head coach Ravi Shastri picking up three wickets each.
“In 1983 it was different for us because we had a lot of self-belief. We had great team, great players, great all-rounders with the likes of Ravi Shastri, Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Mohinder Amarnath.
“Right from the first game when we defeated West Indies, we started believing that if we can beat WI we can beat any team. Though there was no planning as such, everybody played their role brilliantly in the World Cup. When you start winning important matches you get a lot of self-belief,” Karsan Ghavri recalled.
On the role of Kapil Dev as skipper during the 1983 campaign, Karsan Ghavri said:
“Kapil wasn’t very vocal or great motivating factor…he gave one-liners, ‘Achcha khelna hai, India ko jeetana hai’. But that one line was enough for the team.”
When asked if there was any competition for a spot in the team between him and Kapil Dev, the left-arm seam bowler said:
“Right from the time that Kapil entered, we toured together in 1979, we played Irani Trophy before that, I noticed that he had a striking personality. He was a brilliant guy and god-gifted athlete.
“There was no competition of place between us, we played 25 Tests on the trot and never allowed any opening partnership to score 100 runs. We motivated each other on the field – if Kapil picked up a wicket, I wanted to do better and match him. But there was never a feeling we will take each other’s place,” Karsan Ghavri, who turned out in 39 Tests and 19 ODIs for India, said.
