"But For Cricket...": West Indies Legend's Interesting Take On India's 1983 World Cup Win

The 1983 World Cup victory was a momentous occasion for India and according to many experts, it was the moment that revolutionised the sport in the country. Former West Indies skipper Clive Llyod, who was on the losing end in the final of the competition, said that the result was something that the sport benefited from. This year will be the 40th anniversary of the famous win and in an interaction on Backstage With Boria, Llyod had an interesting observation about the result. 

“Bowling India out for 183 was a very good effort, and on most days, we would easily chase this score down. But for cricket, however, it was a great result. It helped Indian cricket turn into something fundamentally different and world cricket, too, benefitted from this turnaround,” he said.

The West Indies entered the finals as the favoured, having won the previous two world cups in 1975 and 1979. They finished first in their group with five victories and one defeat, the loss coming against India. They had thrashed Pakistan by eight wickets in the semi-finals.

India defied all sorts of expectations and odds to clinch their first-ever World Cup title. An underdog story to the core, it is a tale retold to every generation with pride. It is an event that triggered the massive cricket craze that has the country in its grip to this day and was perhaps the first step of India's rise in cricket as a superpower. The image of a smiling 'Haryana Hurricane' Kapil Dev holding the silverware still is the crown jewel of Dev's legendary legacy and Indian cricket's history.

“Even when we beat the Indians convincingly in the winter of 1983, we knew that it was only a matter of time before they became a cricketing superpower. The self-belief the World Cup victory had given Indian cricket had little parallel. It was great for your cricket,” he added.

(With ANI inputs)

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