Captain Kapil Dev's 14-man squad attended a private function in the pavilion at Lord's, followed by a gala dinner, a quarter century to the day since their stunning upset over Clive Lloyd's powerhouse side at the ground.
"It changed our lives," said the skipper, who described the win as "a very important day in Indian history".
"In our country there is no other sport in people's minds or anybody's mind," he added.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar, an opening batsman in the final, said that the entire team "feel very special about the moment, that we were part of India's cricketing history".
Despite entering the final as underdogs, and managing to set the West Indies a target of just 183 after batting first, India denied their opponents a hat-trick of World Cup titles with a 43-run win.
Dev paid tribute to the West Indies team that India defeated, describing them as "really rich in every sense" while team member Ravi Shastri joked that the "25th of June doesn't exist in the West Indies calendar".
After posing for photographs and speaking to journalists, the team members gathered to once again hoist aloft the 1983 World Cup trophy, which has been on display in the Lord's museum.
They first celebrated the 25th anniversary last weekend in New Delhi, when the team were feted by the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at a dinner attended by former captains, cabinet ministers and officials at a luxury hotel.
The gathering at Lord's was organised by Gavaskar, while liquor baron Vijay Mallya sponsored the dinner.
A diamond-studded bat signed by all the team members as well as a specially-designed ball also covered in diamonds are to be auctioned in a few weeks by Mallya's United Breweries group to mark the occasion, with the proceeds being shared equally by the members of the 1983 squad.
Since 1983, India's best World Cup finish has been the runners-up spot achieved by skipper Sourav Ganguly's side in South Africa in 2003 when they lost to Australia in the final.
In the last edition in 2007 in the Caribbean, India suffered the embarrassment of being knocked out in the first round after losing to minnows Bangladesh and eventual finalists Sri Lanka.
The next World Cup will be jointly hosted by cricket's four leading Asian nations -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- in 2011.
India's 1983 World Cup squad: Kapil Dev (capt), Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, Sandeep Patil, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kirti Azad, Syed Kirmani (wkt), Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Valson
To know More About Share Market Technical Analysis Click Here For Share Gurukul
No comments:
Post a Comment