Opinion
The famous proverb goes that one cannot clap with a single hand, and such was the situation for team India overseas between the world cups of 1979 and 1983.
Indian batsmen struggled to perform overseas. However, they showed that they can chase any score on their home soil.
Moreover, they lost all their overseas ODI series during this period. They won only two series against England and Sri Lanka, both of which were played in India. India played seven ODI series during this period. Sunil Gavaskar was captain for six of them. In the seventh series, which was against the West Indies, Kapil Dev took over the captaincy. This was just before the 1983 World Cup.
(PA Images via Getty Images)
While going through the scorecards that questions posed itself: why did Kapil Dev or Yashpal Sharma not bat a little higher up the order? They were the most consistent performers with the bat. Kapil did try this once in the second ODI against the West Indies and the result was positive. However, he never tried it again, including in the World Cup.
In the World Cup India made sure the team showed an all-round performance. Further, if one department failed, another department should take care of it. In the first two matches, against West Indies and Zimbabwe, India showed their all-round performance with both the bat and the ball and started their World Cup campaign on the winning note.
However, in the next two matches, against Australia and the West Indies, both bowling and batting showed signs of worry, and they lost the two matches. Moreover, in their next match against Zimbabwe again their batting struggled. However, Kapil Dev’s matchwinning unbeaten 175 runs changed the game in favour of India.
Further, in the next match against Australia it was India’s bowling that gave them victory after a decent batting performance by their batsmen. Then came the semi-final against home team England. Here the home side was knocked out after a brilliant performance by the Indians.
Lastly, in the final against the West Indies on a low-scoring pitch, Indian bowlers used the conditions perfectly and gave the nation their first-ever World Cup. Furthermore, the leading wicket-taker of the tournament was Roger Binny, who took 18 wickets in eight matches. Moreover, Madan Lal took 17 wickets.
Further, the leading run-getters for India were Kapil Dev and Yashpal Sharma. As already mentioned, they were also the most consistent performers before the World Cup. Dev made 303 runs with an average of 61 and also took 12 wickets. This also suggests that if Kapil Dev and Yashpal Sharma had had the chance to bat a little higher up the order, India could have won many ODIs overseas.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
England's tour of India has ended in abject fashion as the tourists were hammered by an innings and 64 runs inside three days, with…
India have bowled England out for a below-par 218 and cruised to 1-135 in reply to seize early control of the fifth and final…
India have accomplished a nervy run-chase to secure a five-wicket victory against England in the fourth cricket Test in Ranchi. Chasing a modest 192…
In the build up to the India vs England Test series, there were reasonable predictions that India would be the ultimate challenge for Bazball.…
Until quite recently, you would look through an Indian Test XI and see experience everywhere: Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja with the…
