Kapil Dev-led Team India stunned the cricket universe when they defeated mighty West Indies in the final of 1983 World Cup. Going into the tournament, India did not even have an outside chance of winning the trophy. A surprising win over West Indies on the opening day of the tournament gave India much-needed boost and there was no looking back for them after that.
India did lose a couple of matches during the tournament but made it to the final. Despite an impressive run, they weren’t favourite against Clive Llyod-led side. Recalling the summit clash, West Indies legend Michael Holding recently said that West Indies were perhaps overconfident, the reason why they lost.
“I am going to be totally honest. We were perhaps overconfident. We did not think that India was going to be our problem in the World Cup. Yes, they might have beaten us a couple of times before the World Cup but we always thought we would be able to overpower them, especially with our fast bowling that we had,” he told sports analyst Joy Bhattacharjya in the latest episode of Sony Ten Pit Stop.
“Especially, in that final, we just took it for granted, having bowled them out that cheaply. The runs would have been knocked off quite easily. That is what happens when you take things for granted when you underrate people and they lift their game,” Holding added.
India were bowled out for a low score of 183 in the final. West Indies, who had scored over 280 in their previous two finals, were confident of scaling the total.
