India’s rise to Supremacy – How 1983 World Cup win inspired Indian Cricket’s present superpower status

On June 25, 1983 – an Indian team led by a Haryana man named Kapil Dev, went on toe to toe against a goliath in West Indies and came away with flying colours to win the World Cup in front of an English crowd, who just granted us independence a mere 36 years back.

The game of cricket this day is a different commodity. The astronomical money, huge following and glamour around the game is a teenager who is getting proper nourishment, perhaps a bit more sometimes than necessary.

But back in 1983, cricket in India was a nascent baby who was still poorly nourished. Those days, the World Cup was known as the Prudential Cup and India had a dismal outing in the previous two occasions in 1975 and 1979 – as they managed a single win across those editions.

But in 1983, the narrative changed and India won the World Cup beating the giants of world cricket. England were beaten in the semifinals, and West Indies, back then who were consecutive World Champions, were stunned twice by a team India who punched above their weight.

We all see the smiling face of Kapil Dev holding the World Cup, a snap which is an iconic image and had millions of scissoring from the back pages of the newspapers across the length and breadth of the country.

This pic. Got shared in WA by an elder cousin. @therealkapildev seems to be in a funny yet savage mood, and very much likely to have got clicked sometime soon after the ‘83 history. #1983worldcup #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/ItPsYh2bFc

— Swaroop Kaimal (@swaroopkaimal) June 25, 2023

But without even noticing, it changed the whole dynamics of the game. Let’s have a look at how that summer in England revolutionized cricket in India, which now has reached its peak at present-

Love for cricket increased by multiple folds

Before 1983, cricket was mostly a sporadic game on the rise. But the 1983 World Cup win gave it a major push. The popularity of the game had a multi-folded rise in the nation, and youths of the country also found their icons among the players.

A positive environment was created in the country which further maximized the opportunity for the game to grow. From the biggest cities to the remotest of villages, kids and adolescents started spending their afternoons playing ‘gilli-danda’, the first stage of the revolution.

Decentralising cricket from England

It was a major move from India. Till 1983, the World Cup was strictly supposed to be an English affair. But the 1983 World Cup defenestrated that concept and decentralised the game from the English grasp.

Four years later, India and Pakistan joined hand in hands to protest the millennial concept and the World Cup venue was shifted to India. It was a spectacle in the whole country and the exuberance of the nation yielded far more involvement to the tournament than it could have ever reached in England.

The Eden Gardens was tightly packed in the Final as 90,000 spectators watched the proceedings despite India being not in the Final. This was the second stage of India’s rise to prominence, as it became the headquarter of the grandest stage.

????️ #OnThisDay in 1983

A historic day & a landmark moment for Indian cricket ????????#TeamIndia, led by @therealkapildev, clinched the World Cup title. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/MQrBU4oUF1

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 25, 2023

India’s 1983 win instilled Professionalism

Have you seen the Ranveer Singh starred 83 movie? If you have, did you see how it started? I mean the first part of the movie which involves the selectors and BCCI.

Yes, it was the same back in 1983, when BCCI was nothing but an unprofessional unit which had lack of everything. Players used to get 1500 rs for allowance and some hundreds more for other expenses. But the 1983 win rejuvenated the entire entity, the sloth, unprofessional BCCI was slowly but steadily transformed into a much more stable and professional unit.

The result? Just have a look at how much Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and others earn these days with their central contracts and other perks. The building steps of BCCI becoming a cricketing tycoon started that summer some forty years ago.

Inspired an entire generation, started the conveyor belt of cricketers

Yes, we know IPL has a huge role in producing the top talents from the remotest of parts of India. But back in 1983, when the entire nation had very few sources of entertainment unlike today, it was solely playing cricket which became a ritual more so after India’s win.

Plenty of Indian parents wanted their son to be the next Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar or next Mohinder Amarnath and Roger Binny – instead, we got a Sachin Tendulkar, a Sourav Ganguly, a Rahul Dravid, an Anil Kumble and many more.

40 years to India winning the World Cup for the first time! 25th June, 1983 was one of the defining moments that changed Indian cricket as well as my life forever. Paying tribute to all the members of that champion team. pic.twitter.com/ges194UAX1

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 25, 2023

That summer in England inspired an entire generation to take up cricket beyond afternoon’s stress relief. The craze of the game opened opportunities and thus the conveyor belt of players started to emerge.

It was a major shift in the realm of cricket. An entire nation was inspired by their amazing achievement. Forty years is a long time, amid the world of Dhoni, Kohli and others, we often tend to forget the stars of the yesteryears. This is human nature and we can’t blame that.

But we are ought to remember our history and our roots, and when it comes to cricket in India and its fruitful and meteoric rise, it was the generation of 1983 which sowed the ripest seed in the soil.