Circa June 1983: The English summer saw the 3rd world cup hosted by England; featuring 8 teams. The Prudential world cup started with the all conquering West Indies starting as favorites to pick up their 3rd straight world cup title. The Indians came into the world cup led by a young 24 year old all-rounder with a fresh approach keen to establish India’s credentials in the one day format of the game.
In the two previous editions of the world cup (1974. & 1978) the Indians had managed to register a sole victory against East Africa.
The Indians were placed in the tougher group B along with defending Champions West Indies, Australia and Zimbabwe. Their campaign got off in style with a victory over the defending champions in their first league game; making a strong statement that they were no pushovers at the Prudential world cup. As the tournament progressed to the final league stage, group B was wide open with Kapil’s boys needing crucial wins over Zimbabwe & Australia in their final two league matches to move into the knock out stage of the tournament. June 18 1983, was the big day when India took on Zimbabwe at Tunbridge wells. The Indians batting first were off to a disastrous start tottering at 17/5, the stage was set for the Indian captain, Kapil Dev who went on to play arguably the best one day innings ever of 175 not out (that stood as the highest individual score in the one day format for a very long time). It was that innings that took India into the semi- final stage. A comprehensive victory over hosts England saw the Indians take on the might West Indies in the final which was the classic David – Goliath contest. Kapil’s Devils, as they were described took the field on the destined date of June 25th 1983, as firm underdogs; playing out of their skins they created one of the biggest upsets in sports history to be crowned the cricket champions of the world. The victory was the catalyst that propelled cricket as India’s greatest national pastime.
If today’s cricketers have achieved Demi-god status and enviable commercial & social status in the country, then they owe a big part of it to the magnificent team of 1983 who took the game to an entire new level. It was under the astute leadership of Kapil Dev that India discovered its proficiency in the one-day format of the game. Today Kapil is at the helm of affairs at the ICL which has pioneered the city based league format of the game and was the first league to crack the T20 code which has caught the imagination of the modern cricket fan. Along with Kapil are three other world cup winners in Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Madan Lal & Sandip Patil who have embraced the ICL ideology of taking domestic Indian cricket & its players to the next level.
This proves that it is Kapil who is responsible for pioneering new paths in the two shorter formats of the game. Had it not been for the 1983 victory, one day cricket would have not seen the stature it has achieved today. And had it not been Kapils’ pioneering effort in league cricket with the ICL ; T20 would have not got its humongous support that it enjoys today .
It is now for the cricketing fraternity especially the Indian fans to decide who the is the real Moses of Indian cricket ?
Cricket Leagues of India 
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