Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Kapil's achievement unparalleled

Well it is all cheers for the Indian captain M S Dhoni who once again bought back the world cup which kept on changing hands with Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka before India could have its turn. Now, India, along with Australia is the only team to have won world cups with both black & white as well as color dress. That should not make news for, a black and white dress will never be reintroduced in international one day cricket, let alone in world cups. Winning a world cup is no doubt a dream for a life of a cricketer and Dhoni has done just that.

But, this should not overshadow the achievement of Kapil Dev's men in white some 28 years down the lane. In fact, that was an achievement that is even more prominent but hardly spoken about compared to Dhoni's. The Indian team came out victorious in the 1983 world cup with all odds not only favoring West Indies but at the same time closing all hopes for team India. That was the West Indian side with the likes of Vivian Richards, a match for whom is not even found in Sachin Tendulkar. Beating that team is worth more compared to what Dhoni's team have done now.

Back then, India were not even favorites to make it to the semi finals of the 1983 world cup, let alone winning a major title. India, in that world cup beat teams like England and Australia in addition to West Indies which were also competitive opponents. On the other hand, the West Indies were not only fresh from their previous two world cup victories but were undefeated like the Aussies in the last two editions of the same. Sangakkara's Sri Lanka comes nowhere when compared to Clive Lloyd's West Indies. Though no home team has won a world cup earlier, playing in foreign pitches has to be tough compared to home conditions.

No one world have dropped Sunil Gavaskar or Mohinder Amarnath four time like Sachin Tendulkar was dropped in the semi-finals of this world cup. Had India beaten Australia in the 2003 WC finals, that could have been considered to be in par with Kapil's achievement. Of course, a world cup win is a dream come true for any captain as said earlier.Lot would have predicted India to win the world cup this time unlike in 1983. Finally, cricket then was not a millionaire maker or celeb donor. Only guts and glory counted in those days unlike now. Hope this isn't mistaken with any IT Tech Talk.

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