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On June 25, 1983, the Lord's Cricket Ground witnessed 14 men beat the two times World Champions West Indies, putting India back onto the cricket world stage.
Dec 23, 2021 | Theatrical Limited (486 locations)
$1,692,575
$4,055,660
$3,295,401
$7,351,061
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Country of Origin: India
The film begins with a black-and-white opening sequence of the 1983 Cricket World Cup Final on 25 June 1983 between India and West Indies. During the second innings when India is fielding, Madan Lal bowls toward Viv Richards who is on strike. Richards lofts the ball in the air for a six but results in getting caught out by Kapil Dev.The film then shifts to 30 May 1983 at the BCCI office in Mumbai where the BCCI officials get an invitation to the Cricket World Cup. Sunil Gavaskar is dropped from captaincy and Kapil Dev is made the captain. The cricketers who are in the squad namely Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Madan Lal, and Sunil Valson are already there in England playing County Cricket.Along with the team manager PR Man Singh, the rest of the team which includes Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Syed Kirmani, Sandeep Patil, Dilip Vengsarkar, Yashpal Sharma, Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri and Balwinder Singh Sandhu reach London where they witness the West Indies Cricket Team the two-time World Cup winners, being hounded by photographers at the airport. After they reach the hotel they join the rest of their teammates.The team fails horribly during the four warm-up matches which leads to doubts being raised about the performance of the Indian team in the group stage of the World Cup itself. During the press conference, Dev confidently tells the reporters that his team is here to win. During a training session of the West Indies team, the Indian team witnesses their four deadly fast bowlers namely Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, and Joel Garner who were known for delivering deadly bouncers to the batsmen. At the ceremony in Buckingham Palace, the Queen wishes the teams luck and the teams proceed for a group photograph. On the way back to their hotel on the bus, Dev gives an inspirational speech during the team meeting in accentuated English.The World Cup starts with India being placed in Group B alongside the strong teams Australia and West Indies. Zimbabwe who turns out to be making their World Cup debut is also placed in the same group. India unexpectedly win their first match against West Indies by 34 runs at Old Trafford, Manchester with Yashpal Sharma being the Player of the Match for his contribution of 89 runs (which was also the highest individual score put up by an Indian cricketer at that time).The teammates later celebrate at a bar that night. They also manage to win their next match against Zimbabwe by 5 wickets at Grace Road, Leicester thereby leading to the rise in the expectations of the Indian fans. Patil scores a half-century and Madan Lal is named as the Player of the Match.However, the team becomes over-confident and loses their next match against Australia by a huge margin of 162 runs. Dev is disappointed with the team’s performance, especially with Roger’s performance, and Gavaskar is unable to play due to his leg injury.With Gavaskar’s absence, the following match with West Indies turns out to be a brutal one as in the first innings, Viv Richards thrashes out the Indian bowlers severely thereby making a score of 119 runs off 146 deliveries. The second innings seems to be more violent when Malcolm Marshall bowls deadly bouncers to the Indian batsmen and one of the bouncers hits Dilip Vengsarkar on his chin, injuring him. Mohinder Amarnath puts up a score of 80 runs by bravely facing the bouncers but India lose the match by 66 runs.The morale of the team is shattered. It is further shattered as Vengsarkar is ruled out from remaining World Cup matches due to his injury which resulted in seven stitches. The disheartened team in the bus is stuck on the route because of the West Indies crowd celebrating and blocking the way. However, they see a young Indian boy waving a homemade Indian flag which moves the team to tears and raises their spirits.The next match against Zimbabwe on 18 June at Trent Bridge, Nottingham is a do-or-die one as India will be eliminated from the tournament if they lose. The wives of the cricketers also turn up to show their support as it is thought to be their last match. Gavaskar is back in the team recovering from his injury. India opens up with a shaky start, making 9 runs at the cost of 4 wickets. Dev steps in a hurry onto the field without the helmet as he was taking a shower. While walking to the pitch he sees the disheartened Indian crowd. He then starts scoring runs but the wickets keep falling. During the lunch break, Dev takes out the Mongoose bat which enables him to hit more powerful shots and gives a better counterattack to the bowlers. He then starts hitting boundaries continuously. Dev then makes a world record of 175 runs (which was previously 171 runs made by Glenn Turner in the 1975 World Cup) and is received with a standing ovation from the crowd and the umpire. India makes a score of 266 runs which Zimbabwe fail to achieve which leads to India winning the match by 31 runs and also retaining their place in the tournament.A party is held by the High Commissioner in which all the team members show up except for Binny who does not turn up because he is disappointed by Dev constantly chiding him for his bowling performance during net practice. At the party, Srikkanth jokes around and humorously tells the crowd that Dev had gone mad because he told them that they would beat the West Indies which is the strongest team in the cricketing world, but then he says that he has faith in his captain and he would only go home with winning the World Cup.The final Group Stage Match with Australia at County Ground, Chelmsford on 20 June is an easy win for India as they win by a huge margin of 118 runs with Binny being the Player of the Match for his contribution of taking 4 wickets, praises Captain. India qualifies for the semi-final and this creates a wave of excitement across the country as India managed to qualify for the semi-final for the first time. The Prime Minister Indira Gandhi orders her ministry to ensure that every town and village in the country gets a television service so that the semi-final match can be broadcast.Before the semi-final, Sandhu is disappointed as his engagement with his fiancée Simran has been called off because of his living conditions and low salary. This affects his performance in the semi-final.During the semi-final with England, Amarnath and Kirti Azad choke off England’s supply of runs by taking wickets. Azad takes the wicket of Ian Botham in which the ball surprisingly spins low towards the ground. England is restricted to a score of 213 all out. In the second inning Amarnath and Sharma build up runs for India, however, Amarnath is run out. During the partnership of Dev and Patil when 4 runs are needed to win, there is a premature invasion on the field by Indian fans. This causes the English captain Bob Willis to set his fielders on the left side so that they can escape if there is another invasion. Patil hits a four and India qualifies for the finals of the 1983 World Cup. Amarnath is named the Player of the Match.This creates further excitement back in India as this win was seemed as unexpected one. On 25 June at Lords, India faces the West Indies again for the final with the latter winning the toss and choosing to bowl. In the beginning, Indian batsmen are restricted severely by the bowlers with Gavaskar getting dismissed for 1 run, but Srikkanth aggressively scores 38 runs making him the highest scorer for the Indian team. However, the team is all out for 183 making it the lowest score in the World Cup final. Dev inspires his team to restrict the West Indies batsmen from scoring runs.The team steps onto the field with a rousing reception in the common room. In the second inning, Sandhu takes the wicket of Gordon Greenidge which gives India a lead. However, Richards launches a barrage of boundaries especially when Madan Lal is bowling. Madan Lal asks Dev to let him bowl another over as Richards underestimates him and Dev gives him another over to bowl. He bowls to Richards and Richards lofts in the air for six (as shown in the opening sequence of the film) but is caught out by Dev. This proves to be the turning point of the match. With Richards dismissed, the wickets of West Indies fall rapidly with Amarnath taking 3 wickets. When West Indies are 9 wickets down, Amarnath bowls to Holding who’s the last batsman. Holding misses it and the ball hits his pads. Amarnath and the whole team appeal for the dismissal and Holding is given out leading to India winning the World Cup. The squad rushes towards the dressing room and the jubilant crowd rushes over on the ground and celebrations begin all over the country. A young Sachin Tendulkar back in Mumbai makes a promise that he would play for the Indian cricket team. Amarnath is named Player of the Match and Dev lifts the trophy along with the Indian team.As the credits roll, the real Kapil Dev is shown sharing his experience of winning the World Cup along with a montage of vintage photographs of the team.
March 1983 Indian cricket team gets selected for the third world cup to be held in England in June but none have their expectations from the team,while officials aren’t happy with appointment of new captain Kapil Dev over Sunil Gavaskar.Indian cricket team starts with a bang at the world cup by winning their first two matches against giant West Indies and Zimbabwe but loosing their next two matches against West Indies and Australia puts them in a do or die situation against Zimbabwe to stay in the tournament.During the big match against Zimbabwe half of the team is back to the pavilion much before the 10 overs with the score as 17 runs for 5 wickets.Kapil Dev plays a one man show by getting good winning score for the team and keeping their hopes alive in the tournament further the team spirit brings them to the final at Lords against the two time world champions giants West Indies.The team which was not considered worthy by everyone creates History only due to confidence of one man Kapil Dev. — alex.mjacko@gmail.com