Top 10 Iconic Moments In Cricket World Cup History

3. Kapil Dev’s brilliant running catch to dismiss Viv Richards- 1983 World Cup

The third edition of the World Cup was played in England in 1983. The great West Indies was looking to complete their hat-trick of trophies having won the tournament in 1975 and 1979. But little did they know, that an underdog Indian team would not let them achieve that dream, but go on to win the World Cup.

India was not considered favourites by any margin, having won just one game in the last two editions. This time they were captained by a 24-year-old Kapil Dev. India started well by defeating West Indies in Berbice and then triumphed against Australia as well. The next big thing was them was Kapil Dev’s brutal 175* against Zimbabwe, which helped India put up a winning total from being 17/5 and 78/7 at one stage. 

They then regrouped well and defeated England in the semi-finals to book a ticket for the final at the Lord’s. Kapil Dev has said that he was shocked to see a green pitch for the final against the West Indies, who had a lethal pace battery. Meanwhile, Clive Lloyd won the toss and put India into bat.

Kris Srikkanth’s 38 and Mohinder Amarnath’s 26 led them to 183 runs in a 60 overs per side match. With nothing to lose, India gave it their all against a complacent West Indies batting lineup. Indian medium pacers rattled the fame batting lineup with Mohinder Amarnath and Madan Lal taking three wickets each.

But Viv Richards had other ideas as he clattered 33 runs with 7 boundaries and was looking in a hurry to finish the game. Madan Lal forced Kapil to give him one more over and got Richards to mistime a pull. Kapil Dev at mid-wicket ran back quite a few yards to take an amazing catch. This proved to be vital as West Indies then crumbled to 140 all out and India became World champions for the first time.