‘I wasn’t even half good without the support of seniors’ – Kapil Dev praises 1983 World Cup-winning team

Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev went down the memory lane to India’s victory in the 1983 World Cup against all the odds. Back then, India defeated two-time champions West Indies, captained by Clive Lloyd, in the final by 43 runs at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground to emerge victorious.

After scoring 183 in 54.4 overs, Dev’s men bowled the Caribbean team out for 140 in 52 overs. Mohinder Amarnath became the Player of the Match in the final for scoring 26 runs and picking up the crucial wickets of Malcolm Marshall, Jeff Dujon and Michael Holding.

The now 62-year-old Kapil, who played a crucial role in India’s campaign, lauded his former team members for not letting pressure get on their nerves.

They were all brilliant characters, says Kapil Dev

“Character is the most important thing. If we pick up all fourteen and Yash, I think everybody has a character. When you want to achieve something as big as that, everybody needs to have a character,” Kapil was quoted as saying to India Today during a special show.

“We all play cricket. If I look back, I think everybody has a character in the sense that they are not pushovers. You give them a lot of respect for not being a yes man, but they are ready to die and at the end of the day, they were all brilliant characters,” he stated.

The most awaited ‘83’, a film on India’s title-winning sojourn, is set to hit the silver-screens on Thursday, December 23. Dev reckoned that each character in their journey deserves a movie for the role they played nearly 40 years ago.

“You can make a movie about everybody. I was the captain but I think I was not even half good or even quarter without the support of seniors and Man and Polly,” Dev added. Kapil scored 303 runs in the World Cup and picked up 12 wickets.

Ranveer Singh is set to play the character of Kapil Dev in ’83’ with Ammy Virk, Pankaj Tripathi, Hardy Sandhu and Deepika Padukone among others as his co-stars. The movie is directed by Kabir Khan, who has worked in films like Kabul Express, Ek Tha Tiger and others.