World Cup Memories of 1983

There was, though, a lot of friendly punching and backslapping as the World Cup squad of 1983 reassembled, 25 years on, for a silver jubilee felicitation ceremony by the BCCI. Kapil Dev and his Devils, as they were called, all got together again, spouses and kids in tow, for what was to be a formal ceremony, but also turned out to be a nostalgia trip for the buddies.

Sunil Gavaskar, who was carrying the cricket ball that was used during the World Cup, said, “The ball still has its shine. Sadly, some of the autographs on the ball have become faded, and but now, I’m going to try and take the autographs of the winning squad on it again.” BCCI president Sharad Pawar and MS Gill did the honours, while the men smiled and joked even on stage. Kapil paaji even got a little emotional while making his speech. Apart from the men in white, the other centre of attention all evening were the men who turned up, coincidentally, all in pink – former captains Rahul Dravid, Mohd Azharuddin and Anil Kumble.

When we caught up with Azharuddin, he said, “Actually, I wasn’t planning to come for the function today. It was just that I had some work in Delhi and decided to attend the ceremony at the last minute. It was a memorable experience to be part of such a grand occasion.” Dravid was also glad to be there. “It is a great moment for me to be here as part of the event,” he said. “This is a landmark in the history of Indian cricket. It’s been a long time since we have seen such a victory, and we hope to repeat it in the future soon.” Srikkanth’s wife Vidya said that her two sòns were in Chennai and so could not make it to the event. Poonam and Kirti Azad, however, had no such issues and got their sons along, looking every bit the proud parents. Both boys – Somya and Surya – are cricket players too. Soon after the do, the squad left for London, where Gavaskar will throw a bash tomorrow, at Lord’s – on the anniversary of the day India won the World cup in 1983.

Spotted: Sharad Pawar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Sandeep Patil, Kirti Azad, Mohinder Amarnath, Ravi Shastri, Balwinder Sandhu, Yashpal Sharma, Madan Lal, Syed Kirmani, Roger Binny, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Walson, PR Mansingh, MS Gill, Raj Singh Dungarpur, Vishwanath Gundappa, Ajit Wadekar, IS Bindra, Chandu Borde, NKP Salve, Rajeev Shukla, Marshneil Gavaskar, Deepa Patil, Vidya Srikkanth, Manali Vengsarkar, Poonam Azad, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra, Diana Aduljee, Rahul Dravid, Azharuddin, Anil Kumble
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