The third edition of the global cricket tournament was once again held in England — such was the English confidence that they had already started talk of holding the fourth even before the third had taken root. In typical English parlance, it could be said that the cricket world cup had finally come of age. The pessimism with which it had begun in 1975, and the cautious optimism after it was held in 1979, had given way to a brave new world for the International Cricket Council (ICC).

There had been another breakaway series in between that may not have raised a storm as big as the Packer affair, but in emotive terms, affected West Indies the most. Some of their top cricketers including Alvin Kallicharan, Collis King and Colin Croft had signed up for a rebel tour of South Africa. In a separate team, so did Englishmen Graham Gooch and John Emburey. The latter two players annoyed authorities but the first three invoked fury among not just their colleagues but their people altogether. Bans resulted and a few top cricketers became ineligible for selection by their countries.

Although Australia was now playing more one-day internationals (ODIs) per season than any other country due to its strategy of the triangular tournament, England was still the place to go for the classic cricket environment. There would be the 30-yard circle limiting fielders in the outfield and teams would have more than one go at the same opposition, eliminating freak results determining group standings. Now each team would play the others in the group twice. The rest of the rules remained as they were in 1979.

A West Indian win seemed to be a foregone conclusion … only for India to play party poopers at the 1983 World Cup

The 1983 World Cup saw top Australians return into the fold, even though it was clearly their swansong tournament. But strangely, Kim Hughes — the man whom the legends loved to hate — was retained as Australian captain. His team was eliminated in the group stages, with the ignominy of a loss to Zimbabwe to add to their other losses. There was too much internal friction in the Australian side and on the field they never recovered from a 7-51 bowling stint by little-known West Indian pacer Winston Davis. Hughes returned to Australia in a huff, and without saying goodbye to his senior players.

Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka (a year into their Test status) made their one little upset that cost their victims a semi-final place; none more so than the Lankans beating a stronger New Zealand which left them needing to have a higher net run rate than Pakistan, who were in the pits after losing both times to England and to them in the first game.

India’s fans invade the pitch during the final

England felt they had control to reach their second consecutive final but were counted out by some reputedly bit-and-pieces all-rounders from India who bowled and batted with hearts out pushing aside specialists from any other team.

India was the team that jolted the tournament by beating the seemingly invincible West Indies in the first round game.

Indeed India was the team that jolted the tournament by beating the seemingly invincible West Indies in the first round game. They seemed to have been pulled down to reality when they were 17-5 against Zimbabwe, only for an astonishing counter attack by Kapil Dev. This was possibly the point where self-belief became so ingrained in the Indian side that they felt they could do no wrong; or that anything wrong against them would be righted in the end.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth in action during the final

West Indies were just as strong, though the age factor was creeping up on skipper Clive Lloyd as it was on Andy Roberts and Michael Holding. Even stronger was Richards’ arrogance and it made all the difference in a low scoring final at Lord’s. A flurry of fours by Richards to tell the Indians they can’t repeat their group triumph and then a mis hit loft caught by Kapil over his shoulder running back — 183 to get, 50-1 and 140 all out.

It hurt even more for Pakistan who was the favoured side from Asia, having swamped the Indians at home. But there was turmoil again and of course the captaincy factor had cropped up. Imran Khan had suffered a hairline fracture in his shin bone and couldn’t bowl. Some wanted him out while Imran felt he was good enough as a batsman alone. He was not as weak or benevolent as Intikhab Alam and Mushtaq Mohammad; in fact more powerful than the whole board and selectors put together. So he had his way. He proved his mettle with the bat of course but his bowling was sorely missed.

Winners take it all!

Pakistan lost both games against England by heavy margins and in the first game against New Zealand lost Mohsin Khan, Mudassar Nazar and Zaheer Abbas without a run on the board chasing 238. They were fortunate that outsiders Sri Lanka then beat New Zealand, giving them a ray of hope as they had beaten Sri Lanka in both their encounters, albeit a bit nervously in the second, by 11 runs.

So came sort of a quarter-final in the sense that New Zealand could still go through even if they lost as long as they contained Pakistan to a certain run rate. It was then that Imran Khan (who had teamed up with rookie medium pacer Shahid Mahboob (77) in a fast paced partnership of 144 — after picking up from 43/5 — took Pakistan beyond the reach of Sri Lanka in a group game by scoring 102*), now paired with century-maker Zaheer Abbas to take their final run rate past New Zealand’s, fetching an unbeaten 79. Together they plundered 147 in 75 minutes. This meant the Kiwis had to go for a win to qualify for the one remaining semi-final slot.

It was a tense game for Pakistan and they had to strike quickly. For that, Pakistan had Abdul Qadir the leg spinner to thank. He provided that variety of spin that was regarded as a luxury and ineffective in one-day cricket. Qadir, who had played a vital role with five wickets against Sri Lanka, now took four wickets as New Zealand plunged to 152-7. But then came the Kiwi resurgence led by Jeremy Coney. He channeled strokes as well as the tail-enders to the extent that 22 were needed off the last three overs and 13 off the last over with nine down. Off the first ball Coney tried to return for a second as Imran misfielded and then threw to Bari; Coney ended inches short. It was a dramatic inclusion into the last four for Pakistan.

True to script, though, they had to cross West Indies if they wanted to get to the final. This was becoming something of a World Cup derby. For the third time in a row for Pakistan, the match against them was to be a do-or-die. Yet an India-Pakistan final beckoned for the first time in World Cup history.

Pakistan disappointed again though, and even more compared to four years back as they crawled to 184 in 60 overs versus the Windies. Such was the puerility of the batting approach that only two boundaries were hit in the innings — one of them off a misfield from Mohsin’s bat; the renowned stroke-maker was the main culprit here, taking 56 overs to score his 70. Although India was to defend a similar total against West Indies in the final but it was never enough with Imran unable to bowl and Qadir off colour in the afternoon. So ended Pakistan’s third attempt at proving they were the best team in the world, which they could claim otherwise in periods of absolute brilliance.

But overall the World Cup had at last broken away from the West Indies clasp; three finals in a row but second best this time. It was farewell from the title sponsors Prudential and the British organisers also. The World Cup had become bigger and better under their banner. It was now time to pass the baton to India and Pakistan and to a new commercial patron. After three editions everyone now looked east of Lord’s.

Prudential World Cup — 1983

Host country: England

Teams: 8 (England, India, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe)

Games : 27 Venues: 15

Format: Two groups of four, as in 1979. This time, though, each team played the others in its group twice, not once, to determine the four semi-finalists and winners of semis contest to final.

Winner: India Runners-up: West Indies Prize money (winner): 4,000 pounds Prize money (runners-up): 2,000 pounds Man of the match (final): Mohinder Amarnath (India)

Match summaries

1st match: Group A — England v New Zealand at Kennington Oval, London England on June 9 — won by 106 runs 2nd match: Group A — Pakistan v Sri Lanka at St Helen’s, Swansea on June 9 — Pakistan won by 50 runs 3rd match: Group B — Australia v Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, Nottingham Zimbabwe on June 9 — won by 13 runs 4th match: Group B — India v West Indies at Old Trafford, Manchester on June & 10 — India won by 34 runs 5th match: Group A — England v Sri Lanka at County Ground, Taunton, Taunton on June 11 — England won by 47 runs 6th match: Group A — New Zealand v Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham on June 11 & 12 — New Zealand won by 52 runs 7th match: Group B — Australia v West Indies at Headingley, Leeds on June 11 & 12 — West Indies won by 101 runs 8th match: Group B — India v Zimbabwe at Grace Road, Leicester on June 11 — India won by 5 wickets (with 22.3 overs remaining) 9th match: Group A — England v Pakistan at Lord’s, London on June 13 — England won by 8 wickets (with 9.2 overs remaining) 10th match: Group A — New Zealand v Sri Lanka at County Ground, Bristol on June 13 — New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 20.4 overs remaining) 11th match: Group B — Australia v India at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on June 13 — Australia won by 162 runs 12th match: Group B — West Indies v Zimbabwe on County Ground, Worcester on June 13 — West Indies won by 8 wickets (with 11.3 overs remaining) 13th match: Group A — England v New Zealand on Edgbaston, Birmingham on June 15 — New Zealand won by 2 wickets (with 1 ball remaining) 14th match: Group B — India v West Indies at Kennington Oval, London on June 15 — West Indies won by 66 run 15th match: Group A — Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds on June 16 — Pakistan won by 11 runs 16th match: Group B — Australia v Zimbabwe at County Ground, Southampton on June 16 — Australia won by 32 runs 17th match: Group A — England v Pakistan at Old Trafford, Manchester on June 18 — England won by 7 wickets (with 16 balls remaining) 18th match: Group A — New Zealand v Sri Lanka at County Ground, Derbyshire on June 18 — Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets (with 7.1 overs remaining) 19th match: Group B — Australia v West Indies at Lord’s, London on June 18 — West Indies won by 7 wickets (with 2.1 overs remaining) 20th match: Group B — India v Zimbabwe at Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells on June 18 — India won by 31 runs 21st match: Group A — England v Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds on June 20 — England won by 9 wickets (with 35.5 overs remaining) 22nd match: Group A — New Zealand v Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on June 20 — Pakistan won by 11 runs 23rd match: Group B — Australia v India at County Ground, Chelmsford on June 20 — India won by 118 runs 24th match: Group B — West Indies v Zimbabwe at Edgbaston, Birmingham on June 20 — West Indies won by 10 wickets (with 14.5 overs remaining) 1st semi-final: England v India at Old Trafford, Manchester on June 22 — India won by 6 wickets (with 5.2 overs remaining) 2nd semi-final: Pakistan v West Indies at Kennington Oval, London on June 22 — West Indies won by 8 wickets (with 11.2 overs remaining) The final: India v West Indies at Lord’s, London on June 25 — India won by 43 runs

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 21st, 2014