5 catches that changed Indian cricket forever

#1 Kapil Dev vs. West Indies (1983)

Kapil Dev led India from front in the 1983 Cricket World Cup

The 1983 Cricket World Cup had changed Indian cricket forever. Kapil Dev’s men who had started that particular World Cup campaign as underdogs went on to raise quite a number of eyebrows over the course of the tournament to reach the finals.

The Indians- after being put into bat- went on set the West Indians a target of 184 runs in their allotted 60 overs. The opening bowling pair of Madan Lal and Balwinder Sandhu started the proceedings quite well for the Indians as they went to dismiss the likes of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes for 1 and 13 respectively.

However, Viv Richards- who was batting at 33 (7 fours and 0 sixes) seemed to take the match away from Kapil Dev’s men. The Indians had to pull off something magical if they were to win the match and that too, fast.

And as they say, cometh the hour, cometh the man. The Indian skipper, Kapil Dev himself pulled off a sensational catch to get rid of the danger man. Kapil Dev, who was fielding at mid-wicket had to sprint a fair amount of distance backwards to take the catch which would later, change the face of Indian cricket forever.