Remembering India's first ever World Cup win in 1983, this day 35 years ago

Fans rushing to the ground after the game. You can also see the last departing pair of Windies batsmen

India's Game #8: vs Windies, Final

It all boiled down to this. The final. The epic face-off between defending champions on the quest to retaining their trophy, thereby completing a hat-trick of wins, with the other team looking to overthrow their tough opponents, and to win the title for the first time ever, putting their tag of minnows to rest, once and forever. Either way, the game would mark an extraordinary historic moment.

The two times that India faced Windies in the tournament, one victory each belonged to either teams. While India started and ended their group stage on a high, the loss to India was the only low that the Windies faced. Having never looked backed since it was a one-way road to the finals for them.

Winning the toss, the Windies captain Clive Lloyd decided that Indians will bat first. His decision was justified when, 55 overs later, the Indians ended their innings at just 183 runs, just eight runs more than what Kapil Dev managed all alone against Zimbabwe. Kris Srikanth's 38 off 57 balls was the highest score in the innings. Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil scored in the high 20s, and the contribution of the others amounted to the rest. Andy Roberts picked up three wickets for 32 runs while Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Larry Gomez picked up two wickets each.

Kris Srikanth batting in the finals

For a line-up that comprised of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and so on, the target of 184 was easily attainable. Or so, thought everyone. What happened in the next few hours was extraordinary, as the famed Windies batting line-up were made to return to the pavilion for just 140 runs.

Viv Richards top-scored with 33 runs, but no one else gave him any support at all. The Indians in turn, bowled brilliantly. Mohinder Amarnath (7 overs, 12 runs) and Madan Lal (12 overs, 31 runs) taking three wickets each to top the bowling charts. Mohinder Amarnath was made man-of-the-match once again, just like in the semi-finals.

Kapil Dev presented with the trophy

India thus took home their first ever World Cup on the 25th of June, 1983, thereby earning their place among the best teams in the game.

28 years later, India would win it again, in their home soil, but by then they had become arguably the best sides to ever walk the face of the earth. As many people from their generation can vouch for, the cricketing revolution was brought forward by the surprise win of 1983, after which cricket began to be taken more seriously, which helped the youngsters to come into the game more and more, resulting in all the achievements that India has achieved since then.

In less than another year, the 2019 edition of the Cricket World Cup will begin, as England are hosts once again. Crores of Indians all over the world hope that India will be able to replicate their recent successes in the big stages and bring home a third title.