Team India is one of the most successful teams in the history of cricket. Having won 2 world cups, and the inaugural T20 world cup, they have proved to be contender of one of the strongest teams overall. Furthermore their presence in the inaugural and ongoing WTC final makes the team a tough opponent for any team playing the gentlemen's game across formats. Though Men in Blue started little late compared to few other teams, it is one of the most highly ranked teams in the history of the game. But this was not always the case.

There was a time during the 1983 world cup when India was not even considered to be an average team, forget about being a top one. Having played cricket since 1920's, India have had hardly won any important series or matches till then. Furthermore, their world cup record was horrendous. Men in Blue, who had participated in 1975 and 1979 world cups, had only managed to win one match in all of their worldcup appearances. That victory was also against a minor team called as East Africa.

Therefore there was no reason why anyone would consider the team like India to be in good books of the cricket fans. On the other hand , West Indies had established a strong hold over world cricket. Boasting one of the most fearsome bowling attacks, fearless batters and a gem in the form of Sir Vivian Richards, they did climb up the ladder of success quickly. With this team, they never lost to any of the opponents in 1975 as well as 1979 world cups, thereby having a monopoly over the most prestigious ICC tournament to have existed in cricket.

And coming with a strong history to their name, they came as clear favourites for 1983 world cup too. With everyone hoping them to complete hat-trick of world cups , they were high on confidence. And knowing that their first encounter was against "underdog" India who rarely performed well, they were eager to start the campaign with an easy win. This match was a complete contrast, between, a team that didn't lose any match in any of the previous world cups and a team that only won once in the history of world cups. But what followed was nothing less than a surprise for the cricket fans, even for the fans of Indian team.

9th June 1983, exactly 40 years ago, Indian team led by Kapil Dev managed to upset the 2 time world champions ,who got defeated for the very first time in history of world cups. A victory, which shook the world of cricket. A victory which made sure everyone is alteast following updates of Team India since then. A victory that made a statement saying that the mighty West Indies could also be defeated in a world cup match. A match which was delayed due to rain initially, witnessed the thunderstorms by India that day.

Prior to the match, the fans and commentators were constantly mentioning about the luck which rain brought to India. Eventually, when the rain stopped, they understood that India were not going to give it easy to the Windies. The fearsome Caribbean bowlers did start good. But a pumped up Yashpal Sharma countered the dangerous attack firmly, and scored a magnificent half century. His knock of 89 runs was the highest individual score by any Indian in ODIs till that point of time. India managed to score 262 runs at the end of innings , thanks to Yashpal's knock and few handy contributions from few other batters.

In response , the Caribbean batters started well, but succumbed to Indian bowling lineup. Roger Binny stepped up for India scalping 3 important wickets including the very dangerous Sir Viv Richards and skipper Clive Lloyd. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals till the penultimate one, post which a strong 10th wicket partnership of 71 runs between Joel Garner and Andy Roberts gave some hope to the West Indian fans. Ravi Shastri then put final nail in the coffin by dismissing Joel Garner, sealing the match. Shastri and Binny both scalped 3 wickets for the team in a match which happened on reserve day due to interruptions which happened due to rain.

India did the unthinkable. Not only they started the tournament on a high note, but they managed to do it by defeating the best team to have played the limited over format. That soared the confidence of few more guys, including the skipper who had always dreamt of the world cup. But in spite of such an amazing win, most of the cricket fans including the one in India considered it to be a one odd victory. "A fluke win" termed by the British media further added fuel to the fire. But was it really a fluke win, only time would tell in the further 2 weeks to come post that match !!