When India surprised the Mighty West India in 1983 World Cup

Item in Outlook India, May 2019 with this title “Howzzat! Clive Lloyd’s West Indies Vanquished! Thr Fascinating Story of India’s First Limited Overs victory”

March 29, 1983 is a milestone in Indian cricket. India defeated the mighty West Indies by 27 runs in the second outing of a three-match series to register their maiden victory in the limited-overs format. This fantastic win helped India believe that it could play this format. Effectively, Kapil’s Devils went on to win the Prudential Cricket World Cup in 1983 at Lord’s. Veteran journalist ASHISH RAY remembers this epic win in his book “Cricket World Cup: The Indian Challenge”.

Kapil’s Devils beat heavy favourites West Indies in the final of Prudential Cricket World Cup in 1983 at Lord’s to effectively change the history of the sport ….File Photo

One-day cricket was introduced domestically in England in 1963 to arrest falling gate receipts. In 1975 this format evolved into the inaugural World Cup. But the BCCI was indifferent to limited overs cricket and public interest in India in the shorter version of the game was also lukewarm. More crucially, Indian cricketers experienced very few one-day internationals and were not inclined towards these either. Indeed, they performed disastrously in the first two World Cups. So, what triggered the dramatic transformation in ability and mindset in the third World Cup in 1983? Here’s the intriguing, little known story in CRICKET WORLD CUP: THE INDIAN CHALLENGE, an eye-witness history of the tournament from an Indian perspective by ASHIS RAY, the world’s senior-most still active cricket broadcaster, just published by BLOOMSBURY. (Complete Cricket World Cup 2019 coverage)

India’s World Cup Squad: Remaining Knots

Jamie Alter, in Cricket Country,15 April 2019, where the title is “India’s World Cup squad: No 4, second ‘keeper and third spinner the issues to sort out“

The BCCI selectors will meet inside the corridors of the Wankhede Stadium today to pick the 15 men who will comprise India‘s squad for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. India’s predicted World Cup squad is unlikely to be different from the last ODI pool picked in March. Virat Kohli said earlier this year that IPL performances will not be criteria for World Cup selection, but whether the selectors look at the past three weeks of IPL 2019 remains to be seen.  Ahead of today’s selection meet, here are the issues facing the men who matter.

The Odd Couple. At the Death. Malinga and Bumrah

Sharda Ugra, in ESPNcricinfo, with inputs from Andrew Fidel Fernando, in article entitled “Mali & Boom, a match made in bowling heaven”

Mali and Boom look like they have emerged from different sporting planets. Mali is chunky, lumbering and slowing down at 35. Boom posts Twitter pictures of his six-pack and, at 25, is a rocket heading into cricket’s stardom stratosphere. Mali has been there and done that, an adoring dad of two, who assiduously ensures that his curls are always gold-tinted. Boom, a bachelor of close crop, neat beard and zero visible tattoos, has said in public that he would rather go bald than do that.

Malinga and Bumrah, united by their distinctive unorthodoxy BCCI

When India won the World Cup in England in 1983

October 29, 2014: 1983 Till the victory over Zimbabwe, India had looked shaky. After that, under Kapil’s leadership, they had the confidence to overthrow any team that came their way. ©Getty Images

Courtesy of http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/gallery/475151.html

Gambhir’s Bold Selections for India’s World Cup Squad

Item in TimesNews.com 4 March 2019, with title  “Gautam Gambhi…. snubs Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik”

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir made a few surprising inclusions in his predicted Indian squad for the upcoming 2019 World Cup. The showpiece event gets underway from May 30 in England and Wales. Several former cricketers have already thrown in their title and squad predictions and Gambhir is the latest to join the bandwagon. While he omitted both Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant from his predicted 16-man squad, Gambhir made another surprising choice by selecting Ravichandran Ashwin over Ravindra Jadeja as the third spinner.

Kohli’s Greatness lauded by Sangakkara

Rohit Pawar, in Cricket Age, 12 February 2019, where the title is “Kohli Above Peers, Destined for Greatness – Kumar Sangakkara”

India captain Virat Kohli is well ahead of his contemporaries and destined for greatness, former Sri Lankan batting stalwart Kumar Sangakkara has said. Kohli capped a memorable 2018 by becoming the first to win the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricketer, Test and one-day international (ODI) player of the year awards last month. Considered part of the elite group also featuring Kiwi Kane Williamson, Australian Steve Smith and England’s Joe Root, Kohli has surged ahead after a stupendous 2018 and is currently the top ranked Test as well as one-day batsman.

Pulsating ODI Contest at Adelaide Oval – Tuesday 15 January 2019

Michael Roberts

This review will be in disjointed point-form set out in rough temporal order from my observation point alongside Justin Labrooy in the middle layer of Riverbank Stadium at a spot behind long-off.

Pic from web

Pics by Mike R