The stage was set for India - West Indies match , " THE FINAL " , hope & expectation against strength, confidence and complacency. This was the final , where millions in India were praying hard for the hope to translate into a trophy of credibility. Doordarshan on its part decided to telecast the match uninterrupted and you still had to bear with Anupam Ghulati and Narottam Puri popping now and then indicating that they had lost the feed and it would resume shortly.
Srikkanth started attacking the West Indian bowling as his wont, Gavaskar was in a horror run and didnt contribute much and it was left to Amarnath to do his usual rebuilding effort. When Holding got Amarnath bowled, I still remember seeing the stump cartwheeling towards the wicketkeeper, no one would have thought that India would get a defensible total let alone a winning one. The middle order and the tail made a total of 183 which was not mammoth by the standards of West Indian batting.
After the break when West Indies started batting, all Indians were watching with despair and hope and so was I. Sandhu struck with Greenidge getting a peach of a delivery ( some still call it FLUKE ) but it was one of the game changing moments. The next remarkable moment, the Kapil catch united the Indian team and made them believe that the floodgates were truly open. Lloyd was injured and when batting , Binny produced the best ball to an injured batsman where the batsman had to play on the front foot, leaning forward to drive. The ball as it happens always went in the air straight to the cover fielder .
Dujon started the rebuilding effort and it was Amarnath who deceived both Marshall and Dujon with great bowling ,a traditional outswinger and the usual in cutter and Dujon chopped on. When Holding was lbw, fans storming in to the square and Indian flags fluttering made it truly memorable for every patriotic indian.
There were so many key moments in the match , the first innings was characterised by the West Indies winning the important exchanges and the second winning part all going to India. Of course you could not do anything without that L factor. There was no "CRICKET EXTRA" and " STRAIGHT DRIVE " during those days and all the cricket lovers were awake exchanging views over balconies and porches. The self made experts would make sure that " THE HINDU"s R Mohan concurred with their views and feel elated about it.
The West Indies were wounded tigers and it showed when in the 1984 test and ODI series against India , they won almost everything on offer.
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