"Saturday 18 june, we arrived at Tunbridge Wells to play Zimbabwe. The
ground was small and the closest thing i had seen to a village green. We batted
first.
Gavaskar went for 0 in the last ball of the first over. It was a sorry
succession of failures and by the thirteenth over we were, from the
opposition's view point a sensational 17 runs for 5 wickets. I could see our
dream going out of the window. I had walked out to the middle surprisingly
composed at 9 for 4. I felt trance-like. I was also playing with more
circumspection than usual. When the fifth wicket fell at 17 I knew I could
score heavily if someone stuck with me. Roger Binny hung on till 77 as we added
60 for the sixth wicket. I was still only stroking the ball and running quick
singles. I wasn't game enough for an all-out counter-attack. I was even more
subdued when Shastri went at 78. I now had my ally from the north, Madan Lal,
and he said he was going to stick around while I got the runs. We went to lunch
with the score at 106 for 7 and I had made 50 of the most sedate runs of my
career.
Madan Lal stayed with me till 140 runs were on the board. He scored 17.
This was the moment I decided to throw caution to the wind. In the space of the
next 18 deliveries I hit 3 fours and 3 sixes. The ball was there to be hit and
I made up my mind for one last assault. I was lucky and also found a staunch
partner in Kirimani. We finally closed with 8 down for 266 and had a record 8th
wicket partnership of 126. Kiri got 12 and I finished with 175.
The match was far from over and the Zimbabweans started well. They had 44
runs on board before their first wicket fell. They slumped to 113 for 6 before
Kevin curran launched a swift and brutal attack of his own. It wasn't until the
56th over, when we dismissed Curran for 73, that we felt we had the game won.
We eventually won by 31 runs and i didn't have the energy to say anything when
accepting my man-of-the-match award. The sense of relief far outweighed any
personal satisfaction I may have felt. I now knew we were well on course for a
semi-final berth".
Tunbridge Wells, 18 June 1983
India won the toss.
India won by 31 runs.
Umpires: M.J.Kitchen and B.J.Meyer
INDIA
S.M.Gavaskar lbw b Rawson 0
K.Srikkanth c Butchart b Curran 0
M.Amarnath c Houghton b Rawson 5
S.M.Patil c Houghton b Curran 1
Yashpal Sharma c Houghton b Rawson 9
Kapil Dev not out 175
R.M.H.Binny lbw b Traicos 22
R.J.Shastri c Pycroft b Fletcher 1
Madan Lal c Houghton b Curran 17
S.M.H.Kirmani not out 12
Extras (lb-9, w-3) 12
TOTAL (8 wickets, 60 overs) 266
DNB: B.S.Sandhu
FOW: 1-0, 2-6, 3-6, 4-9, 5-17, 6-77, 7-78, 8-140
Bowling O M R W
Rawson 12 4 47 3
Curran 12 1 65 3
Butchart 12 2 38 0
Fletcher 12 2 59 1
Traicos 12 0 45 1
ZIMBABWE
R.D.Brown run out 35
G.A.Paterson lbw b Binny 23
J.G.Heron run out 3
A.J.Pycroft c Kirmani b Sandhu 6
D.L.Houghton lbw b Madan Lal 17
D.A.G.Fletcher c Kapil Dev b Amarnath 13
K.M.Curran c Shastri b Madan Lal 73
I.Butchart b Binny 18
G.E.Peckover c Yashpal b Madan Lal 14
P.W.E.Rawson not out 2
A.J.Traicos c & b Kapil Dev 3
Extras (lb-17, w-7, nb-4) 28
TOTAL (all out, 57 overs) 235
FOW: 1-44, 2-48, 3-61, 4-86, 5-103, 6-113, 7-168, 8-189, 9-230, 10-235
Bowling O M R W
Kapil Dev 11 1 32 1
Sandhu 11 2 44 1
Binny 11 2 45 2
Madan Lal 11 2 42 3
Amarnath 12 1 37 1
Shastri 1 0 7 0
Man of the Match : Kapil Dev