On This Day: Kapil Dev played one of the finest ODI knocks of all-time with his unbeaten 175 in 1983 WC

New Delhi, June 18: Former India captain Kapil Dev on June 18, 1983, played one of the greatest knocks of all-time in the ODIs. The legendary all-rounder steered India through troubled waters in a must-win game and almost single-handedly laid the foundation of a famous victory against Zimbabwe in the World Cup which his team eventually ended up winning.

The match was being played at Nevill Grounds in Tunbridge Wells and it was the second occasion when Team India was facing Zimbabwe in the tournament. Electing to bat first, Indians found themselves in dire straits early on as they were four down for 9.

Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil were back into the dressing room when Dev walked into the middle. The captain, who mostly batted at No. 7 (except the first match against the West Indies which India won), promoted himself and came out at No. 6 to take on the Zimbabwean opening bowlers who were breathing fire.

Match Scorecard

The scoreboard turned 17 for 5 shortly after when Yashpal Sharma was dismissed for 9 and the skipper now faced a massive task at hand. First, he had to cull the fall of wickets; and second, he had to stay till the end to ensure his team posts a decent total on the board against the World Cup debutants. Zimbabwe had already proven they were capable of upsets when they defeated formidable Australians in their first game of the tournament.

Kapil Dev (175*) then held the record for the highest score in both ODI & WC cricket until
31 May 1984 when Viv Richards 189* v Eng at Old Trafford (record held for 11 months, 13 days)
13 Oct 1987 when Viv Richards 181 v SL at Karachi (record held for 4 years, 3 months, 25 days). https://t.co/a33ay4PzEB

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 18, 2020

Wickets kept falling at the other end and soon the scoreboard read 78 for 7. Even 100 was looking a distant dream at one stage but that day belonged to Kapil. The all-rounder showed the world what he was made of. The right-handed batsman forged partnerships with number 8 and 9 i.e. Madan Lal and Syed Kirmani, both of whom were also in no mood to give up easily.

Madan Lal dug in with a 39-ball 17 and put up a 62-run partnership with his skipper for the 8th wicket. After his departure wicketkeeper, Kirmani added unbeaten 126 runs for the 9th wicket with the captain. While Kirmani showed great resolve by putting merit for his wicket, the rest was all about the Haryana Hurricane. He smashed six maximums and sixteen boundaries to score an unbeaten 175 off just 138 balls.

His herculean knock propelled India to 266/8 in the stipulated 60 overs and by that time he had also dented the morale of the Zimbabwean side.

Kapil's unbeaten 175, eclipsed Glenn Turner's 170 scored against East Africa in 1975 as the highest individual score in the World Cup. It was broken four years later when Sir Vivian Richards slammed 181 against Sri Lanka in the 1987 edition, held in the Indian sub-continent.

India eventually ended up winning the match by 31 runs as the entire Zimbabwe team was bundled out for 235 in 57 overs. Kevin Curran - the father of current England cricketers Tom and Sam Curran - was the top-scorer for his team with his contribution of 73 but that wasn't enough.

Sadly, there is no visual record of this incredible innings because of BBC broadcasters' strike. One of the finest knocks by a batsman under such testing conditions couldn't be recorded.