A wave of nostalgia is sweeping across India as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the team's stunning 1983 World Cup victory at Lord's. Batting stalwart Sunil Gavaskar led the initiative to reunite his former team mates by organising a dinner at the site of the final in London on Wednesday, the meal coinciding with the date of India's first and only World Cup victory.
All rounder Kapil Dev inspired his unfancied team to an unlikely 43-run win over the West Indies after a sensational batting collapse dashed Caribbean hopes for a title hat-trick.
At home, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hosted a function on Sunday, where each member of the team was presented with 2.5 million rupees ($58,370) and a citation. "Kapil receiving the World Cup and lifting it over his head, that is my greatest cricketing moment," Gavaskar told reporters. "It still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it because that was the moment India showed the world it can play cricket."
Although reigning champions Australia have won four one-day World Cup titles, India regard the win as special because it lifted a nation starved of sporting success. It triggered a cricket revolution in India, boosting millions of sports fans dejected by the decline of the men's hockey team and helping the nation become the game's global commercial hub.
The board initially refused to associate itself with the celebrations because Kapil heads the unofficial Twenty20 Indian Cricket League (ICL) with some of the other squad members.
However, intense media focus forced the board to relent, thrusting the squad members back into the spotlight despite India being in the grip of a Twenty20 fever since last year's inaugural World Cup win. Sunday's function by a wealthy board contrasted with that of a cash-strapped body in 1983, which raised the players' prize money only after celebrated Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar agreed to stage a free concert.
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