Former India captain Kapil Dev has said that he has no regrets that there is no video footage of his famous batting epic from the 1983 Prudential World Cup in England when he smashed 175* against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in a league match of the tournament.
That epic innings help India recover from 17/5 and 77/6 to 266/8 batting first against rank minnow Zimbabwe. Peter Rawson and Kevin Curran, father of Tom and Sam Curran, routed Indian top-order with their swing bowling.
But then Kapil Dev smacked 175*, the first-ever ODI century by an Indian and the highest individual ODI score at that time, as he found help from Roger Binny (22) and Syed Kirmani (24*) and took the team to a safe total, hitting 16 fours and 6 sixes in his 138-ball knock.
It led to India qualifying for the semifinals in which they defeated England and then knocked over the mighty West Indies, who were the two-time World Champions in a memorable final at the Lord’s, as Kapil Dev became the first Indian captain to lift the World Cup trophy.
I Always Say ‘No’ Because It Is Recorded In My Head: Kapil Dev On Feeling Bad That His 175* Was Not Recorded
Though it is remembered as one of the greatest ODI innings even today, unfortunately for the Indian cricket fans there is no footage of the innings and the match. Kapil’s epic innings was never recorded on camera because of a nationwide strike by sole broadcasters BBC back then.
“I don’t like to criticise people. People say don’t you feel bad it wasn’t recorded, and I always say ‘no’ because it is recorded in my head,” Dev said at an event organized by telecom operator Airtel.
The innings was immortalized in the Ranveer Singh movie ‘83’ which encapsulates the journey of Kapil Dev’s Indian team right from the start of the Prudential World Cup 1983 when they were not seen as favorites to even reach the semifinals given that the Indian team had won just one match in the previous two editions of the tournament.