Why The World Cup of 1983 Changed The Face of Indian Cricket

In this Christmas eve edition of The Big Story, we'll bring you the behind-the-scenes from the sets of '83'.

The final of the 1983 Cricket World Cup was played between India and the West Indies at Lord's on 25 June 1983 and Kabir Khan's new movie '83' re-enacts that exact moment that changed the face of Indian cricket.

(Photo: The Quint)

“If they can do it, so can we.”

These were the words which Kapil Dev said to his team on 25 June 1983 before they went out to win against two-time World Cup winners West Indies in a match which triggered India’s obsession with cricket.

And the reason why this World Cup final was so historic is because before this, no one took the Indian cricket team seriously. There was no fanfare or an endorsement deal or even a very influential BCCI. It was only a team of young men who had never won a world cup match before.

Such a historic match, and that too without any audio or visual reference, but finally thanks to Kabir Khan's sports drama '83', we have this incredible moment where India rose as cricket world champions re-enacted in precise details on-screen.

From the time the trailer was released, it has garnered a lot of attention, with resounding validations coming from cricket fans, movie critics, including the team 11 of the 1983 match themselves. Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar, who was a party of the playing 11, said he was blown away by the film and gave it full marks.

In this Christmas eve edition of The Big Story, we'll take you behind-the-scenes of the sets of '83'.

In this episode, you'll hear from director Kabir Khan, actor Chirag Patil, who plays his father Sandeep Patil, and Pankaj Tripathi, who plays the role of Man Singh, the manager of the 1983 team.

We also brought in Chandresh Narayanan, a cricket commentator and analyst, to get his take on the movie and understand why this match changed the face of Indian cricket.

Tune in!