As usual, we left the hotel early after a quick breakfast to reach the ground early for the players to warm themselves up. It was a gorgeous English summer morning and the sun was shining bright. We saw the crowd slowly pouring into the Old Trafford stadium and could see that the majority of the people were of Indian and Pakistani origin. On the same day Pakistan were playing West Indies in the other semi-final at The Oval. Just before toss, I bumped into the senior player who had felt hurt at Kapil's remark the previous evening during the team meeting. I could see that he was very hurt. I consoled him and the matter was allowed to rest there. I, for one, felt these small irritants should not come in the way of our performance of the team and, on my part, tried my best to keep each one of the members of the team happy and cheerful, of course within the framework of what is now popularly known as the code of conduct for the players.

Kapil called wrongly as Bob Willis flicked the coin and England batted first. Chris Tavare, who was not known to be a fast scoring batsmen, and Fowler were going on merrily. In the heart of hearts, I was getting a bit nervy as the partnership grew, but consoled myself, saying that my aim was that India should figure in the semis and they were here now playing against England. Human nature being what it is, I was getting ambitious and beginning to feel that having come so far, Lord's for the final was not all that far away.

At that time the words 'Yeh dil mange more,' were not popular as they are today, but those words aptly covered my feelings. One of Roger Binny's innocent-looking deliveries went through Fowler's gate and hit the stumps. This was just what the doctor had ordered.

Mohinder Amarnath and Kirti Azad were now bowling in tandem. These two bowlers together were to handle a fifth of the quota of 60 overs. But they bowled so well and picked up wickets at regular intervals, that both of them bowled their full quota of 12 overs each. This was our big bonus. A brilliant throw from Yashpal and Allan Lamb was run-out. Botham played a careless looking shot at Kirti, drawing away from his stumps and trying to cut, to be bowled.

Botham came into the dressing room fuming with rage. Probably disappointed at the shot that he played and got out, thereby letting his team down, who were not in a very comfortable position at that time, and needed him to bat with more responsibility. He came up the stairs to the dressing rooms swinging his bat wildly and in the process hit the big can of tea, which was placed at the entrance of the dressing room. Tea was spilled over and it took the janitor some time to mop up the floor. This was the second incident that I saw in two consecutive games, wherein the batsmen getting out lost their cool and were in a rage damaging the property of the organizers of the match. I am not aware as to what transpired further in the English dressing room. As far as the Indian team was concerned, a dangerous batsmen was out and took the Indian team one step ahead towards their victory in the semi-finals of the 1983 Prudential World Cup.

Our idea of playing Kirti Azad as an off-spinner against left-handers worked wonders. His stifling leg-stump line to right-handers was even more of a bonus. The leg theory was working well. He was the one who tied down Botham, so much that 'Beefy' took a big swipe and was bowled. This was the big breakthrough. I knew we could not be stopped from that point since there was no question of England going away to a big total.

Our fielding was sharp and keen, the bowling tight and we were able to get the home side, England, out only for 213 runs. The way we had played so far, it was a gettable score. At the end of the England innings, I was happy and in talking to members of the team, I found them a contented and confident lot. They were certain they could beat England and go to Lord's for the final.

Sunny and Chika gave us a reasonably good start. It was good to see Sunny in good nick, playing his shots fluently, which I had not seen so far on the tour and I felt that the English bowlers were in for a long chase. Unfortunately, both of them got out in quick succession.

All that the openers had been told was to give the innings a safe start. It should not matter if they took a little time over putting together their stand. We simply could not afford early wickets to the new ball, which might put the middle order under fire. We had to see the first spell of Willis and Botham off and the rest could become much easier. The openers achieved that for us and although the scoring rate may have been slow, we had wickets in hand against a moderate target.

And the fall of wickets brought Mohinder and Yashpal together. Both of them batted sensibly, building their innings in a business-like manner. At one stage they had added only 14 runs in 12 overs. It was during this period that phone calls from our supporters, all over England, poured in, including from my brother-in-law who was shouting at me as to what was happening. I just told them all that we knew, what we were doing and that they should just watch the match on their TV wait.

The number of calls that came at that stage of the match got me worrying as to whether Mohinder and Yashpal were doing what was right. Then came the tea interval. Both these batsmen were at crease and they came into the dressing room quite relaxed and confident. While I was sipping my cup of tea, Mohinder called me and asked if I was worried and tense at the slow scoring rate. I could not hide my feelings and Mohinder continued to smile and said not to worry. They knew what they were doing and asked me to relax and be calm. That came as a big relief. I had an extra cake and another cup of tea and went round joking with other players. After tea, both Mohinder and Yashpal started accelerating the scoring rate and went on at a good pace.

During the partnership a peculiar incident occurred. Derek Randall was substituting and fielding at short mid-wicket when Mohinder drove a ball uppishly and Derek picked it up. He immediately indicated to the umpire that he had not picked the catch cleanly but on first bounce. David Gower, who was fielding at mid-on, rushed towards him and probably asked him not to tell the truth but to claim the catch. However, Mohinder remained at the wicket to see India through. Mohinder was finally out for a well-played 48 and got out the only way he could have been that day -- run-out.

In came Sandeep Patil, who started playing shots from the word go, but Yashpal got out to a brilliant catch by Paul Allot at deep third man for a well-made 61. While Sandeep took a heavy toll of Bob Wills once again, Kapil polished off the required runs and we were now in the final of the 1983 Prudential World Cup. While we rejoiced in England with our countrymen living there, the whole of India was celebrating our win.

In the excitement and happiness of winning the semis, I clean forgot that June 22 happened to be our wedding anniversary. I had forgotten to call my wife up. Late that night, my brother-in-law called me up to remind me and said that my wife was fuming with rage. I called up home and told my wife I could not have given her a better anniversary present than an Indian victory. We laughed and left it at that.

At the hotel we found a host of Indians waiting for us, congratulating us on our victory and wishing us best of luck for the final. After a quick wash-up and change, some of us went out for dinner to an Indian restaurant close by. To our surprise the owner had already kept bottles of champagne on ice. Kirti and I toasted with soft drinks, while others had a bit of the champagne. The victory was most satisfying. After dinner, as we walked back to the hotel, we found a group of very young boys waiting at the entrance with their scrap books which had some very rare photographs of the Indian players. They were waiting patiently for the Indian players to come and very politely requested for their autographs.

The Indians obliged them all. I marvelled at the effort these boys must have put in to compile these scrapbooks. It only goes to show how deeply the Britishers love this great game of cricket. I was really moved at seeing the interest the boys took. I told the boys that if they could come around the next morning, I could give them some autograph sheets of the Indian team.

Soon, after the conclusion of the match against England at Old Trafford, we had a bit of chat in the dressing room itself. And it was decided that we would leave for London the next day soon after lunch so that the players could get up at leisure, have a relaxed breakfast or some could have a brunch. By habit, I am an early riser and could not sleep late in the morning. I got up as usual and was lazing it out in the room, when I suddenly realized that the college at which I had studied my Masters in Engineering was within walking distance. I decided to make a quick visit for old times sake. I got ready and I also remembered having asked the young boys to meet me in the morning for the team autograph sheets. I came down to the reception with the sheets and, as expected, the boys were waiting for me. I gave them the sheets and their joy knew no bounds.

I saw the English team members checking out of the hotel. Since most of them were travelling in their own cars they were in a hurry to get back home. I met Bob Willis and some others and wished them goodbye. They all praised the Indian team and the way they were playing and said that it would not be easy for the Windies to beat us, though the Windies were not only the holders but also the favourites. It appeared that the Englishmen wanted us to win the final and not the Windies.

While I was talking to them, I saw Kiri walking in and he asked as to what I was doing. I told him that I was planning to make a quick trip to my old college. He said that since he was not doing anything in particular he would also like to walk down with me. As we approached the college building lots of things started to come to my mind. There was hardly any change in the building itself. But when we entered the building, everything seemed to have changed. It was nice to be back at my old college. The college was closed for summer vacation and only security guards were there. I introduced myself as an old student of the college and the guard immediately recognized Kiri and asked: "Are you not the Indian wicketkeeper?" And when Kiri said yes, the man was so delighted that he shook Kiri's hand vigorously and would not let go. We walked around the college for a while and strolled down to Piccadilly and did a bit of window shopping before coming back to the hotel.

Honestly, beating England was somehow easier for us than getting Australia. There is always a huge difference in attitude. I think the English are a different lot. Even in those days, when they had such positive players like Botham and Gower, they would still feel they could win only if luck favoured them. Australian teams are stronger in the mind and they virtually taunt you to beat them. The English are more like us. They seem to believe that luck has also to play a part. We could, however, hardly believe our fortune as we were now in the final, having beaten both Australia in the league and England in the semi-final.

Extract from: Victory Insight

Published by: Theodore Braganza for The Marine Sports