Kapil Dev with the 1983 World Cup trophy
Former West Indies cricketer and a legend of the game, Michael Holding, on Tuesday admitted that the Windies side had underestimated the strength of the Indian team in the 9183 World Cup final at the Lord's in London.
Holding said that Windies had considered for themselves an easy victory after the bowlers managed to fold India for just 183, which eventually turned out to become a match-winning score.
West Indies were the outright favourites in the finale having won the last two World Cup finals. However, India. despite being the outsiders in the contest, had some hopes given that they had defeated the great Windies side in the tournament opener.
India were eventually folded for a below-par score, but the pair of Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath wrapped up Clive Llyod's men for just 140 and Kapil Dev's side managed to script history for themselves.
"I am going to be totally honest. We were perhaps overconfident. We did not think that India was going to be our problem in the World Cup. Yes, they might have beaten us a couple of times before the World Cup but we always thought we would be able to overpower them, especially with our fast bowling that we had," Holding told sports analyst Joy Bhattacharjya in the latest episode of Sony Ten Pit Stop.
"Especially, in that final, we just took it for granted, having bowled them out that cheaply. The runs would have been knocked off quite easily. That is what happens when you take things for granted, when you underrate people and they lift their game.
"They were the underdogs, they had nothing to lose. Kapil Dev and that team just went out there and performed at their very best and took us by surprise because we were overconfident and took it for granted.
"That was a good Indian team. As we have seen as time went on, right after that World Cup, they went to Australia and won in 1985. Not many Indian teams went to Australia... even now, go to Australia and be as successful as that team."
Holding then went on to echo Ravi Shastri's opinion that the Indian team of 1985 who had won the ODI World Championship, would beat any Indian side including Virat Kohli's men.
"I wouldn't try to contradict Ravi with that at all. Even in that final, when India played Pakistan, Sunny did not bat at all. It was kind of a team that did not require Sunil Gavaskar to bat, you know how strong that team is. Ravi and Kris Srikkanth opened together and had a fantastic partnership and said they didn't require Sunny. There were other guys as well. Azharuddin, young guy, coming into the team.
"That 1985 one-day series, in Australia, on hard bouncy pitches against West Indies, Pakistan, Australia with all those fast bowlers. Just think of the overall competition, you would have thought India would have got blown away. No, they didn't. India had a very, very good team," Holding said.
