Capturing those golden moments

Kris Srikkanth's World Cup '83: The Greatest Moment in Indian cricket, two VCDs and two CDIs, produced and marketed by Kris- Srikkanth.com - a Pentamedia company, 44, A- 9, Ist Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Chennai-600020. Price: Rs. 750.

Jubilant supporters clutching the Indian flag, swarming the Lord's ground after Kapil's Devils had created history, the captain holding aloft the Prudential World Cup in the balcony, a radiant smile lighting up his visage, a nation bursting into celebration close to midnight... it was - June 25, '83 - that will forever reside in our thoughts and minds.

Srikkanth captures those golden moments in his four VCD-CDI pack (sponsored by Zurich India Mutual fund), and it is something any collector will be proud to possess. Surely India's finest hour in international cricket deserves to be preserved for the future generations.

``It was emotionally so overwhelming. I recently went to London for the ICC meeting and then journeyed to Lord's. There I stood on the empty stadium, trying to re-live those moments that happened 18 years ago. The memories kept coming back, and it was a nostalgic feeling really. I feel the youngsters, some of whom may not have watched those wins, too could re-live the moments, while the older folks can take a trip down memory lane That is the idea behind the venture,'' says Srikkanth.

Indeed, while time flies, deeds stay forever.

Srikkanth provides the viewers with the background leading to the World Cup, where India seemed distinctly out of sorts, losing in the warm-up games, struggling to cope with the early English summer, that can be cold and wet.

Ladbrokes put the odds on India winning the Cup at 1-1000, and given the country's record in the competition, and current form in England, not too many disagreed with that. Srikkanth, who dons the role of a presenter, reveals only the Australian captain, Kim Hughes, termed India the `Dark Horse.' Ultimately, his prophesy came true.

In the VCDs, there is extensive footage from the semi-final against England in Manchester and the unforgettable summit clash at Lord's where Lloyd's proud warriors were ambushed by a group of committed, industrious, never-say-die Indians, who rose from the ashes to scale the summit.

Those were different days, when big money had not yet entered cricket, and as Srikkanth observes, a promise of Rs. 25,000 each to every member of the Indian team irrespective of the outcome in the final, came as a welcome bonus for the players. ``Then Rs. 25000 was like Rs. 2 crores for us!'', notes Srikkanth.

Well, the viewers can catch some vintage action from the videos - Kapil's inspirational ways, Srikkanth's swashbuckling batting, Mohinder's correct methods with the willow and shrewdness with the ball, Syed Kirmani flying around to pouch the edges, Sandhu, Binny and Madan Lal exploiting the seaming conditions to the hilt, Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil, producing the big hits at the right moment, Kirti Azad surprising the Englishmen with his off-spin. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar might have failed as an opener, but latched on to those vital slip catches at the crunch. It was a team effort all the way.

And the Indians were up against a fired up Joel Garner in the summit clash, who with his pace, nagging off-stump line, sharp bounce and steep lateral movement, could rival any contemporary bowler. As Srikkanth acknowledges, Garner was rather special. Garner's bowling is a `must see' for the younger generation.

The CDIs have several additional features like tracking the Indian team `On the Road to Victory', providing information on the teams and the top performers, enhanced by press reports from the time, a video on the classic moments, an interesting Game Zone, trivia, photo gallery (here rare pictures from The Hindu have been used extensively), and Srikkanth's own eleven (video).

Then we have the heroes themselves sharing their experiences. There are interviews (video) with Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Syed Kirmani, Roger Binny, and Joel Garner.

Apart from celebrating India's greatest cricketing hour, Srikkanth has strung together something similar to an encyclopedia on World Cup '83, and it is well worth a buy.

S. DINAKAR

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Sandhu set to achieve new coaching benchmarks
Next     : Rajinder gets the best out of The Proletarian