'Million for a minute'

London: As we drove past London and onto the M25, Kapil Dev suddenly turned into a story teller: "You know, the weather that morning was just like this…It's a small town and I don't even know where we stayed…Bas, sab balle mein lagta chala gaya…Someone or the other would mention Tunbridge Wells to me almost each day."

An hour or so and we finally saw the signboard: Tunbridge Wells. A small, sleepy town in Kent with picturesque settings, the place has to be closest to the hearts of millions of Indian cricket fans who have followed the game over the last 25-odd years. I was merely 10 at that time, and can still recall listening to the BBC commentary, with each word a tragic tale as India reeled at 9 for four against Zimbabwe in that must-win '83 World Cup game. Soon it became 17 for five and we thought the dream had ended.

Even as I was recounting those tense moments, the car zipped through the town and we were staring at the gates of Nevil Ground. Kapil was beaming, "feeling as fresh and young as I was 25 years ago".

A couple of local media and a few ground officials were waiting to receive the man who had set the ground on fire 25 years ago and as we walked into the ground, with a small pavilion-cum-dressing room behind the small sight screen, Kapil played a couple of imaginery hits, trying to recall any of the six sixes he had hit during the epic.

"I didn't even get time to get ready, it was madness in the dressing room," he told us, "When I went in I didn't have any plan and I think that worked to my favour that day. I was just spending time in the middle and from 17 for five, getting to 100, or if we were lucky 150 was our target."

Then, as we were walking out to the middle, wickets were being readied for a club game on Saturday and the outfield was lush. The boundaries were neither too small nor too big though one of the side boundaries was rather smallish.

With his back to the pavilion, Kapil pointed to the long-on boundary at the other end. "A couple of sixes went out out of the ground and into the woods and they had to replace the balls," he told me, obviously trying to relive the innings. "I didn't follow the scores but with Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Syed Kirmani giving me good support I knew we could make a match out of it we could manage 175 or so as the ball was seaming and swinging all day."

In the end, Kapil alone managed 175 not out, then the highest World Cup score, and India 276. "When I came back to the dressing room I could see how happy and relieved my team was. When I took the pads off I realised what I had done. Let me be honest, even today I still think it was a dream. That knock made our team believe that we could aim for bigger things. That match was the real turning point in our World Cup win," Kapil said.

We spent an hour or so at the ground and I could see why the place was so special for Kapil. "It's a pity the game wasn't recorded on camera. If someone was to give me even a minute's footage I would pay him millions," he said with that million dollar smile.

As he got into the car and we began our journey back to London, Kapil had a wish ready. "I want to come back to this town with my family."

The writer is the Sports Editor of TV Today Network - Aaj Tak and Headlines Today