25 years on, Lloyd admits his champion side took Kapil's Devils lightly in the final.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

'We got a bit complacent'

Mumbai: He was called the Super Cat, the man who surveyed it all - the leader of West Indies for close to a decade. But on this day in 1983, Kapil's Devils brought Clive Lloyd's world champions down to the earth. In this exclusive interview with cricketnirvana.com, Lloyd relives the final that changed the face of cricket forever.

Excerpts

In the 1975 World Cup, West Indies were the most dominant side,  but India struggled. What was wrong with India at that tournament?
I can't say at that time, its just that probably the other teams that were pretty good.  There was Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand who were pretty good teams at that time too. There were about four-five teams who could have won that tournament, which according to me also included India.

In the 1979 World Cup, West Indies were again a dominant side. Was this the most dominate phase of West Indies cricket?
Well yes I would think so, we were probably the best side around till the time, we were world champions at Test and one days.

Why was India struggling in one-day cricket then?
Well they were not, I think they were a pretty good side, I think when they won that game against Zimbabwe  when the captain made 175, it was the reason they beat Zimbabwe in 1983. In West Indies they beat us in Berbice, they beat us somewhere in Manchester in the opening league encounter of the 1983 World Cup, so they were a pretty good side, so you know its not that we took them lightly when we played them in the 1983 final.

India beat West Indies in 1983 at Berbice - was that the start of India's renaissance in one day cricket?
Yes I thought so, it gave them a chance to show that they can beat the best side in the world, they were capable of doing well and I thought that was the rise of Indian cricket ODIs are concerned.

Was that a huge shock because West Indies were unbeaten at the World Cups till then?
No not at all, the point is that in the whole tournament we lost only two games, one in Manchester, and the other one was the final so its not that we took them lightly, or anything, I think they just played better than we did.

Were you surprised by India's sudden emergence in one-day cricket?
No... no, you know I think they had players who were beginning to emerge. Srikkanth and these guys were playing pretty good cricket, they were playing pretty good shots and were becoming a pretty good team.

What was your reaction when Kapil Dev scored 175? Were you surprised when you heard about the knock?
No I think that is one of the things that made us realise that he was a great player and given a chance he can turn a game upside down, and he was a tremendous cricketer and tremendous leader for India.

It was supposed to be a England-West Indies final. Were you surprised that India made the final?
I was not surprised at all. When they played that terrific game against Zimbabwe when they were really down and the captain made 175 that's when we realised that they were capable of doing well in the competition. 

Did West Indies excpect things to be easy against India in the final?
I don't think that was the case. Any team that plays well and gets into final must have done their best to get there. It's not the matter of taking it easy or anything, they just played better cricket than we did on that day.

India made just 183, but were you ever unsure about chasing the score?
Somebody said if they made about 260 or something it might have been easier. I think we did get a bit complacent and there is no room for that as far as one-day cricket is concerned. They played well and we didn't do well on the day and that's it , good luck to the Indian team of yesteryears. It shows that they have players now that would have learnt a lot from the players back then. With this IPL and ICL, they have great players and the young players will learn from that experience.

In the chase, West Indies got off to a poor start...
Well see we were always hopeful, it was a 60-over competition and we guys hoped that we will recover but we just didn't, and that's it. India won and it was a tremendous boost for Indian cricket.

You experienced a hamstring injury was that the turing point?
I don't know, probably if I would have batted at my position but it wasn't to be, that's how life is, you win some and you lose some and we didn't play well on that day and that was it.

Did you give India all the champagne bottles you got ?
(Laughs) No, I don't think that we did things like that we can celebrate only when you have won the game, you can't celebrate before that. We tend to wait until the last ball is bowled and then we celebrate.

Was West Indies overconfident that day?
No, I think we were not overconfident, we were a bit complacent and when the opponent is bowled out for 183 you expect to win at Lord's, and we didn't play professional cricket.

Were you seeking revenge when you toured India later that year in 1983?
The final showed that we were not the better side and India played better than us on that day. But it is not that we wanted to take revenge, it was just that we wanted to win and that's all we tried to do.