On this day, June 18: Kapil Dev slams unbeaten 175 vs Zimbabwe in 1983 World Cup that changed cricket forever

Source: Twitter

On this day, on June 17 of 1983, Kapil Dev played an innings that changed the sport forever. We are talking about his destructive unbeaten 175-run knock vs Zimbabwe in the Prudential World Cup match in 1983 that took place at Tunbridge Wells. To provide more context to this knock and why it is rated as one of the best knocks in ODI history, it is important to note that never before any batter had played an innings like this. It was the 1st ODI 100 by an Indian. It was then the highest score in the World Cup. To add to that, India were in a precarious situation and Kapil's knock saved the day for India for a loss here could pretty much folded India's campaign at the World Cup, the same tournament they went on to win for the first time after beating giants from West Indies in the final.

175* off 138 balls _

On this day in 1983, Kapil Dev produced one of the greatest individual performances of all-time to help India beat Zimbabwe in @cricketworldcup 1983 _ pic.twitter.com/g4H2CcGQhU

— ICC (@ICC) June 18, 2022

After winning the toss, Kapil asked the Zimbabweans to bowl first and the decidion backfired to some extent as India lose Sunil Gavaskar for a duck on the very second delivery of the match while his opening partner, Kris Srikkanth too fell without scoring. Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil were the next to depart, scoring only six runs amongst them. It was after this that Kapil joined Yashpal Sharma, who then departed to make the scoreboard read 17/5. After that Kapil found a support in Roger Binny. However he and Ravi Shastri fell in quick succession and India's score was reading 78/7. It was then that Kapil unleased his brutal self and started smashing sixes and fours all over the park. It was a sight to behold, to those who watched the game live from the stands. Unfortunately, only they could watch this brilliant knock as the official broadcaster for the game was on strike that day. There is no visual recording of Kapil's masterful 175, to his fans' utter dismay. 

Neveethless, Kapil finished with an unbeaten 175 and India with 266/8. Kapil had slammed 6 sixes and 16 fours in his innings that came off 138 balls. India eventually won the match by 38 runs to progress to the next round at the 1983 World Cup. Kapil's name got etched in memories of his fans forever.