The 1983 format of the tournament was changed with each team in a group playing each other twice. India was grouped against Zimbabwe, West Indies and Australia. India`s opening game was against the champion West Indies. As expected, the Caribbean`s were the favourites. But India rose to the occasion and got the better of the West Indies by 34 run victory. Yashpal Sharma with 89 was the main contributor with the bat as India reached a very respectable score of 262 in 60 overs. The bowlers then restricted West Indies to 228. Ravi Shastri also played an important part in the win contributing with 3 wickets. High on confidence, they had an easy win against Zimbabwe by 5 wickets. However, Australia brought India back to earth smashing their bowlers for 320 and then dismissing the Indians for 158.
India`s second match against West Indies too ended on a losing note as the champions took revenge winning the game by 66 runs. Vivian Richards scored a 100 for India while Mohinder Amarnath scored a valiant 80. The next match against Zimbabwe saw Kapil Dev at his awesome best. India was struggling at 5-17 when Kapil Dev came in and plundered the balling, returning 175 not out. He shared a 126 run 9th wicket partnership with keeper Syed Kirmani, which helped India reach 266. Kapil Dev and Madan Lal then helped India bowl West Indies 32 short of the target. However, their fate still lay on the result of the last match against Australia. A good bowling performance by Madan Lal and Roger Binny, who took 4 wickets each helped India win easily.
From thereon, India was just unstoppable. The semi-final against England was as easy as a stroll in the park for the in-form Indians. India won by 6 wickets. Yashpal Sharma and Mohinder Amarnath played important knocks when India batted. Kapil Dev then once again led from the front with 3 wickets as India set up a World Cup final clash with West Indies.
West Indies were the favourites no doubt but India had beaten them in the opening game. Things looked grim for the Indians after they were bowled out for a disappointing 183. But the bowlers got their act together and the West Indies had no answer as they succumbed easily. West Indies was all out for 140 as India won by 43 runs. Mohinder Amarnath was the Man of the Final with 3 wickets and 26 runs. Batting wise, Kris Srikkanth was the top scorer of the match with 38. The team that won the World Cup included the following players: Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, Sandeep Patil, Kapil Dev (captain), Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Syed Kirmani (wicket-keeper, Balwinder Sandhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Valson.
