"One of the biggest wins in world cricket," says Madan Lal on 1983 World Cup victory 

Former Indian all-rounder Madan Lal, who was also an important part of India's 1983 World Cup-winning team, said that their World Cup triumph was one of the biggest in world cricket because nobody had expected that they would do well in the tournament.

India had managed to win only one game each in both the 1975 and 1979 World Cups and thus had no pressure on them whatsoever. But Madan Lal revealed that although they were under no pressure, they had a tremendous drive to do well for the country.

"We won one match in 1975 and one in the 1979 editions of the World Cup. So, we were underdogs going into 1983. That's why our victory in England was one of the biggest wins in Indian cricket and also in world cricket. We entered the World Cup without any pressure. People were thinking that it would be good enough for us if we win one or two games. But as it happens in life, if you put your best foot forward, things fall in place. That's what happened to us. Everyone in the team wanted to do well for the country," Madan Lal told IANS.

West Indies were not invincibles: Madan Lal

In the first match of the 1983 World Cup, India faced the defending champions West Indies. Although it was supposed to be a tough match as the West Indies team boasted the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd in the batting and had fearsome bowlers like Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall,etc.

India ended up beating them and won the game by 34 runs. Madan Lal believed that that first game gave the Indian team the required confidence throughout the tournament and also in the final as they believed that if they could beat West Indies once, they could beat them twice as well.

"We had defeated West Indies in an ODI game in 1982. So, we knew we could defeat them. We knew in England, small targets can be defended and so, when we started our campaign and won the first match, it gave us a lot of confidence. It was not impossible to defeat the West Indies. They were not invincible. They were not God. No doubt, they were the best team but definitely not God," Madan Lal asserted.