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New Delhi. Beating the West Indies team before the year 1990 used to be ‘as difficult as climbing Everest’ for all teams in world cricket. The trouble would have doubled if the matches were held in the Caribbean Islands where the Indian pace quartet on the most fast bowling helpful wickets Used to wreak havoc on the opposition batsmen. Just before the World Cup-1983, the Indian team toured the West Indies from February 1983 to play a series of five Tests and three ODIs. Although Team India had to face defeat in both the Test (0-2) and ODI series (1-2) here, but the way the team led by Kapil Dev forced the Indies team to struggle on their ground. Everyone praised him. The good performance of this series instilled confidence in the Indian players to perform well in the World Cup 1983.
The West Indies team of that time was full of star players. While batsmen like Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and Larry Gomes were calls for the opposition bowlers, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Gorner and Malcolm Marshall were among the batsmen of the rival team.
However, in this Test series of 1983, Kapil Dev’s team had shown tremendous fighting ability of the Indies. After a lot of struggle in the first test, it allowed the Indies to win by four wickets. The second and third Tests were drawn, while the Indies won by 10 wickets in the fourth Test. Team India ended the tour with respect to some extent by drawing the last Test of the series. The first and third matches of the ODI series were named after the Indies, while the Indian team won the second.
Scored 598 runs in five tests
For the Indian team, Mohinder Amarnath performed brilliantly in this Test series, scoring 598 runs in 9 innings of five Tests at an average of 66.44, with two centuries and four half-centuries. ‘Jimmy’ was the highest run scorer from both the teams. During this, he not only showed the courage to play against the fast bowlers of the Indies, but also responded by hooking his bouncer. Mohinder’s brilliant performance in the series can be gauged from the fact that he was followed by India’s second number batsman Dilip Vengsarkar who scored 279 runs.
Mohinder Amarnath’s scores in the Test series were as follows..
1st Test (Kingston): 29 and 40
2nd Test (Port of Spain): 58 and 117
3rd Test (Georgetown): 13
Fourth Test (Bridgetown): 91 and 80
Fifth Test (St John’s): 54 and 116
Along with scoring 598 runs in five Tests, Mohinder Amarnath, who took two wickets, got the Man of the Series award. See the coincidence, Jimmy repeated this brilliant performance in the Test against the West Indies in the World Cup-1983 as well. He was the man of the match in both the semi-finals and final of the World Cup.
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Tags: Cricket, india vs west indies, team india
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 20, 2023, 15:42 IST
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