When Vivian Richards used to come on the field, the bowlers used to fear him because he was adept at scoring runs in a stormy manner and one of his innings was heavy on India.
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New Delhi: The West Indies team used to be a very dangerous team in the 70-80s. It was not easy to win against this team. This team would have the power to beat anyone anywhere. This team had the ability that even where there was no expectation of victory, this team used to win. This team did something similar on this day i.e. 28 February in 1983. The land belonged to the West Indies and the opponent was India. It seemed that the match would be a draw but West Indies won the match by four wickets. The Indian team, captained by Kapil Dev, was on a tour of the West Indies that year and the first Test was played in Kingston.
In the very first match of this tour, West Indies had told why it was called the best team. The match started on 23 February and ended on 28 February. At that time there used to be rest day in Test matches and 27th February was the rest day. On the last day of the match, Team India lost to two members of the host team. These were Andy Roberts and Vivian Richards.
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First Roberts wreaked havoc
India had batted first in this match and scored 251 runs. The West Indies team could only score 254 runs in their first innings. Team India played the second innings. India ended the third day of the match with 81 runs at the loss of three wickets. Dilip Vengsarkar and Yashpal Sharma returned unbeaten after scoring four and three runs. India extended the innings on the fifth day. Yashpal was dismissed on a total score of 118 runs. He scored 24 runs. India’s score was four wickets at 168 and here again Roberts wreaked havoc. He took three more wickets for India on this score. The Indian team was all out for 174 runs.
Richards played T20 innings
T20 was not the trend at that time, but Richards batted in the same way to win his team, which is done in T20 in today’s time. West Indies needed 172 runs in 26 overs to win. And here Richards showed his stormy style and started beating the Indian bowlers. He played an inning of 61 runs in 36 balls with the help of five fours and four sixes. When Richards was dismissed by Mohinder Amarnath, he had brought the team very close to victory. His wicket fell on a total score of 156 runs. Jeff Dujan played an unbeaten inning of 17 runs to win his team. This match is still remembered for the storm of Richards.
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