On this day in 1983: Viv Richards’ T20-like knock sinks India
Sir Vivian Richards is arguably the most destructive batter in the history of the game and finished many games single-handedly in his heydays. Richards had even threatened to take the match away from India in the 1983 World Cup final at Lord’s before skipper Kapil Dev’s outstanding running catch sent him back to the pavilion.
While Kapil did succeed in stopping the Windies power-hitter in that epic finale, neither him nor the Indian team could prevent his whirlwind knock months prior to that showpiece event as the Caribbean megastar helped his team in pulling off a famous win over India on this very day in the 1983 Jamaica Test match.
Viv Richards plays the innings of a lifetime
West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd won the toss in the first Test at the Sabina Park in Kingston Jamaica and decided to bowl first. India were bowled out for 251 and the Windies in reply scored 254, riding on a vital 70 from explosive opener Gordon Greenidge. Viv Richards could not make much impact in the first innings, scoring just 29.
The Indians, in their second innings, were bundled out for 174 with no batters managing any score of substance, thereby setting up a target of 172 for the hosts. The target did not seem to be intimidating in any manner for the famed West Indies batting lineup, but Vivian Richards seemed to be in a hurry to complete the formalities early and little did the visitors know what they were about to witness.
The Antigua cricketer took all the Indian bowlers to the cleaners for fun in what was a typical T20 knock which was unheard of back then and reduced the team’s deficit with a quickfire 61 runs off only 36 deliveries. Unfortunately, the batting legend could not finish it off as he was caught by Kapil Dev off Mohinder Amarnath. His knock included five boundaries and four maximums at a strike rate of 169.44.
When Richards walked back, West Indies only needed 16 more runs and Jeff Dujon did the rest of the scoring as the hosts took a 1-0 lead with a four-wicket win.
