The 15-member Indian contingent that travelled to England for the tournament was made up of 14 cricketers and PR Man Singh, the team manager. Man Singh's journey from the benches of Hyderabad's 1965-66 Ranji team to the post of manager of the Indian cricket team is a most interesting one.
"My father took me to watch cricket when I was young, but I started playing seriously only when I got to college," Man Singh, now an active 76, tells Wisden India when we meet in his small, cosy office in central Secunderabad. "When I was playing university tournaments, I was doing a bit of what you can term as 'administration', but back then it was just organising, say, something like a visit of the Osmania University to local friendly matches, look after the team locally, and all that."
The walls of Man Singh's cabin have a number of laminated pictures of cricketers from the bygone era. The one just above his seat is of Ghulam Ahmed, who played 22 Tests for India between 1949 and 1959, and represented Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh in 98 first-class matches.
Ahmed, Man Singh says, was the reason he got into the administrative side of the game. "When I initially got into the Ranji team, I spent most of my time on the bench," he says. "I was essentially a batsman, and bowled offspin. But, as a batsman, I was nowhere close to being as good as Abbas Ali Baig, ML Jaisimha, MAK Pataudi and the rest. In the bowling department, too, we had Habeeb Ahmed, R Jairam and others.
"So, one morning, Ghulam told me, 'Arre miyaan, tumko gyaara mein toh chance nahin mil raha, kab tak baithe rahoge (You aren't getting into the playing XI, how long will you sit and watch)? He said he felt I have an aptitude for cricket administration, and I should take that up seriously. I said fine, and, ever since, I have seen him as my mentor, or guru."
Man Singh helped Ahmed run the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) for a few years before Ahmed assumed the role of secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and handed over all responsibility of the HCA to Man Singh.
Cut to 1978, and it was then that Man Singh received his India blazer, that of assistant manager, on the tour to Pakistan.
"The Indian team's tour to Pakistan in 1978 was the first in almost 20 years, and it was more of a political tour, with cricket being used only as an excuse," smiles Man Singh. "It was decided that the manager for that Indian team should be a politician, and, within days, the responsibility was handed to the Maharaja of Baroda. He accepted it, but said, 'If I have to go on this tour, Man Singh will be my deputy'. That's how I became his assistant on that trip.
"As we assembled in Bombay (Mumbai), we were handed our Indian colours, or the blazers, with the big BCCI logo on the chest. That night, I put it up in my room, and kept staring at it, telling myself, 'wow, I am going to wear this tomorrow'."
India, who had won just one game in the then new One-Day International format, against East Africa at the 1975 World Cup, before embarking on this journey, managed to beat Pakistan in the first game in Quetta, but that remained their only victory on that tour.
By June, 1983, India had a few more ODI wins under their belt, but that did not mean that the players had shown any great acumen in the format.
"The 1983 World Cup win revolutionised cricket in India. But, if you look at it, the attitude back then was that we have been invited, so might as well go and play, doesn't matter if we lose. I don't blame anyone for looking at it that way, because till that time, we had hardly played any one-day cricket. Though we beat Pakistan in Pakistan in 1978, the cricketers of that era never relished playing limited-overs cricket. Nobody in the BCCI, or anywhere else in the country, expected India to win even a single game in that World Cup. So with that kind of a background, what we achieved was nothing short of a miracle," points out Man Singh.
"Before I left Hyderabad, my father made his workers in our shop clear out a cabinet, saying, 'Mera beta Cup leke aayega' (My son will return with the Cup)," he says, with a chuckle. "He was probably the only one thinking so.
"Before I left Hyderabad, my father made his workers in our shop clear out a cabinet, saying, 'mera beta Cup leke aayega' (My son will return with the Cup)," he says, with a chuckle. "He was probably the only one thinking so.
"So the team assembled in Bombay to leave for the tournament, but a few players - Kapil (Dev), Madan Lal, Kirti Azad and Mohinder Amarnath - were already in England, playing club cricket. To be honest, I was confident about the bits-and-pieces cricketers we had. An All-India Radio person came to me and asked what I feel about the team. I told him, 'If this team can not get to at least the semifinal, then no Indian team can.'
"I was that confident because if you look at the list of those 14 players, I have been watching them play since they were in school. These were guys who would give their soul to the game, for their country."
Back then, Indian cricketers hardly extended the VIP treatment they get now, and tours weren't the all-necessities-taken-care-of affairs they are now. "Funnily, we had a problem of carrying excess baggage at the airport," says Man Singh. "Some of us, including myself, were carrying mangoes and other local goodies for our friends and relatives in England. Air India was very tough to convince, despite us being the Indian cricket team. None of us were carrying so much cash, so we somehow reached an agreement that the amount will be paid by the next day. So that's how we boarded the flight, and landed up in London.
"We went straight to the hotel, and settled down. The next day, the four players who were already there joined us. Our first practice was at Lord's, which was bang opposite to our hotel. Kapil wanted to have a small team meeting before that, and back then, all such meetings were held in the manager's room. So everybody came in, and Kapil spoke first. He said, 'Let's give it our best shot on the field, and enjoy off it. But not to an extent where it brings us and our country a bad name. We have nothing to lose, so let's invest a 100% in this'."
India played four matches before the start of the tournament, losing three of them, including one to a team called Minor Counties Select XI, a team made up of farmers, salespersons, solicitors and the like. But, as Man Singh says, no one was too hassled about the results. "Nobody questioned us for losing. There was not even a single person from back home asking if we had eaten lunch, or if everything was fine. We were given a huge luxurious bus with video players and everything, and told to go have fun.
"During our visit, we were told that we have to visit the queen at Buckingham Palace. So they sent someone from the palace to brief me about what to do and what not to do there. The protocol was no photographs, to start with, and secondly, the queen will put her hand forward, and all you do is gently hold it.
"So I explained all of this to the team members in a meeting. Sunil (Gavaskar) was the first to turn and say, 'As if we don't know all this already'. He had already visited England before, but for the rest of us, including me, it was a new thing.
"It was like a happy family for all of us," he goes on. "Earlier, it was perceived that the manager of the Indian team is a spy of the BCCI (to report on incidents of misbehaviour on the part of the players and such). But I told the boys, 'I have known you since childhood, so please treat me like an older brother, before anything else'. And they reciprocated.
"During our first practice match, I faced my first problem as manager. During lunch, I figured some of our players were vegetarians. And, in England, you would not expect any vegetarian food to be served for lunch. So we somehow managed with salad, bread and biscuits that one time. But, from then on, I made sure I met the venue food manager first thing when we arrived. But with so many Indians in England, it turned out easy. Gujaratis would sometimes get us churma and all, Punjabis would bring us aloo pooris."
India's campaign began with the first of their three encounters against West Indies, the standout favourites, in that edition. "We had a six-hour journey from London to Manchester for our first match, against the West Indies," recalls Man Singh. "I asked Kapil, who I always called kaptaan (captain), if we should do the team meeting in the bus itself, instead of reaching there and again reassembling. So he said yes, and I think that has been the only time when an Indian cricket team meeting was held in a moving bus.
"Everyone was having fun in the meeting, and Kapil reminded us that we had already beaten them once before (in the West Indies). And if we have beaten them once, we can beat them twice. There was never any discussion about any specific player in the opposition. Senior players used to figure out how to tackle individuals on the field back then, unlike now, when the support staff sit with laptops and gadgets to gauge every move.
"As it turned out, we won that match quite easily (by 34 runs). Elsewhere, Zimbabwe had beaten Australia. So, one evening, Kapil, Sunil, a few others and myself said to each other that with Australia and West Indies having lost a game each, suddenly, we are not placed too badly."
According to the tournament format, India were slated to play the other teams in their group - West Indies, Australia, and Zimbabwe - twice each, so nothing was guaranteed despite the win over the big boys from the Caribbean.
"We went on to beat Zimbabwe (by five wickets) and, against Australia, lost out (by 162 runs) due to sheer bad luck," Man Singh adds. "Sunil had a hamstring problem, and Trevor Chappell, who scored a century, escaped a number of run-out chances. When we went in to bat, there was rain. So all of that hampered our momentum.
"We lost our next match against West Indies (by 66 runs) too, with Mohinder suffering an injury. We probably would have won that one otherwise. Anyway, after that, of course, we played Zimbabwe in a match full of interesting stories."
Choosing to bat first, India were 17 for 5 at one stage, with Kapil and Roger Binny at the crease. In an unbelievable 138-ball knock, Kapil hit 175 not out to carry India to 266 for 8. There is is no footage available from the match, played at Tunbridge Wells, which India eventually won by 31 runs, due to a BBC strike.
But Man Singh believes the strike was just an excuse to not cover the low-profile game.
"That was just an excuse," he points out, his voice stern. "BBC were only concerned with Pakistan, England and West Indies matches. All this talk of there being no footage because of their strike is rubbish. They were not interested in an India v Zimbabwe match at all. They just used the strike thing as an excuse.
"So, after that win, we shifted focus to Australia again. A journalist and I sat down to calculate run-rates etc., and finally got fed up and concluded that the best option was to just beat them fair and square and qualify.
"As much bad luck we had against Australia in the first match, we had everything working in our favour in the second one. First news when we reached the ground was that Kim Hughes, their captain, was not playing. We won that match (by 118 runs) easily, and followed up with another win (by six wickets against England in the semifinal)."
Taking the world, and possibly themselves, by surprise, India had cruised to the final, where, unsurprisingly, they met West Indies again.
"Now we were back at Lord's, for the final," narrates Man Singh. "The general attitude was - we have come this far, then why not push a bit extra to go over the line? But Sunil was dismissed early. Then (Krishnamachari) Srikkanth, and Amarnath, leading to a collapse - 183 was nowhere close to a total you would expect to beat the West Indies with. But Kapil kept the spirit up, in his typical Haryanvi tone, shouting out, 'judd jaao, jawaano' (get set, soldiers).
"That seemed to work, and we soon had the scoreboard reading 76 for 6. Seeing that, all the board officials came running into our dressing room, thinking West Indies would be bundled out for 80-90 runs, and then we would celebrate."
India were hunting for four more wickets, and the West Indies needed another 108 runs to win. In no time, Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall had added 43 runs in a seventh-wicket partnership. "Some reserve players came to me and said, 'Sir, ask these people (BCCI officials) to leave, we are losing'. Now, they were from the board, how could I ask them to go? Anyway, they happened to get up and leave at one point, and you won't believe me, just then Dujon was bowled, and then Marshall, and very soon - 140 all out!"
India won that match by 43 runs and lifted the World Cup.
It took 28 years for India, under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to repeat the feat. "Cricket, back then, was played for the love for the sport, and honour. Getting the Indian colours was a privilege. But, over the years, they started selling Indian jerseys with the crest on it. Every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to be wearing one these days," says Man Singh.
"Cricketers of the bygone era valued that blazer. I'm not even sure if it's the same feeling for the players any more."
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