1983 CWC win gave a different dimension to our cricket: Kapil
The ICC Cricket World Cup (ICC CWC), the game's greatest tournament, now has a definitive visual history thanks to a new series of 12 television programmes.
The programmes produced by ESPN STAR Sports, ICC's global production and broadcast rights holder, look back at the event's rich history through stories told by the players who experienced the highs and the lows.
They feature extensive interviews with all seven ICC CWC-winning captains - Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Allan Border, Imran Khan, Arjuna Ranatunga, Stephen Waugh and Ricky Ponting.
And they also include the views of the pivotal figures from each tournament, including Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Ian Botham, Mike Gatting, Wasim Akram, Sanath Jayasuriya, Martin Crowe and Brett Lee.
Here are some of the quotes:
'It's the best match I've ever stood in no doubt about it. All the Tests, all the one day internationals, that 1975 World Cup final was the best match I've ever stood in... because it had everything.'
Harold 'Dickie' Bird
'They were really the pioneers of what we call the modern aggressive game now. Fantastic to watch, not so much fun to play against.'
Ian Botham on the 1975 and 1979 West Indies teams
'That innings gave the team reassurance: yes we have the ability and we can win against any circumstances - we can bounce back from any place, any situation.'
Kapil Dev on his 175 against Zimbabwe in 1983
'The only thing I remember is Geoff Howarth coming to me, he said 'Kapil, retire, this is the best time you can do that'.
Kapil Dev on winning the 1983 World Cup
'Now we felt '83 World Cup Cricket changed the entire sport in our country and that '83 (win) gave a different dimension to Indian cricket'.
Kapil Dev on winning the 1983 World Cup
'Well, if you'd seen us that night it was like we'd won the World Cup. Carrying on like good sorts and then all of a sudden people realized later on in the evening, hang on we've still got quite a few games to go here. But look it was enormous; you can't talk enough about how that gave everyone a lift.'
Allan Border on beating India by one run at the start of the 1987 World Cup
'He's copped heaps for it hasn't he, over the years? Every time I see him I never let him forget it'.
Allan Border on Mike Gatting's infamous reverse sweep dismissal in the 1987 World Cup Final
'Had it not hit my shoulder it would have gone for three, we would have won the World Cup and then where would you be AB? So we always have a giggle about that.'
Mike Gatting on his infamous reverse sweep in the final of the 1987 World Cup
'I'd been captain for three years, but probably from that point on I started to take on the job far more seriously. There was a sense that we'd got a group together that was going to be around for a while and going to play some good cricket…when you start thinking about what it really means: Australian cricket, we've turned the corner'.
Allan Border on what winning the 1987 World Cup meant to him and his team
'(It was a) dream come true for me because I always grew up watching big matches, especially the 1983 World Cup that we won…that naturally inspired me and I wanted to become a cricketer after watching that'.
Sachin Tendulkar on playing in his first World Cup (1992) and the inspiration 1983 gave him.
'We ended up with 261, it was 30 more than we thought we needed and we were pretty confident going into the half time break. Except I had pulled a hamstring, therefore John Wright had to go out and captain the side and he'd hardly played in the tournament. But I filled him in on what to do…and he did exactly the opposite'.
Martin Crowe on losing the 1992 Semi-Final against Pakistan
'I remember that particular game, Inzy had a fever the night before and he was throwing up all night so before the game, in the morning, he went up to Imran and said 'Look, Imran, I'm injured I won't play' and Imran said 'Inzy I don't care, are you injured? You got a fever, you puking blood? You gotta play this game' and he did and he won Man of the Match'.
Wasim Akram on Inzamam Ul Haq's MOM winning performance in the semi final of the 1992 World Cup.
'I've never been a fan of training, I didn't mind doing a bit, but we overcooked that…we wasted too much energy really concentrating on what was supposedly the right thing to do, rather than concentrating on the cricket.'
Sir Ian Botham on England's build up to the 1992 World Cup Final
'He led from the front. That was his biggest contribution. (He was) a man who always believed in winning and led from the front'
Ramiz Raja on 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan
'The emotion afterwards was tremendous because I knew the wave of happiness that would sweep all Pakistanis'.
Imran Khan on winning the 1992 World Cup final.
'The wicket looked perfect when Sachin was batting, it looked a perfect batting track. As soon as Sachin got out it started turning, jumping. That's the way it happens when a good player plays on bad tracks- still the wicket looks pretty good'.
Arjuna Ranatunga on getting Sachin Tendulkar out in the semi final of the 1996 World Cup
'Someone asked me about the two Waugh brothers, I said look 'They are good cricketers, but they are highly overrated', then Warne I said is a mediocre bowler. When I walked into the middle, (and heard) some of the comments made by the Australian players I knew it had affected them.'
Arjuna Ranatunga on mind games before the 1996 World Cup Final
'Look Arjuna was one of those niggly characters who tried to get under the skin of the opposition and generally did…700 test wickets is not bad for an average bloke'.
Shane Warne
'I had meetings with the Chairman of Selectors before that who pretty much told me that the results were going to reflect on my captaincy and pretty much that if the results didn't go our way then maybe I wasn't going to be captain for the one-dayers for too long. And I think if I didn't score runs there my place might have been in jeopardy going forward, so at 3 for 50, chasing 250-odd on a pretty up and down wicket against a really good bowling attack, everything was on the line as I walked out.'
Steve Waugh on his mindset ahead of a match-winning 120 against South Africa in the final Super Six game of the 1999 World Cup.
'I remember running off and even Steve Waugh saying 'Are we through, are we through?' and we said 'Yes we're through, we're through!'.
Shane Warne on the Australian team reaction to their tied semi-final against South Africa in the 1999 World Cup
'Lost it, came back, finally had the game and then tied it so it's probably one of the most emotional games I've been involved in, especially with it being the Semi-Final of a World Cup.'.
Jacques Kallis on the 1999 World Cup Semi Final.
'You know you do feel responsible, more so when your captaining, more than if you're just a normal player. You do feel like you've let the nation down, like you've let the team down.'
Shaun Pollock on South Africa's Duckworth Lewis mix up and subsequent exit in the 2003 World Cup
'That in some ways took over the rest of the game and the rest of the World Cup. I remember I was batting at three…and I got out soon after. I came back to the changing room, sat down beside him and wanted to know why he did what he did in a World Cup Semi Final'.
Ricky Ponting on Adam Gilchrist 'walking' in the 2003 World Cup Semi Final against Sri Lanka.
'We were talking about Pollock and how we had to respect him because he was their main bowler. And we got maybe one minute into talking about how we were going to play their attack and I remember Hayden and Gilchrist had already got together before the batting meeting and they said 'Hang on, don't worry about Pollock, we'll take care of him'.
Ricky Ponting on Hayden and Gilchrist's targeting of Shaun Pollock in the 2007 World Cup