When a journalist 'ate' the paragraph he wrote on India's chances in the 1983 World Cup...

By K.R. Nayar

The 1983 World Cup triumph is a lesson for all cricketers on how to fight against all possible odds and emerge victorious. As a sports journalist, it taught me a lesson never to undermine any team after what happened when a journalist had to literally 'eat his words' for ignoring the fact that the game can transform any team into world champions.

Today is a special day in the history of cricket. It was on this day, June 25, 1983, exactly 37 years ago that India stunned the world by lifting the World Cup!. Every year we recall this glorious moment of the game through articles and interviews with the players who proved the cliche 'cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties', and that no team should be written off any time. So much has been written about this that even those born after 1983 are aware of everything related to India’s performance in this World Cup.  So my story today, although related to India's historic win, throws light on something else. 

I've been fortunate to be able to talk to Kapil Dev, who led India to that victory, and almost all the other members of that victorious team on their cherished win. On June 25, 2008, a cricket-loving businessman Ajay Sethi, who is now chairman of the Channel 2 Group Corporation, flew down all the 1983 World Cup players to Dubai and celebrated the 25^th anniversary of this special day at the Atlantis Hotel. That day, I got every player to recall their triumph. And I have very often used those comments from them whenever I write on victory against all odds in sports. 

The 1983 World Cup has played a big role in many people’s lives, and in my career as well. The fan following for cricket increased mainly due to this triumph since it lured even those who did not know anything about cricket to become followers of the game. If not for this triumph, I wonder whether I could have earned my living as a cricket writer.

This World Cup triumph is surely a lesson for all budding cricketers on determination. But I would like to narrate a little known incident from that tournament, and the lesson I learned as a writer. India’s 1983 World Cup triumph got a journalist to actually 'eat his words' for writing off India even before the start of the tournament. This incident taught me an important lesson on never to undermine a team, however weak or poor their performance has been in their earlier matches, and never to write off any cricketer too. It also taught me never to express your personal liking for a team and that cricket should be the basis of my writing.  I strongly believe that it is this lesson that helped me deliver as a journalist for 26 years from a neutral venue like the UAE where there are cricket fans hailing from all cricket playing nations.

Before the 1983 World Cup, David Frith, then Editor of the Wisden Cricket monthly, while writing on India’s chances, wrote that 'he would eat his words if India won the World Cup!'  Very likely, his assessment was not based on any personal dislike but on India’s past performances. Unfortunately, he ignored the golden rule that no tournament is won or lost till the last ball is bowled. He also missed out on the fact that sportsmen if determined, can do the impossible, and if a team gels together as a gritty unit then no one can stop them.

Mansingh's letter to Wisden 

After India’s triumph, an NRI cricket fan named Man Singh wrote a letter to Wisden from New Jersey in USA asking why Frith hadn't eaten his words yet. India’s 1983 World Cup team manager, whose name was also Mansingh, reminded Frith to keep his word.  Frith sportingly published that letter with a picture of him eating the paragraph he wrote ridiculing India’s chances. I had saved that picture of the letter and Frith eating the paragraph as a reminder to never ridicule a team while writing a preview.  

So when I would write about Sri Lanka when they were novices of the game, and on Afghanistan when they played their initial matches here, I always remembered this incident.  Never write off a cricket team even if they have performed poorly in one tournament. Cricket can transform losers into world champions.