Ravi Shastri takes cricket fans back to 1983 group-stage match

New Delhi: India head coach and member of the 1983 World Cup winning side, Ravi Shastri on Tuesday took the cricket fans back to where it all started - the group-stage match between India and the West Indies at Old Trafford in Manchester.

BCCI, in a tweet, shared the video of Shastri wherein he recalls the first win over the Caribbean side at Old Trafford.

"On this iconic day, #TeamIndia Head coach & 1983 World Cup winner @RaviShastriOfc takes us back to where it all started," the BCCI tweeted.

In the video, Shastri, who is standing on the field, points to the meeting point between India and the West Indies at Old Trafford in the summer of 1983. He talks about the changes over the period of time, including the dressing room and the direction of the pitch.

"It all started here... began from here in the summer of 1983. India played the West Indies in the very first game of the 1983 World Cup. A team (West Indies) that had never been beaten in World Cup history. This was the meeting point, game one of the 1983 World Cup when India beat the West Indies on this ground," Shastri said.

"Plenty has changed. If you look at this ground in Old Trafford, behind me is the pavilion that is where the dressing rooms used to be. The change now is the new stand that has come up right in front of me and that is where the dressing rooms are," he continued.

The 57-year-old also pointed towards the direction where the pitch was. It used to be horizontally when one looks at the old dressing room, east to west. Now it is north to south.

"Behind me are the railway tracks when the game got tight, Joel Garner, who was batting, hit one ball right into the railway tracks. I cannot forget that game as I was the one who took the last wicket and that started it all," he said.

Head Coach Shastri is with the 15-man squad for India's campaign at the 2019 World Cup. He further revealed that after defeating the Caribbean side (by 34 runs on June 9-10, 1983), the face of Indian cricket has changed.

"It gave us the belief that we could beat the West Indies. From there on was no stopping for India. There was a belief they could beat any side in the world once they have beaten the West Indies. It is good to come back here after all those years. 1983 is what changed the face of Indian cricket," Shastri signed out.

Kapil Dev-led India's stupendous World Cup win on June 25, 1983, is till date looked at as a revolutionary tale. India denied the West Indian treble as they defeated Clive Lloyd's Caribbean side by 43 runs in the finals at the Lord's.

India's 1983 World Cup final playing XI include Sunil Gavaskar, K Srikkanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma, SM Patil, Kapil Dev (c), Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Syed Kirmani (wk), Balwinder Sandhu.