'We got respect only after 10 years': Kapil Dev on his 1983 World Cup-winning team not getting instant appreciation for historic win

Thirty nine years ago, when India's clinched its first Cricket World Cup trophy on June 25, 1983, it changed the face of Indian cricket, but for the players, the change was not overnight says the victorious captain Kapil Dev.

India defeated the might West Indies by a 43-run margin after scoring just 183 runs. But the skipper of the historic win said life was normal after the victory.

"It was not like the World Cup win changed our lives overnight. The next few months and next few years were all about the next match, the next series. It was only after 10 years that we started getting appreciated more, we got a lot of respect, and a lot of love from the fans. Today, we get more appreciation than those who won the title later because we were the first to win the World Cup," said Kapil Dev on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of their triumph at Lord's.

The legendary skipper was joined by the members of the World Cup-winning teammates—Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Syed Kirmani, Madan Lal, Sandip Patil, Balwinder Singh Sindhu, K Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar and manager PR Man Singh. Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri connected virtually.

Then vice-captain Amarnath, when asked how confident they were about their campaign before they left the Indian shores, said: "We always believed that we were the best. We had defeated West Indies in West Indies before the World Cup, they were considered invincible at that time, they had players like Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, and Michaell Holding. I was always confident about my bowling, I have done well earlier too against them and so always believed that we can do well if we played to our potential."

To mark the occasion, The 1983 World Cup Opus, a limited edition coffee table book was also launched on Saturday.