Patil blast wounds England

India’s memorable 1983 World Cup triumph was based on a superb all-round effort. The greatness of that team was that someone would invariably deliver every time a crisis loomed large.

Sandeep Patil was one team member who essayed some useful contributions at the big-ticket event. But his biggest moment arrived when he walked out to bat when Bob Willis brought England back into the match, cracking a fighting near-century stand between Yashpal Sharma and Mohinder Amarnath, removing the latter.

It was imperative from India’s perspective that Patil held fort and not allow England orchestrate a middle-order slide with 75 runs still required. The well-built right-hander showed all and sundry that he was the man the team can count on to deliver the decisive punch. And the sight of Yashpal Sharma, swatting Viv Marks to the mid-wicket fence to bring up his half-century at the start of his innings, only kept Patil’s adrenalin going.

A booming shot to the long-on boundary off Willis gave the Old Trafford crowd plenty to cheer about. And, a pulled shot to the deep-square-leg fence off Paul Allott only enhanced the excitement.

Patil’s role to see India home became crucial after Yashpal fell to Willis, their 63-run fourth-wicket stand brought to an end. He was joined by skipper Kapil Dev but he had hardly left anything for Kapil to do, engaging in most of the scoring to take India closer to victory.

The victory process was not without drama at Old Trafford. Patil banged Willis to the cover boundary for a brace which brought the scores level. The overzealous crowd prematurely invaded the ground leading to stoppage of play for a few minutes.

By then, England had thrown in the towel and sensing another crowd invasion when the winning run is scored, Willis got all his fielders on the off-side which was the pavilion side of the ground. The idea was to facilitate his players the quickest escape route to the dressing room.

Under bizarre circumstances, Patil was left smiling as he took guard to face Willis. He went for a big drive, the ball taking his edge and going to the third-man boundary which also brought up his half-century and India’s march into the finals as the crowd swarmed over Manchester.