When Historywas being Made

In June 1983 when the Kapil Dev-led Indian team triumphed in the Prudential World Cup, Rahul Dravid, a Class V student, at the St Joseph8217;s Boys High School in Bangalore, had already earned his spurs as a cricketer.

8220;He had come to the school the previous year from a neighbouring institution with a reputation of being a good all-round cricketer. We had heard stories about him being able to switch between the bowling actions of Malcolm Marshall, Imran Khan and Bob Willis. There was this particular story about how he broke the stumps with his pace bowling during a match against seniors,8221; says Arjun Unnikrishnan, one of Rahul Dravid8217;s long time buddies in Bangalore.

Growing up in a home, neighbourhood and school environment that was keenly involved with cricket8212;his father Sharad was a keen cricketer himself8212; meant that Dravid naturally took to playing the game from a very early age, say his friends.

Former India wicketkeeper, the combative Sadanand Vishwanath, who featured in the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship winning Indian team, lived a couple of doors away from Dravid.

8220;We would rarely see him without a cricket bat in hand. We really knew he would make it big was when at the age of 13 he became the first person ever to score a century in the Cottonian Shield for junior school boys in 1986-87,8221; says Shoaib Rizvi, a friend of Rahul Dravid8217;s for over two decades.

His close friends say Dravid speaks to them even when he is on tour. 8220;In the earlier days, before he got his own family and became the captain of the Indian team, he called frequently. It is much rarer now,8221; says Arjun Unnikrishnan. 8212; Johnson TA

HARBHAJAN SINGH

Born July 3, 1980, Jalandhar, Punjab

Back in 1983 Harbhajan was a three-year-old toddler, learning to run. His family lived in Jalandhar8217;s Daulapuri mohalla, where his artisan father Sardev Singh made dies at his small industrial unit for use in the manufacture of water taps.

Harbhajan is the second youngest among his five siblings. His eldest sister Ashpinder Kaur was 16 in 1983 while other sisters Bakshish, Rajwinder, Amrit and Ginni were 13, 10 and 7.

Harbhajan first showed a cricketing spark when he was about 10. 8220;My husband Sardev Singh and nephew Kartar Singh, a badminton coach, enrolled him into a cricket academy seeing his interest in the game. He used to spend all his days playing cricket in the neighbourhood streets,8221; says his mother Avtar Kaur.

The call home: 8220;He calls me every second day. The other day he asked after my health since I am not keeping well these days,8221; says mother Avtar. 8212; Anju Agnihotri Chaba

YUVRAJ SINGH

Born December 12, 1981, Chandigarh

He was just a year-and-a half but he can claim to have watched the 1983 World Cup. Yuvraj Singh caught the action on TV at his Sector 11 Chandigarh home from the most comfortable seat: his father8217;s lap.

Yuvraj got his cricket genes from father Yograj, who had once been a fast bowler in the Indian team. But, in 1983, Yograj was managing his family8217;s business8212;a petrol pump in Chandigarh8212;and the farms he owned near Bazpur in Uttarakhand and in Ludhiana district.

Yuvraj was 10 when took up the bat and just two years later, he was part of Chandigarh8217;s under-16 team. 8220;In his first match, he made an unbeaten 272. I had never before seen such an innings from a 12-year-old,8221; says a proud Yograj.

The call home: 8220;We talked about my interview on TV,8221; says Yograj. 8220;He was really happy with the way I spoke and said that he felt I should go into cricket commentary. I had narrated this shair during the interview and he put his phone on speaker mode and asked me to repeat it for the entire team.8221; 8212; Revathi Ramalingam

MUNAF PATEL

Born July 12, 1983, Ikhar, Gujarat

A few days after the Indian cricket team lifted the World Cup in 1983, the strappy, six-foot plus Munaf was born. Later as he grew up, his farmer father Musa Patel dissuaded him from sports, asking him to concentrate on his studies and to take care of the farm. But Munaf gave up his father8217;s fields for a bigger field.

Mentor Ismail Matadar remembers how Munno, as the fast bowler is fondly called in his village, began like most other Indian youngsters8212;with a tennis ball, running barefoot, doing his run-ups in the village8217;s dusty ground Khadiyu, where the harvest is traditionally thrashed. Yunus Bapu, a clerk in the village school who admitted Munaf at MM High School in Class VIII, says, 8220;He was very shy, disciplined and always a real performer at school level games.8221;

The call home: Younger sister Nazrana, whom he called after the warm-up practice match against the West Indies, says: 8220;He has got accustomed to the Caribbean weather and likes it.8221; 8212; Yashpal Parmar

VIRENDER SEHWAG

Born October 20, 1978, Najafgarh, Delhi.

Twenty-four years ago, the year India won the World Cup, Krishna Sehwag gifted a plastic bat to her elder son Virender, who had turned five. An unconnected event, in some ways.

The bat, by family accounts, was one of those plastic kinds with a picture of a cricket star on its upper face. 8220;Mother still remembers that bat, she says that is how Viru started playing,8221; says Vinod, Virender8217;s younger brother, who eventually got that bat.

Today some kid somewhere must be playing with a similar plastic bat, with Sehwag on it.

The call home: Says father Krishan at their house in Najafgarh: 8220;He told us he would make us proud like never before.8221; 8212; Siddhartha Sarma

IRFAN PATHAN

Born October 27, 1984, Baroda, Gujarat

Often called Team India8217;s missing all-rounder, Irfan Pathan, was not even born when Kapil Dev and his boys drubbed the Windies in 1983.

His mother Shameena and father Mehboob Pathan lived in the quarters of the Juma Masjid in Vadodara8217;s Mandvi area then8212;they lived there till 2005.

Fondly called Guddu at home, Irfan scored 189 along with brother Yusuf 116 and piled up 473 runs in 40 overs in a tie against Parivar Vidyalaya, reminisces Irfan8217;s English teacher Abdul Habib Nakrani at the M E S High School. Nakrani says in Irfan they all saw a shadow of swing legend Wasim Akram. Irfan8217;s physical education teacher Shehnaz Sheikh remembers him winning many inter-school matches

But nobody back then, not even the coach of his childhood days, Mehandi Sheikh, dreamt that this fiery seam and swing bowler would one day find a place in the national side.

The call home: Irfan called home last week. Father Mehbub Khan says, 8220;I spoke to him about six in the evening after namaz while it was morning there and he was on his way to a practice session. He said he was having a good time at the nets.8221; 8212; Yashpal Parmar

MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI

Born July 7, 1981, Ranchi, Bihar

8220;We did not have a TV set in 1983 so everyone would tune listen to the cricket commentary on the radio,8221; says Mahendra Singh Dhoni8217;s mother Devaki Devi.

Dhoni was two years old then and the family lived in Ranchi where his father Pan Singh was a class IV employee in the PSU Mecons Ltd, from which he retired in 2003.

During his growing years, Dhoni showed more enthusiasm for football than cricket. He was a goalkeeper in his school team. Says his mother: 8220;It was the blessings of God that made him kick aside the football and take up the gloves.8221;

The call home: Says sister Jayanti, 8220;After Mahi landed in the Carribean last week he called me up but I was outside my home and didn8217;t hear the phone ring. When I came in, I saw a missed call from him.8221; 8212; Manoj Prasad

SOURAV GANGULY

Born July 8, 1972, Kolkata, West Bengal

Sourav was in Class V at Kolkata8217;s St Xavier8217;s in 1983. Says his father Chandi Ganguly, 8220;I remember he watched the finals with us in the evening and rejoiced at the victory of India.8221; Sourav8217;s elder brother Snehasis was 14 then and the family lived in Behala in south Kolkata.

8220;Sourav was a very good football player and played in the school team. He used to accompany his brother Snehasis and sometimes me to the Dukhiram coaching centre at the Aryan Club on the Maidans and it was there that he developed a liking for cricket. As the coaches discovered his talent of cricket, they taught him the game. In fact Sourav learnt his cricket there.8221; He was 14 then.

The call home 8220;He calls me up often and asks about our health and other personal things. We never talk of cricket. It8217;s just how-are-you and I-am-fine sort of thing.8221; 8212; Sabyasachi Bandhopadhyay

S SREESANTH

Born February 6, 1983, Kothamangalam, Kerala

S Sreesanth was barely four months old when Kapil Dev held up the Prudential World Cup in 1983. His elder brother Deepusanth was 11 then and what he remembers most about it was that his elder sister got married a day after the 1983 final. The family, including his father Santhakumaran, an LIC official, and mother Savitri who was a government clerk, lived near Kottayam then.

Savitri Devi was often the butt of jokes in her family, praying before a lighted lamp in her puja room every time Sachin Tendulkar walked out to bat. While she prayed, her youngest son would be playing in the courtyard with a crude cricket bat his dad would make him from the spine of coconut leaves and a ball made of rubber tree sap.

That was in the early Nineties. Savitri now has more reason to pray, every time team India plays. Her little boy Sreesanth has shed the coconut-spine bat and moved on.

Till he got into team India, Sreesanth was more known locally as a dancer _ he had won even a national-level break dance contest. 8220;We never knew he was serious about cricket until he turned 13, and his local coach here said he will go places. We agreed when

He wanted to be sent to the sports school in Bangalore to hone his cricketing skills, before moving on to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai,8221; says Deepu, who too has played club-level cricket.

The call home: Says brother Deepusanth: 8220;He calls up almost every night. He has still not really got over the amazement and thrill of being there to play the World Cup within a year of making it into the team. He is very keen to know what is being written about him back home.8221; 8212; Rajeev PI

ROBIN UTHAPPA

Born November 11, 1985, Coorg, Karnataka

For 21-year-old Aiyudda Robin Uthappa8217;s parents, former FIH hockey umpire Venu Uthappa and wife Rosy Uthappa, the search for a 1983 photograph of their family provides a chance to pore over childhood pictures of their rising cricket star son.

8220;See this picture, this was the day we thought we lost him,8221; says his mother pointing to a photograph of Robin Uthappa standing on a beach at the age of eight.

When the Indian team last won the World Cup Robin Uthappa was not yet born. His parents were newly weds with no children yet. His father was a hockey player representing the Karnataka state team.

With his father being a keen sportsman, Robin took to sports at an early age, says Venu Uthappa.

8220;It was tennis that interested him in the early years. At the age of eight he saw a cricket camp in progress and asked us if he could undergo cricket coaching. We told him it was either cricket or tennis and he chose cricket. His tennis coach was very disappointed,8221; says Venu Uthappa.

The call home: Says father Venu Uthappa: 8220;After the team8217;s visit to Montego Bay, he called to tell us he had enjoyed some deep sea diving. He said he had taken pictures to show us.8221; 8212; Johnson TA

AJIT AGARKAR

Born December 4, 1977, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Meena Agarkar is hoping her son comes good for the country in the World Cup. She8217;s spent a long time watching Ajit grow in the game, from the time he was studying in King George School. 8220;We decided to change his school and put him in Shardashram,8221; she says. Shardashram is the same school for which Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli scored that record partnership and great other Mumbai players have played for. Ajit8217;s growing interest in the game as a young boy allowed them to take that step. In 1983, Agarkar was a typical boy 8212;six years old8212;with a small bat and a plastic ball in his hands at his Dadar home.

8220;We weren8217;t quite expecting him to go all the way back then,8221; says his mother now. She tries in vain to recollect what her bowler son was doing in 1983. But in hindsight, she just likes to think: 8220;Must8217;ve been watching Kapil Dev.8221; 8212; K. Sreenivas Rao

DINESH KARTHIK

Born June 1, 1985, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

When his cricketer father watched the World Cup final on TV, Dinesh Karthik was nowhere on the scene. His father Krishna Kumar played for the first division Gandhinagar Club in the TNCA league in the 1970s but in 1983 and till 1990, he played in the second division league in the Triplicane Sports Club. Now in Kuwait, he still plays cricket over weekends.

Karthik, a student of the Don Bosco Egmore school in Chennai, was spotted by C. Suresh Kumar, a Tamil Nadu opener. 8212; Ashok Venugopalan

ZAHEER KHAN

Born October 7, 1978, Shrirampur, Maharashtra

Zaheer8217;s father is a professional photographer. He wanted his son to pursue academics, but kismet brought him into cricket. It is no secret that Zaheer left education for the game but until that happened and when Zaheer was still a toddler in Shrirampur, his parents took good care to see that his interest in studies never flagged. Zaheer8217;s mother was a teacher and it was her responsibility to see the young boy bettered himself with the books. Zaheer8217;s brother Zeeshan was never too interested in the game other than having the occasional bump with the bat and the ball. But Zaheer, thanks to his parents beginning to understand his interest in cricket, gave him the opportunity to play as much as possible. Says his father now: 8220;We all watched the 1983 World Cup and also heard the commentary on radio. But we never thought he would himself play in the World Cup some day,8221; his father says.

He can8217;t remember what exactly Zaheer was up to in 1983. 8220;He was very small. He couldn8217;t understand more than maybe holding a small bat in his hand and hitting everything that he could inside the house,8221; he says.

The call home: Says father Bakhtiyarkhan, 8220;When he called last I asked him about the weather in West Indies. He said it was very similar to what we have in our country and though it8217;s a bit humid due to the seashore, he was quite used to it. He said it8217;s like Goa or Mumbai and that the countryside is also quite pleasant with a lot of greenery8221; 8212; K. Sriniwas Rao

ANIL KUMBLE

Born October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka

Anil Kumble was nearly 13 and a medium pace bowler for his National High School in 1983. He says he didn8217;t watch cricket those day8212;not even the World Cup. While he lived in the same neighbourhood as legendary leg spinner BS Chandrashekhar he attended the same school that produced one of India8217;s other spin legend, EAS Prasanna. The emergence of Anil Kumble as the assassin began two years later when a relative told him that he could be a better spin bowler than a medium pacer.

A few stints under the tutelage of Chandra provided Kumble with the basic wares needed to topple world-class batsmen.

8220;Anil was in the National High School in 1983. We played together in 1985 when he was a spinner for the under-15 Karnataka side,8221; says Satish Vishwanath, journalist and an old friend of Kumble.

Sachin Tendulkar

Born April 24, 1973, Mumbai

Sachin was 10 in 1983, but the win left a huge impact on him. It was something, he has often said, that egged him on. Six years after the Lord8217;s triumph, he was hitting Abdul Qadir out of ground in Pakistan.