When Yashpal’s badam shot sent India on their way

It’s difficult to put that shot in perspective, but that was surely the cornerstone of the semi-final win and, as it turned out, the World Cup victory itself.

Why is it called the badam shot? Thanks, obviously, to the inventor. The middle-order batsman says he got his confidence from eating khalis badam. “I still carry badam with me in my pocket. We all know about Kapil paaji, but badam was the secret of my energy,” he laughs.

The origins

It was exactly 25 years ago, on June 22, 1983, that Sharma walloped Willis as the bowler came for his second spell to deck up an innings of 61, but he remembers it vividly. “It was a matting shot, and I was pretty good at it. I realised that it was dangerous to hit fast bowlers over long-off, so I wanted a shot where I could use the pace of the bowler. Then I remembered Vivian Richards flicking the ball off his legs at the 1979 World Cup. That was the basic idea, and I started using my improvised variation in the nets. I even hit on my body a few times, but developed a fair judgment as to which deliveries I could play that shot on,” he says.

The moment

The 53-year old insists the shot was not premeditated. “It was purely instinctive. Jimmy (Amarnath) and I were trying to plan our chase and needed around 83 or 84 in the last 15 overs. Bob had a great first spell and came back into the attack. Luckily for me, very early on in that spell, he gave me an incoming delivery on my legs. I shuffled a bit and off it went. That shot turned the game. I got a lot of confidence, and the England team looked shattered. We reeled off the runs quite quickly after that.”

He played two crucial knocks in that World Cup — the other being an 89 against the West Indies in a group match — but unfortunately, only one was recorded. “I still have an old VHS tape of that semi-final. I have seen it many times. In fact, I’ve even shown it to my children several times. For me, that tape is a precious piece of memorabilia,” he says.

So come tomorrow, as the World Cup winners pop some champagne at the felicitation function, it’d be understandable if Yashpal Sharma pops a badam into his mouth instead.