The Unsung Hero Of India's '83 Triumph

'The entire team actually loves my father and respects him for his management and honesty.'

When India won the World Cup in 1983, the team had no coach, physio or a trainer. It was left to the manager, P R Man Singh, to handle all those duties. And he did it in style -- from arranging the team's practice to plotting the enemy's downfall.

'Our dressing room at Lord's that evening was the scene of utter chaos. All sorts of people were there, shouting and celebrating. Our supporters had already arranged for a huge quantity of champagne and corks started to pop,' Mr Mansingh recalled the scene after India started the West Indies in the final 40 years ago this Sunday, June 25, 1983

'The Indians who were at Lord's swarmed the ground and were shouting for the team to appear on the balcony of the dressing room, Kapil obliged and began showering champagne on the crowd,' Mr Mansingh noted in his book Victory Insight.

Members of the winning team were paid Rs 12,500 each as tour money and the winning purse of 30,000 pounds was shared between them. At the end of it all, each player, including Mr Man Singh, was richer by Rs 250,000.

Ahead of the worldwide release of the cricket drama '83 on December 24, 2021, Mr Man Singh's son Vikram revealed an interesting anecdote.

'WAGS (Wives and Girlfriends) were not allowed to travel with the team at that time. And the BCCI's rules were really strict. The players were agitated about this, as other countries were allowing it.

'Just before the 1983 World Cup, Krishnamachari Srikkanth got married and his wife was there in England, but she was staying in her friend's house. So, Srikkanth informed my father that he would go and meet his wife and then come back for training,' Vikram said.

'The BCCI was against all this, but my father told 'Chika' to let her come to the team hotel and stay with him. He even told Chika to tell his room-mate Roger Binny to move to my father's room.'

'So many other such things, such as distributing daily allowances and making sure that every single player of the team is happy and focused on just his game was the duty of my father. And he did it brilliantly,' Vikram added.

'Till date, Kapil Devji calls up my father and speaks to him about his health and everything and he keeps praising my father in public. The entire team actually loves my father and respects him for his management and honesty.'