In the modern era, Lord's for Indian cricket is synonymous with the famous Natwest Tri-Series win in 2002, embodied by Sourav Ganguly's iconic shirt-waving celebrations from the Indian dressing room. India's underdog tale to glory in the 1983 World Cup had also endured its crowning moment at Lord's.
It took just three years after the ODI World Cup title for Kapil's men to register their first-ever Test win at the revered venue, with the captain himself doing the star act. It was Dilip Vengsarkar's brilliant century (138) that set it up for the visitors, providing a crucial first innings lead of 47.
Mohinder Amarnath struck a fifty too, a cagey 69 that helped the cause, but Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammed Azharuddin both failed to kick on after getting starts. Vengsarkar almost single-handedly controlled India's innings after the middle order fell apart against Graham Dilley and Derek Pringle. The Indian No. 4 was unbeaten throughout but ensured that the visitors gained a slender advantage going into the second innings. For England, their first innings was about Graham Gooch's ton (114) and a spunky fifty from Pringle (64), but only one other batter got to 30 as Chetan Sharma (5-64) produced a workhorse spell to keep India in the game.
Apart from Sharma, Roger Binny also chipped in with a three-fer as England lost wickets at regular intervals. The 147-run partnership between Gooch and Pringle was the saving grace for the home side, who capitulated on either side of this on a decent batting surface. If the first innings performance was a dampener, things only got worse with the bat for England in the second essay. Kapil rose to the occasion, snaring four English scalps, including the wickets of first-innings heroes Gooch and Pringle. The Indian captain also removed David Gower as India wrestled away the advantage. The one underrated performance came from Maninder Singh, who produced a spell that was mind-boggling.
The left-arm spinner picked three wickets, but what was stunning is the fact that he conceded just nine runs from 20.4 overs! This included 12 maidens as England's batters were choked relentlessly. This allowed Kapil and the other bowlers to maintain India's dominance, and England were bowled out for just 180. It meant a target of 134 for India to create history at Lord's. There was a bit of early panic as Srikanth and Amarnath perished cheaply but Gavaskar and Vengsarkar steadied the ship with a solid stand. However, the duo also fell within quick succession to leave India at 78/4, still 56 adrift of the target.
When Azharuddin was run out, India still needed 24 more, and while the cushion of five wickets was there, it was a tense situation in the dressing room. Dev, though, didn't have a care in the world as he walked out at no.7, and took just 10 deliveries to seal the deal. He belted 23, including four boundaries and a six, to provide the finishing touches to a golden moment in India's cricketing history.
