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PRIZEMONEY: Perhaps morethan anything else, this sayshow the stakes in cricket have

changed. In 1983 out of the total prizemoney of about R46 lakh (66,200,converted at Fridays exchange rate),Kapil Devs team pocketed R14 lakh(20,000). On Saturday, MS Dhonisteam got a cheque 60 times larger, ofabout R8.5 crore ($1.9 million). Thetournaments total prize money wasR27 crore ($6 million).

POPULATION: We were anation of 734.07 million in 1983.This years census tells us that

we account for 17% of the worldpopulation, at a staggering 1,210.2million. Just the difference is one anda half times the currentpopulation of the United States.

GROSSDOMESTICPRODUCT:The nations economic outputhas grown from R20,2750

crore to an estimated R72,56,571crore this year (at factor cost, atcurrent prices) in these 28 years.Not so great when you see it in the

light of the previous entry.

THE TROPHY: Just for therecord, theres growth in this,too. The trophy used till 1999

was 47 cm high and 2.5 kg heavy; thecurrent ones correspondingnumbers are 60 cm and 11 kg.

AIR FARES: For flying betweenDelhi and Mumbai in 1983, you

would have to pay R1,000 toIndian Airlines, the only carrier. Youcould still get some cotton drown outthe noise. Now a seat on Indias

busiest route could come for R3,500,thanks to low-cost airlines, but youmay need to buy even the earplugs.

STARTING SALARIES: To putthe previous number in con-text, consider that an Indian

Institute of Management graduatewould have looked forward to anaverage monthly salary ofR 2,000 in1983. Today he may not be too happyif he starts at the current average of

R 1.23 lakh a month, that is.

CARS : Nineteen eighty-threewas the year the first clumsyhatchback called Maruti 800

rolled out of factory and India had atotal of 11 million vehicles on road.With economic expansion camegreater comfort and higher pollution,depending on the way you want tolook at it. Today, we have more than100 million cars.

PIN-UPS: The hottest heart-throb in the Indian team wasSandeep Patil, who later tried

his hand at acting in Bollywood. Thisyear the female fans pin-up could bethe much-reformed Yuvraj Singh,

who won the man of the tournamentaward this time. Off the field, Yuvihas possibly scored more than Patil,

with link-ups to Kim Sharma andDeepika Padukone, among others.

MATCH TICKETS: The stadi-ums were smaller, but thetickets priced at 5 (R357 at

the current exchange rate) and 10R714) made them accessible. This

year you wouldve had to be brainy or

brawny, or both, to lay your hands onthe small share left for individualsafter keeping the fat company catshappy. Prices are R1,000 to R5,000,

but the market has its own logic:some tickets for the final were sold at20 times their values.

TELEVISION RIGHTS: BBC, fedby licence fees, was the officialbroadcaster in 1983. No one

except the few thousand spectatorsat Tunbridge Wells could see KapilDevs historic 175 against Zimbabwe

because BBC employees were onstrike on that day. This World Cup ispractically being financed bytelevision rights, which were bought

by ESPN-Star for a eye-watering$2 billion (R9,000 crore).

TV HOUSEHOLDS: The reasonfor the change in the previousentry over the years: we had

28 lakh TV-watching householdsthen compared to about 13.4 crorenow. Ergo, it has become the biggest

market for cricket.

CAPTAINS: As far as on-fieldtemperaments go, MahendraSingh Dhoni and Kapil Dev

Nikhanj are not exactly similar. Devwas the Haryana Hurricane, whileMahi as fans call him is CaptainCool. MS twitches his nose when thechips are down; Kapil used to chewat his fingernails.

RANCHI: MSD was two yearsold in 1983. Since then hishome town went from being a

provincial town of 5 lakh people to astate capital housing 8.6 lakh. Last

year, it was picked by Asssocham asthe highest employment generatingTier-III city in the country.

BCCI: Back then the Indianboard was a minnow in thecricketing fraternity dominat-

ed by England and Australia. The1983 win started a shift. Now its therichest cricketing body with morethan 70% of the sports revenuescoming from India.

INDIA-PAKISTAN: In 1983, one

of the most serious attemptswas made for a structured dia-logue between the two nations.Cricket diplomacy complemented aministerial joint commission. This

year saw the second, much-delayedinnings of that cricket diplomacy,

between Manmohan Singh and YusufRaza Gilani. This meet, too, coincided

with a structured dialogue betweenthe countries top bureaucrats.

POLICEPRESENCE: Terrorismwas the biggest worry thisyear. About 10,000 policemen

were deployed in and aroundWankhede stadium for the final. Backin 1983, the Bobbies of Britain were

bothered at the most by streakersand pitch invasions.

COLA CONSUMPTION: Afterthe Janata government hadkicked out Coca-Cola, the sale

of our country-made fizzes reached40,000 litres in 1983. At 68,00,000litres, just the essential liquid used inthis years cola can wipe out most ofthe countrys water woes.

SPOTLIGHT ON MAHATMA:Curiously, one common faceunder the arc-lights in the two

years has been Bapus. Richard

Attenborough won two Oscars for hisfilm Gandhi a few months after Indialifted the Cup on 1983. Last weekJoseph Lelyvelds book on Mahatma which, to some readers, suggests

the Father of the Nation was bisexual has kicked up much dust.

BETTING: Lets face it: we inthe subcontinent like to gam-

ble. Just that, back in 1983, bet-ting rackets were called matka oper-ators. They corrupted governmentemployees to hook up as many as 10phone lines to one connection. Cut to2011, cell phones and the internethave made things easier. Special soft-

ware are used to calculate complexodds that change ball-to-ball andover-to-over. Last month the DelhiPolice busted 14 betting rackets.

TV SHOWS: In mid-1983, it wasstill a year to the first episodeofHumLog. It was the time for

original imports (as opposed totodays licensed fakes). British seri-als Yes Ministerand BlackAdderwere

beamed into desi households. Now,apart from game and reality showsthat borrow their formulae fromBritish or American TV, its

Americans sitcoms such as 18to Lifeand 30Rock that rule.

MANOF MATCH AWARDS: Asa reward for scoring 26 off 108

balls and scalping three bats-men, Mohinder Amarnath received600 as the man of 1983s finalmatch. There was no concept of manof the series then. This year the MoMgot a motorcycle, cash and a trophy.The man of the series usually gets afour-wheeler these years.

CELEBRITY SUPPORT: In 1983Lata Mangeshkar watched the

final at Lords and even did acharity concert later for the wholeteam. Call it home advantage, but 28

years later, top names fromBollywood, business and politicsturned up to cheer. The list includedactor Aamir Khan, wife Kiran Raoand Preity Zinta. Congress RahulGandhi was there too, as was biz kingMukesh Ambani and wife Nita. ThePresidents of the two countries in thefinal our Pratibha Patil and SriLankas Mahinda Rajapaksa alsomade a power presence, as did ICCchief Sharad Pawar.

THEWORLD OF POLITICS: Ifits the US that is seen to be fal-tering in 2011, it was the Soviet

Union that was struggling in 1983.Today Arab regimes are strugglingto survive the anger of their own peo-ple, with Western airplanes giving ahelping hand in Libya. In 1983 it wasa more traditional game: Westernsoldiers getting mixed up inLebanons civil war and getting

slaughtered by the new weapon of

suicide bombers. Closer home, in1983, the Congress party needed a

boost after a few lost polls in which itwas deemed too corrupt. In January,all 60 ministers resigned to giveIndira Gandhi a free hand. This year,too, there was a small reshuffle.Parliament was choked by theOppositions onslaught againstalleged corruption by the Congress-led coalition.

POP CULTURE: It soundsancient now, but that was whenMichael Jacksons Billie Jean

and Beat it were at the top of theglobal charts. Billie Jean remainednumber one on Billboards Hot100chart for seven long weeks. TodayJackson is no more, and Lady Gaga who was not even born then, butis an artist with a similar flair forshocking is ruling the charts. Hersingle Born this way has become thefastest-selling single in the history ofiTunes. Lady G has 9, 169, 388followers on Twitter. In fact, thefoundations of todays techcommunication were laid in 1983,

with an automated network allowingcomputers to talk to each other(internet), a small firm unveiling a

word processing programme(Windows) and Motorola launching

the first cellphones.

COMMENTATORS: In 1983,Richie Benaud who gained

vital experience a few years earlierduring Kerry Packers world series was king. And he was oftensupported by West Indian TonyCozier. Ian Chappell and Tony Greig

were starting out after retiring.Today Chappells is one of the mostrespected voices. Aside from WorldCup time, we get to hear RaviShastri, Sunil Gavaskar and thecuriously hirsute Harsha Bhogle.Can someone please tell us whySidhu is considered a commentator?

SLOGANS: Kapil Dev is saidto have exhorted his players,Dil se khelo (Play with your

heart). While MSD would probablyhave told his team members to usetheir brains more, the nation has

been singing the tournamentsanaemic theme song, De ghumake.

ICONS:Amitabh BachchansCoolie was releasedin 83. Thenation, which prayedfor

Amitabhs recovery from an injurysustained during the shooting,ensured that evensuch a mediocrefilm was a hit. Today, theres anothergodof the masses andhe goes by thename of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

So what if he missedhis 100th ton?

OLD WORLD, NEW WORLD For the 28 long years between Indias two World Cuptrophies, HT picks 28 things that mark the journey of the game and the nation

TWOCUPSTHEN&NOW

19831983The Haryana Hurricanes catch of Viv Richardsturned the tide in Indias favour at Lords

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20112011Captain Cools innings took us through the dodgypatch and helped the Men in Blue win at Wankhede

HTS REPORTAGEIndia were the underdogs in 1983. This time the Men in Blue werethe favourites as our front page played it on the eve of the final.

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Inputs from AASHEESH SHARMA, RUCHIRA HOON, SUBHASH RAJTA, VINAYAK PANDE, KARAN CHOUDHURY, PRAMITPAL CHAUDHURI, JAYANTH JACOB, SAROJ NAGI, ALOKE TIKKU, GAURAV CHOUDHURY AND SONAL KALRA

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