Goodbye to an unsung hero

Everyone is born with their own destiny. You can’t change it. But you can’t cry over it too. You just need to accept the facts, give your best shot and move on.

If you think of India’s World Cup wins in 2007 and 2011, quite understandably, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who got the maximum accolades. 

When we think of the 2011 world cup, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it’s the final sixer and Ravi Shastri’s booming voice announcing that the world cup comes back to India after 28 years.

When we think of the 2007 T20 world cup, what comes to your mind? It’s Misbah’s wicket, isn’t it?

But amongst all this, there was a man who was the highest scorer in both those finals but still didn’t win the Man of the Match award and remained in the background. It’s none other than Gautam Gambhir. His contribution in both those victories can never be ignored but did he get the due accolades that he so richly deserved? – Probably No.

Now, let’s look back at India’s first World Cup win, the 1983 Prudential World Cup.

What comes to your mind when you think of that world cup?

It’s Kapil Dev, isn’t it? That great catch of Viv Richards, that great innings of 175 runs in the group match against Zimbabwe – quite naturally he got the maximum eyeballs along with the fact that he was the captain, and all the media glare was spotlighted towards him. He richly deserves those accolades – don’t take me wrong. But who is the next man whose name comes to mind with regards to the 1983 world cup? It’s mostly Mohinder Amarnath – after all, he won the man-of-the-match awards in both the semifinals and finals. Next? Probably Roger Binny – the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

But amongst all this, there was one player who didn’t get his due accolades as much as he deserved. And that was Yashpal Sharma.

Yashpal Sharma was the second-highest scorer for India in the 1983 world cup and if you take out that one innings of Kapil Dev (175 against Zimbabwe) then Yashpal Sharma was the highest. I don’t think we ever gave him the kind of mileage the way we should have.

Let me give you some examples. I will specifically point out 3 matches here.

1. India vs West Indies (First Group Match)

Till that day (9th June 1983), West Indies were yet to lose a World Cup match. On the other hand, India was yet to win a World Cup match against a test-playing nation. It was a mismatch of the highest order and the result was a foregone conclusion!

But everything changed and the World Cup saw one of its biggest upsets ever when India against all odds defeated West Indies by 34 runs. 

India scored 262 runs and the highest score was 89 by Yashpal Sharma. He won the man of the match too. 

2. India Vs. Australia (Final Group Match)

If India defeating West Indies was a big upset then Zimbabwe defeating Australia was an even bigger upset. What that meant was that the group was thrown wide open. Kapil’s heroics saved India the blushes against Zimbabwe and India’s final group match against Australia turned into a virtual knockout. 

India won that match comprehensively beating Australia by 118 runs and though the architect of that victory was India’s bowling led by Roger Binny, the top scorer for India was Yashpal Sharma with 40 runs.

3. India vs. England (Semifinals)

The win against Australia took India to the semi-finals and it was a great moment for Indian cricket. Here was a team who no one gave a chance, entered the knockout phase.

England probably took India too lightly and was already looking forward to the repeat of the 1979 finals. But 1983 was destined to be India’s year and the Indian bowlers once again came to the party to bowl out England for 213 runs.

Yes, it was a relatively small score to chase but England had a terrific bowling attack led by Bob Willis and it was never expected to be easy.

It was quite a hard-fought victory for India and they won with 32 balls to spare and once again the top scorer for India was Yashpal Sharma with 61 runs. The audacity of flicking Willis over the long leg boundary for a six would remain etched in memory forever.

3 major victories against 3 different test-playing nations and in all those occasions the common factor was that Yashpal Sharma was the top scorer for India.

As I said above some people never get their due and Yashpal Sharma is an apt example of that. Yes, it’s a team sport but individual brilliance matters.

Overall, Yashpal Sharma scored 240 runs in the 1983 World Cup coming second to Kapil Dev in the highest runscorers list for India but closer scrutiny will tell you that 190 of them were scored in winning causes against 3 top test nations. As the saying goes, “Devil is in the details”.

Recently during the 38th anniversary of India’s World Cup victory, we saw Yashpal Sharma in all glory with his former teammates but little did we know that it would be the last time we will see him alive. The news of him passing away on 13th July left everyone in shock.

One of the big architects of India’s World Cup glory left us suddenly and it just tells you that life can come to an end suddenly and so live the moment and celebrate the small wins. Yashpal Sharma didn’t win small because he helped India win the World Cup and probably everyone will now realise in hindsight what a big contributor he was during that campaign 38 years earlier.

As noted journalist Vijay Lokapally pointed out that Yashpal Sharma was one of the fittest of the lot and spoke enthusiastically about cricket even today. Not an age to go but life takes unpredictable turns and leaves you in shock.

When his teammate of 1983, Kirti Azad came back from Yashpal Sharma’s funeral, he tweeted that they will leave a front-row seat vacant for him during the screening of the movie ‘83 which is expected to release later this year. The WhatsApp group of the 1983 Indian team won’t be the same again.

All goodbyes are difficult but Yashpal Sharma will forever be remembered by all Indian cricket fans for his contribution to India’s biggest glory in sports history. 

To be fair, I didn’t watch him play live because I started watching cricket after 1983 but the highlights of the 1983 World Cup is something I keep watching on a loop once in a while and whenever we see those matches we will remember Yashpal Sharma!

Thank you for the memories, Sir! Rest in Peace!

The 12th man bids adieu!

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