It was on this day in 1983 that West Indies legend Viv Richards hit 61 off 36 balls in the second innings of the 1st Test against India and led his team to a sensational victory.
Chasing 172 runs in 26 overs, Richards faced just 36 deliveries and achieved the unlikely in the first Test of the five-match series in Jamaica.
Captain Clive Lloyd won the toss and elected to field. India started off with Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath making 20 and 29 respectively, but the team soon began to lose wickets. At the fall of the seventh wicket, India had collected just 127 runs.
Yashpal Sharma (63) and Balwinder Sandhu’s (68) eighth-wicket partnership helped the team to make a total of 251. On the bowling side, Andy Roberts was the most successful, taking 4 wickets in the first innings.
West Indies replied with 254 and got its top-scorers in Gordon Greenidge (70) and Vivian Richards (29). On the other hand, Indian bowlers bowled with great control and all-rounder Ravi Shastri and Kapil Dev claimed 4 wickets each.
India weren’t off to an ideal start in their second innings as Gavaskar lost his leg-stump to Michael Holding first ball. It was Amarnath’s 40 and Shastri’s 25 which took the team to 174. West Indies’ Roberts was once again accurate and after his four-wicket haul innings, he followed it up with a five-for in the second.
The Carribeans were now chasing a target of 172 runs and Desmond Haynes set West Indies on their way with 34 off 21 deliveries, while Greenidge contributed with a valuable 42. However, it was Richards’ batting brilliance that ultimate got the team home. Since Richards was nursing a painful shoulder, he was sent to bat on No 4, as opposed to his accustomed No 3.
With his first scoring stroke being a huge 6, the West Indies batter begun an onslaught. Hitting 5 boundaries and 4 huge sixes at a strike rate of 169, Richards attacked mercilessly to finish with 61 from only 36 balls. Richards was bowled by Amarnath with West Indies at 156 for five, requiring just 16 more to win with two-and-a-half overs left.
Gus Logie added 11, which included a six, before Dev bowled him out. Jeffrey Dujon ended the match in style as he connected the next ball, which flew over square leg into the crowd and the home team won by four wickets and with 4 balls left in the day’s play.
While Dujon gave the finishing touch to his team, it was Richards’ flamboyant innings which led the team to a sensational victory. Richards’ stunning assault was devastation on the grandest possible scale and with this win, West Indies gained a 1-0 lead in the series that they would later win by a 2-0 margin.
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