1983 World Cup win was a HUGE moment, changed entire belief system, s…

India vs Sri Lanka 2026 1st Test: Shubman Gill’s Team India will begin the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka on a special day – the country’s 80th Independence Day on Saturday. Since India got Independence in 1983, the country has seen plenty of landmark moments on the cricket field – from 2011 ODI World Cup win to 2007, 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cup triumphs. zeppelin.cool

It is always a difficult proposition to pick one path-breaking triumph since Independence Day. Former India left-arm spinner Murali Kartik spoke to India.com and shared the one cricket success which changed India cricket’s eco-system.

Ahead of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at Galle, Kartik spoke to a select group of media, including India.com. Asked about Indian cricket’s biggest moment since gaining Independence in 1947, Kartik said it was the 1983 ODI World Cup win under captain Kapil Dev.

“The 1983 World Cup win was a huge, huge moment, because that inspired a lot of young people to take up the game. You think of one moment, and I’m thinking for other sports in India as well,” Kartik told India.com.

“Imagine somebody doing something similar in other sports – winning a major in golf or doing something spectacular in tennis. It actually inspires us. How did we all start playing the game? It is because we were inspired by somebody. That is the reason why you have somebody trying to copy Jasprit Bumrah or a Harbajan Singh or a Anil Kumble or Ravichandran Ashwin.

“If you can even inspire 1 per cent of the population, I think you’ve done a great job. So, from that point of view, I think 1983 was a huge moment, because things changed around, the belief system changed that we can also do it at the highest stage,” Kartik said.

Kapil Dev’s Team India defeated two-time champions West Indies to win their ODI World Cup title in 1983 at Lord’s in London. India had to wait another 28 years for their next ODI World Cup titles, which came under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in 2011.

In T20 cricket, India have won three World Cups – the first one again under Dhoni in 2007. Rohit Sharma helped India become T20 World Cup champions for the second time in 2024 in West Indies and Suryakumar Yadav’s side became the first team to defend the title – winning in 2026 earlier this year in March.

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Kartik turned out in 8 Tests and 37 ODIs for Team India in his career, claiming 24 and 37 wickets respectively. The 49-year-old left-arm spinner also snared 644 wickets in first-class cricket.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings star, however, refused to name a single player who can be called the ‘greatest Indian cricketers’ since Independence.

“Again, from a single point of view, as I said, I’m not going to name anyone, because all of them have played a huge part in where we are. It’s an exclusive club,” Kartik said.

“It’s not a club where you can pay and get into. People work really hard to wear that India cap, and what, 705 players have played for India or 706 have played for India, if I’ve got my stats right across all three formats. So that’s a very exclusive club and I’m pretty sure everybody has played a big part in getting India where it is,” he added.

Kartik believes that it will be an injustice to name only one cricketer as an inspiration for the sport. “We are in a better position because of what someone else did for us. So, from that point of view, think of what the first Indian team and what they had to endure, and what they had to do and from that, if you take the history of India to where it is right now, we are one of the powerhouses of world cricket,” he felt.

(Watch Sri Lanka vs. India 1st Test Day 1 on August 15, 2026, from 10 AM IST live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD & Sony LIV)

I hadn’t interacted with West Bengal’s Sports Minister, Dr Indranil Khan, before. In fact, I was travelling between May and early August and wasn’t in the city when he was appointed. I finally met him two days ago at the launch of the Tata Steel World 25K in Kolkata and must say I found his ideas refreshing and forward-looking.

First, he didn’t want to stick to cricket and football. Twice during his remarks, he mentioned the need to go beyond conventional investment paradigms and put money into Olympic sports such as shooting, badminton, table tennis, boxing and wrestling. Most importantly, he made the connection between sport and education and said the state was working on opening a sports university.

This has been a need for years now and, if there is something India needs to do at the outset, it is to marry sport with education. There has to be a dialogue between the Ministries of Sports and Education, and only then can this integration happen.

Dr Khan also mentioned the need to go beyond Kolkata and connect the state with smaller centres of excellence. That’s exactly how it should be. You identify and groom talent in these smaller centres, and then those who show real promise are given the opportunity to come to the city to train and improve.

He was concerned by the fact that there was no West Bengal athlete among the 39 medal winners at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and wanted to redeem the situation in the near future.

It is no secret that things can’t happen overnight. Sport hasn’t been a priority in West Bengal for the longest time, and there is a major opportunity in front of Dr Khan and his team. That there is potential is known. How to harness that potential with the right facilities and the right training is what we need to figure out.

The Sundargarh model is an eye-opener. In that one district, there are 19 turfs for hockey. In the entire state of West Bengal, there are two. Unless you have the basics, it is impossible to expect champions to come through.

Bengal has stars such as Joydeep Karmakar, Dola Banerjee, Rahul Banerjee, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and Soma Biswas. Each can make a real difference to sport going forward. A big push for archery, shooting and athletics could indeed yield medals in the next cycle. And now, with the inclusion of compound archery in the Olympics, the medal opportunities are even greater.

In fact, I’d say the same thing about squash. With Sourav Ghosal in the state, it is imperative that we focus on squash, which is now an Olympic sport.

West Bengal does offer the opportunity to use sport as soft power. From what Dr Khan said, he clearly has the intent. What is key now is to stay the course and change the dynamic over the next five years.

As someone from the state who has worked globally, it does impact me to see my own state not do much in sport. From that standpoint, Dr Khan’s words seemed like a breath of fresh air.

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Vaibhav Tripathi, Galle

On the front page of an Australian newspaper, in big, bold letters, was the headline: ‘The New King’, with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s name above it. The subheading read: ‘Jaiswal, best since Kohli.’ Before his first tour of Australia in 2024, the young left-hander was already in the spotlight.
Australia is tough, especially for first-timers. Jaiswal couldn’t score a single run in his first innings Down Under. In the next innings, he went big, scoring 161. An average of over 40 in his first Test series in Australia was a commendable effort by the youngster. Even on his first tour of England, he averaged more than 40. Barring the South Africa tour in 2023–24, Jaiswal has done well whenever he has played away from India.

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In conditions similar to those in India, Jaiswal will be one of India’s batting mainstays in the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

By now, Jaiswal has matured to the extent that he knows how to come back from failures.

There is no shadow of a doubt about his game against spin. The ability to judge lengths and make last-minute adjustments to counter spin is one of the hallmarks of his batting. Saransh Jain troubled him a lot in his first session in Sri Lanka, with the ball beating the outside edge on occasions.

When the duel happened again at the nets, Jaiswal covered his off stump well and was rock-solid in defence, playing with the turn off the back foot whenever the ball was a tad short. Jaiswal is a quick learner and understands his game well. After getting out for a duck in the practice game at the NCC, he scored a flashy fifty in the second innings.

His preparations have been good for the challenge that awaits him. The 24-year-old has to be wary of the left-arm pacers. Marco Jansen was his nemesis last year and during the South Africa tour. Vishwa Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka may not be of the same quality, but they can still ask the right questions with the ball.

Then there is Prabath Jayasuriya, who has taken 81 wickets in Galle. Against New Zealand, Jaiswal was dismissed three times in the three-match series in 2024. The left-armers are not ideal opponents for Jaiswal.

Another area of concern for him of late is that, at times, he gets caught on the crease. It’s something he seems to be aware of, which is why he has spent hours in the nets working on his weakness around the off stump and against the ball turning sharply back into him.

With performances come expectations. Having established himself as a first-choice opener in Test cricket, Jaiswal is expected to score runs whenever he comes out to bat. His performances in the last three Tests have been poor by the lofty standards he has set for himself.

Every series is an opportunity to reach a new high. The conditions in Sri Lanka should suit his game, but they will still demand precision.

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India will enter the 2026 BWF World Championships with the expectations that would have been difficult to imagine when the country last hosted the tournament in Hyderabad in 2009. Back then, Indian badminton was still finding its existence on the global stage. Today, the country has produced Olympic medallists, former world champion, established stars and a stronger pool of players across events.

The World Championships will return to India after 17 years and New Delhi is set to host the tournament from August 17 to 23. Ahead of the competition, RevSportz spoke exclusively to National Badminton Team Chief Coach, Pullela Gopichand, about the growth of Indian badminton and India’s standing in the sport.

Gopichand believes the biggest change from 2009 is not just the results but the depth India now has across different events.

“When we hosted the World Championship last time, we didn’t have any expectations from us to host the event, which was the biggest challenge,” Gopichand said. “But today when we are looking at this event, I think we are looking at performances as a definitive benchmark. And across the the events, we do seem to have bright chances to win medals.”

The former All England champion was also the part of India’s journey during the 2009 World Championships in Hyderabad. He feels the sport has come a long way since then, both in terms of results and also in the wider sporting environment in the country.

“I think overall 2009 was very formative years for Badminton. We had never won a World Championship medal prior to that. And it’s a very different perspective now. India, as a sporting nation back in the day in 2009, wasn’t really there. And today we are looking whether it’s Badminton or many of the other sports, we are definitely looking at a very vibrant sporting ecosystem in our country. In Badminton also, we have much bigger bench strength and the results have been quite good across the board in various events.”

That increased depth is reflected in the Indian contingent heading into the tournament. “If you look at the men’s singles, we have two very strong players: Lakshya and Ayush. In the women’s singles, we have Sindhu, who recently won Japan Open. I think that came at the right time for her to peak and perform at the highest level at the World Championships. We also have Unnati, a young player.”

“In the men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag having won Singapore Open recently, I think they’re back in form. I think to have multiple people seeded in the big events is a big thing. We also have a mixed doubles seed in Tanisha and Dhruv. And also in the women’s doubles, I think Gayatri and Treesa recently won the Challenger in the Philippines. With such performances and the local conditions and the crowd support, I do hope that they will transform into medal winning and podium-finishing results.”

Gopichand believes home crowd could play an important role and he also revealed that the tournament has already generated strong interest as the tickets are sold out ahead of the event.

“I think an event like the World Championship draws in lots of crowds,” he said. “And looking at the kind of ticket sales, we’ve completely sold out the tickets. So I am hoping that we’ll have major crowds come in to watch badminton from across the country to Delhi.”

One of India’s biggest hopes will be PV Sindhu who will enter the World Championships after winning the 2026 Japan Open. She is chasing a record sixth World Championships medal, having already won gold (2019), silver (2017 and 2018) and bronze (2013 and 2014) at the tournament.

Gopichand believes another medal would be a stunning addition to Sindhu’s remarkable World Championships record.

“I think she’s been an amazing player and she’s backed it up with all kinds of performances right from gold, silver, bronze. Multiple years she’s performed and got medals right from about 13 years ago to now. I think she’s been a phenomenal player for Indian badminton and it will be great to have another medal at the World Championships locally.”

Gopichand also shared a positive update on Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s injury concerns ahead of the campaign. He said, “They’re perfectly alright and I think they’ve had a good stint of training. Tan Kim along with the other coaches and the support team have put in a lot of work to ensure that they’re in peak fitness for the tournament and I’m sure we’ll have some good performances from Satwik and Chirag.”

Alongside the established stars, India will also look towards its younger players. Ayush Shetty, who will make his World Championships debut, is one player Gopichand expects to make an impact.

“Ayush is a debutant but I think the way he played at the Badminton Asia Championship is testimony to the fact that he can win any of the biggest tournaments in the world,” Gopichand added, “I think he has a tough first round but having said that, I think he’s definitely someone whom I have a lot of expectation from and I do believe that we can expect some really good results from him at this World Championships.”

The expectations at this tournament are much higher than in 2009, but Gopichand believes the current Indian team has the depth and experience to turn those expectations into medals.

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