“When I first came here in 1975 as a member of the Indian team I sat in a corner and watched the West Indies-Australia final and wondered when we will have the dream of playing in the final at the Lord’s. That dream materialised in 1983,” an emotional Amarnath recalled the moment.

Amarnath, launching a pictorial book ‘Miracle at Lord’s (1983)’, said when the Indian team left Mumbai for the 1983 World Cup, there were only four people to see off the cricketers as no one even thought that they could win the tournament.

“But we had played two tough series against Pakistan and West Indies before the tour which helped us in the World Cup,” he said.

“Though the team lost to a minor county in the warm up game, the victory against mighty West Indies in the first match gave us morale boost,” Amarnath, who is popularly known as ‘Jimmy’, said.

The cricketer, who was adjudged Man of the Match after the 1983 World Cup final, also feels a fabulous unbeaten knock of 175 against Zimbabwe by skipper Kapil Dev was the turning point.

“It was a life-time knock by Kapil Dev,” Amarnath said.

Amarnath said apart from world-beater like Kapil Dev and experienced performers like Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, the team also had “unsung heroes” like Roger Binny and Madan Lal, who set the platform.

“They really performed well,” he said adding “we (as a team) played very hard and once play is over we would relax.

We clicked very well and peaked at the right time,” he recalled.

Amarnath, however, spoke optimistically that the current Indian team also have the potential to recreate the history in the very next edition of the tournament.

“We hope the Indian team will win the next World Cup being held in the Indian sub-continent,” he said.

The launching ceremony was also attended by the former Pakistani cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Asif Iqbal.