"Rebel? I would like to correct you on that. It’s not being a rebel, it is a ‘rebel’ution. If I take it one step forward, I’ll call it independence,” said Kapil Dev, enjoying the much-deserved attention from an India that, on Wednesday, celebrates the 25th anniversary of its historic World Cup victory.

The occasion is too large for even the cricketing Board — that sees Kapil Dev as a rebel, a pariah — to take a moral high ground and indulged the Cup-winning team on Sunday night. The celebrations 25 years on — and the pace legend is enjoying every minute of the festivities to the hilt, almost choking in excitement as he speaks — is a result of the toothy grit that he and his Devils showed at the fateful Lord’s final on June 25, 1983 when they felled seemingly large cricketing giants, the West Indies.

Kapil distinctly remembers the celebration at the Lord’s balcony, like everybody else, if not any of the other now-fuzzy details. “At Lord’s, my wife and Madan Lal’s wife were seated together by the lawn and couldn’t bear to watch us lose,” he said. “They thought we were going to lose, so they left for the hotel. On reaching, they heard that we had a chance of winning and wanted to rush back, but they couldn’t,” he recalled. “We just celebrated, like crazy. Only at about 2 am, when our stomach growled, did we realise how much time had passed since we’d started celebrating.”

But had it not been for the 23-year-old newly-appointed captain from Haryana, and a spectacular 175 that saved India the blushes against Zimbabwe, the sacred chalice would have remained a dream. “For that match alone, Kapil Dev deserved to hold the Cup,” said veteran journalist K Dutta.

“I wouldn’t say the match against Zimbabwe was the turning point. The team believed it was the appropriate kick-start. Everyone believed if they could come out of such a match situation, they could manage any situation,” said Kapil, whose earthiness and raw courage proved to be the catalyst in India’s incredible, historic win.

Unlike heroes’ welcomes and cash-rich boards of today, the times of 1983, when fielding restrictions was first introduced, were different. A Lata Mangeshkar concert had to be organised to raise money so that the victorious team could be presented with cheques of Rs 1 lakh.