On the same day that Zimbabwe beat Australia, India had begun its rendezvous to overcome the West Indian applecart for the first time ever in the history of World Cup cricket.
West Indies won the toss at Old Trafford in Manchester and decided to field first in a bid to exploit the early morning moisture. Michael Holding got rid of Kris Srikkanth while Malcolm Marshall got the better of Sunil Gavaskar. However, the middle-order came to the party with healthy contributions from everyone except the captain Kapil Dev. 
Mohinder Amarnath made 21, while Sandeep Patil scored 36. However, it was the batting of Yashpal Sharma, a hitherto unknown figure, to take the game away from the West Indian side with an attacking innings of 89. He combined well with the likes of Roger Binny and Madan Lal towards the end of the innings to prop India up to 262 in the 60 overs – a marked improvement over their previous campaigns.
Still, West Indies had been the champion side who possessed a rather strong batting line-up. There was Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes at the top of the order, followed by the likes of Vivian Richards, Faud Bacchus, Clive Lloyd, Larry Gomes and Jeff Dujon – all excellent in their own right.
However, it all started the run-out of Haynes with the score reading 49. This was followed by Greenidge being bowled by Balwinder Singh Sandhu (a dismissal which would repeat a few days later in the final of the World Cup as well) and none of the middle-order batsmen topped 25.
Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri took three wickets each as the two-time defending champions lost their first ever World Cup game as they collapsed to 228 all out.
It was the second shock of the tournament in as many days as Zimbabwe had ousted Australia on the previous day as well. However, this win combined with their sterling performance against Zimbabwe in the next game ensured that the Indians had enough confidence to win the semi-finals against India and the final against West Indies.