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If India end up beating New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final at Dubai on Sunday, it will be on a day shy of the 40th anniversary of the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.
On March 10, 1985, Sunil Gavaskar’s Indians outclassed Javed Miandad’s Pakistanis to win the final by eight wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The 1985 triumph was significant. Not only did the tournament involve all Test playing nations, but it also proved that India’s triumph in the 1983 World Cup less than two years ago, was not a flash in the pan.
India captain Sunil Gavaskar holds aloft the 1985 B&H World Championship of Cricket trophy after beating Pakistan at MCG
Five wins in a row
India beat Pakistan, England, Australia and New Zealand before meeting Pakistan again in the final.
Like the current Indian team, the then side had lost the last Test series they figured in — against England earlier in the year. Doubtless, victory in the opening game against Pakistan at the MCG was just the confidence-booster the Indians needed. For, this was only the second time in 12 ODIs that India had ended up winning.
It was the Australian public’s first sighting of Mohammed Azharuddin and they loved what they saw when the young gun scored an unbeaten 93 to help India go past Pakistan’s 183.
Champion of champions Ravi Shastri holds up the Cup
England, who had tormented India in the 1984-85 Test and one-day series, were up next as India travelled to Sydney. A massive 86-run victory for Gavaskar’s side made them a dangerous team in the tournament. This was the game that kicked off Ravi Shastri’s impact performances in the tournament. Although he scored only 13 while his opening partner Krishnamachari Srikkanth smashed a 53-ball 57 in India’s total of 235-9, Shastri sent back Mike Gatting, Vic Marks and Phil Edmonds; the first two players in the space of four runs with wicketkeeper Sadanand Vishwanath in the thick of things in all three dismissals.
Shastri, Siva too good
Leggie Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was brilliant in claiming the wickets of Martyn Moxon, David Gower and Allan Lamb. As for Srikkanth, his form on Australian soil kicked in. “His [Srikkanth’s] first scoring strọke was an inside edge, but his exploits thereafter would have put a flamethrower to shame, so scorchingly brilliant was it,” wrote Sportsworld magazine’s David McMahon.
Indian viewers woke up to the sound of timber as it were on March 3 when Kapil Dev and Roger Binny had three (Graeme Wood, Robbie Kerr and Allan Border) of their four early wickets bowled as Australia were reduced to 17-4. They managed only 163 before Shastri (51) and Srikkanth (93) put India on the victory path.
The semi-final against New Zealand was probably the toughest game in the competition for Gavaskar’s men. Shastri (3-31) and Madan Lal (4-37) helped bowl out the Kiwis for 206. Shastri got his second 50-plus score in the tournament. But he and Azharuddin fell for India to be in a spot of bother at 102-3. That was before Dilip Vengsarkar (63 not out) and Kapil Dev (54 not out) got together and stitched an unbeaten 105-run stand for the fourth wicket off only 74 balls, to give India their fourth victory on the bounce.
“The ‘Haryana Hurricane’ snuffed out the challenge with a tremendous display of power hitting. It was the biggest clash of the season — Richard Hadlee versus Kapil Dev. The result of the match hinged on it. Kapil scored a knockout,” reported R Mohan in The Sportstar magazine.
Meanwhile, Pakistan too had been impressive, seeing off the West Indies in the semi-finals. Clive Lloyd’s team had only recently clinched the World Series Cup triangular series involving hosts Australia and Sri Lanka.
The India v Pakistan final at the MCG began with Pakistan opting to bat. All they could get was 176-9. Later, Shastri and Srikkanth did justice to their form with 60-plus scores. Shastri stayed unbeaten and justifiably fancied his chances to be gifted the Audi car as Champion of Champions. It’s apt that the word ‘Champions’ adorns the silverware of today’s prize in Dubai. And Shastri will be there to see the action unfold, as will 1985 skipper Sunil Gavaskar. The big question though is, will things go as per plan like they did in 1985?
Brief scores
Pakistan 176-9 in 50 overs (J Miandad 48, I Khan 35; K Dev 3-23, L Sivaramakrishnan 3-35) lost to India 177-2 in 47.1 overs (K Srikkanth 67, R Shastri 63*) by eight wickets
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