In the finale, India defeated Pakistan by eight wickets
India is obsessed with cricket and the trophies associated with the game—World Cup, T20 World Cup, World Test Championship, Champions Trophy, and even the Asia Cup. However, there’s one trophy that isn’t appreciated enough by the enthusiasts. Yes, the tournament is now defunct, but India’s dominance throughout the tournament must be recalled often.
The tournament and trophy in question are the World Championship of Cricket, a tournament hosted by Australia in 1984/85 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of European settlement in the Australian state of Victoria.
Back then, India had won the World Cup in 1983 despite being an underdog. However, even after winning the World Cup, West Indies were deemed the favourites of the tournament. In short, it was important for India to win the tournament to prove that 1983 was not a fluke victory.
Put against Australia, England, and Pakistan in the group stage, India topped the table with flying colours, winning all three games.
In the first game, India defeated Pakistan by six wickets, whereas in the second game, the Men in Blue pipped England by 86 runs. Australia, too, became India’s prey, as the team led by Sunil Gavaskar won by eight wickets and 83 balls.
Next was New Zealand in the semi-final against India. The Indian bowlers managed impressive economies, especially Madan Lal and Ravi Shastri, with their four and three wickets, respectively, restricted New Zealand to 206—a target India easily chased to reach the finale.
In the finale, it was India versus PAK, and once again, the Indian bowlers rose to the occasion. Kapil Dev and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan grabbed three wickets each, and Team Green only managed 176 runs.
India chased down the target in 47.1 runs with 63 runs coming off Ravi Shastri’s bat, whereas Laxman Sivaramakrishnan scored 67.
The tournament was one of the biggest highlights of Shastri’s career. He was named ‘The Champion of the Champions’ and received an Audi 100. With the ball, Shastri picked up eight wickets, whereas, with the bat, he was the tournament’s third-highest run scorer with 182 runs.
The squad comprising Sunil Gavaskar (captain), Mohinder Amarnath, Mohammad Azharuddin, Roger Binny, Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Ashok Malhotra, Manoj Prabhakar, Chetan Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Sadanand Viswanath scripted one of India’s most dominant victories ever in a tournament—whitewashing all the opponents completely in an era when India was still considered an underdog.
On this day in 1985 we won the World Championship of Cricket. This remains my favourite Indian ODI team ever, Gavaskar as captain. Srikkanth, Vengsarkar, Amarnath & a young Azhar as bats, Kapil & Binny with the new ball, Siva & Shastri as spinners & Sadanand Vishwanath keeping. pic.twitter.com/5hrV036wXs
— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) March 10, 2020
This team proved that neither 1983 nor 1985 were flukes, and India was slowly taking baby steps to grow into a powerhouse as we know it today.
