It has been 30 years to this very day since the famous 1985 World Series Win. The lasting memory is the scene of Ravi Shastri driving his team mates in the Audi around the MCG. That series had pretty much stamped India’s fate as the reigning World Champions. They had to prove to the world that the 1983 World Cup triumph was not a “fluke”. The Indian team currently engaged in the 2015 World Cup has pretty much a similar story. Wondering how? And why?
Here we look at 5 similarities between India’s 1985 World Series triumph and the 2015 World Cup campaign:
1. Opening match against Pakistan
The 2015 World Cup started off for India with a win over arch rivals Pakistan. The 1985 series win was no different with a comfortable 6 wicket win in the opening match against Pakistan. One is tempted to wonder if there will be a final between these two teams again this time around!
2. In form opening batsman
The highest scorer in the World Series was the Indian opener Krisnamachari Srikanth. He amassed an aggregate of 238 runs in 5 matches. Presently after 5 matches the highest scorer in the Indian ranks in the 2015 World Cup is Shikhar Dhawan, who has scored 333 runs after 5 matches.
3. Losses in the previous series
The team that went to play the 1985 World Series was one which was low in confidence. It had previously faced humiliating Test series defeats in the hands of West Indies and England. The 2015 squad is no different as it suffered two series losses against the likes of England and Australia.
4. Rift within the team
Things were not too good within the team as the rumours of Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar having a rift was doing the rounds in the media. It was due to Gavaskar replacing Kapil Dev as the skipper. Needless to say these rumours brought the best out of these players and they went on to win the 1985 series .The scenario in 2015 is no different as MS Dhoni had retired as India’s Test captain after the series loss against Australia. There was news this time again of a rift between Virat Kohli and Dhoni. One just hopes that they go on to prove their detractors wrong!
5. Bowling out sides
The 1985 team had set a record of bowling out teams 4 times out of the 5 matches that they had played, narrowly missing out against Australia who were down to 9 wickets. The 2015 team went on to better that record after bowling out all the teams in all the 5 matches that it has played till now.
The only question is if history is going to repeat itself. We can only say that “the signs look imminent”!
By Ashirbad Hazarika
