ICC Champions Trophy: Can the ‘class of 2013’ emulate the feat of the ‘class of 1985’?

Reams of newsprint have been expended and loads of space and talk time consumed on the internet and television, extolling the exploits of MS Dhoni’s lads who have set the shores of Old Blighty alight by their assured batting, incisive bowling and athletic fielding while displaying all the confidence and chutzpah of world champions waiting to crown themselves again at the ICC Champions Trophy.

And why not, they deserve every accolade that comes their way, assuming they also clear the final hurdle in hosts England on Sunday.

But Dhoni’s ‘daredevils’ are not the pioneers of the new clothing that Indian cricket wears these days – bold, brash, supremely confident and imbued with the winning mentality. Old timers will recall the ‘class of 1985’ that won the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket played Down Under in February-March of that year featuring all the Test playing nations, when similar tributes were lavished upon the ‘Men in Blue’ for their sterling performances all through the tournament.

There are a few similarities as well as differences between the two campaigns. India flew to Australia as world champions (1983) too, but under a different skipper, the baton having passed on to Sunil Gavaskar. And just like Dhoni’s men had to put behind their disorientation thanks to the scandals of IPL 6 and the conflict of interest allegations dogging the skipper down, the Little Master’s maestros went into the championship with their reputation dented. The West Indies had extracted their revenge for the loss in the World Cup final by routing the hosts at home in a bilateral ODI series and then England had heaped more misery by inflicting a crushing 4-1 defeat on the hosts in the sub-continent just before the start of the championship.

But ‘Sunny’ successfully took on the onerous task of rebuilding the shattered confidence of his colleagues and when they reached Down Under, they were in a top frame of mind. So sky high was the confidence the Indians exuded and so assured were they in their outings that they breezed to the title with barely a hiccup.

SMG’s winners were a motley crew of youth and experience with the skipper, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal and Roger Binny comprising the old guard while Mohammed Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, wicket keeper Sadanand Vishwanath, Chetan Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar were the young guns; the lion-hearted Kapil Dev and Krish Srikkanth falling somewhere in between.

Despite the presence of some worn out legs, India’s fielding was top class. Azhar, Srikkanth and Binny lent a menacing presence to the outfield with their quick reflexes and Gavaskar (one of the safest pair of hands in the slips), Binny and Madan Lal were no slouches on the field either. The skipper’s pick up and throw to run out Imran Khan from point was one of the decisive moments in the final.

This tournament was also played with two balls because the grounds are big in Australia and the new ball bowlers – all all-rounders incidentally, like Madan Lal, Binny, Amarnath and Kapil Dev, the last named being the only ‘specialist’ – made early inroads in every match. The spinners (Siva and Shastri) too were among the wickets. The much maligned Shastri brought solidity to the top of the order with valuable knocks and his trademark ‘chappati shot’, walking off with the ‘Player of the Championship’ award and an Audi to boot in which the members of the Indian team drove around on a victory lap after the prize distribution ceremony.

Ravi Shastri of India holds the Man of the Series World Championship Trophy aloft

All the group matches were won without breaking into a sweat as India topped the four-team pool with three wins, chasing down Pakistan’s 183 in the opening match with six wickets remaining and 25 balls to spare. While Binny (4-35) did the damage with the ball, Azhar (93 not out) stole the show with the bat.

Against England, India managed 235/9 in their allotted 50 overs (those were still moderately scoring days), the ‘Tamil tiger’ blasting a 57 in his patented slam-bang style. The spinning duo of Siva and Shastri then shared six wickets between themselves to bowl out the Poms for 149 and win by 86 runs. Hosts Australia were then put in their place, restricted to 163 thanks to Binny’s 3-27, which the would-be champions then knocked off with the loss of just 2 wickets and 83 balls to spare, Srikkanth contributing a 93 not out and Shastri a patient 51.

In the semi-final, New Zealand made just 206 when they batted first, the Mumbai left-arm spinner taking 3-31, which India overhauled easily, winning by 7 wickets and 39 balls to spare thanks to Shastri, Vengsarkar and Kapil Dev responding with half centuries, the last two unbeaten.

The title clash versus Pakistan was a no-contest as our western neighbours were reduced to 33-4 in 12 overs with Kapil Dev (3-23) and Sharma (a replacement for Binny who was down with flu) doing the early damage while leggie Siva (3-35) mopped up the tail. Imran and Miandad staged a middle order recovery but Pakistan were still contained to 176/9. In reply, Shastri (63 not out) and Srikkanth (67) put on a century partnership to ease the 22,500 pound winner’s cheque safely into India’s pocket, the southern scintillator taking the ‘man of the match’ trophy before an attendance of 35,296.

Gavaskar later said winning this championship was not such a formidable task as the self-confidence and self-belief was already ingrained in the team, thanks to the stupendous feat achieved two years earlier which was by far the greater achievement.

Dhoni’s young ‘class of 2013’ now have one more hurdle to sail over before they can taste success. Can they complete ‘Mission Possible’ and emulate the heroics of the ‘class of 1985’?