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

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’?