While the BCCI and Sunil Gavaskar
himself honoured the 1983 World Cup winners, making them richer by Rs. 35 lakh
each, and Ajit Wadekar’s 1971 Warriors were honoured privately, the team that
triumphed in 1985 in Australia, winning the World Championships Of Cricket,
hasn’t yet heard of any felicitations.

The protagonist of that
triumph, skipper Sunil Gavaskar, cast a fleeting look at that triumph when he
switched on the TV late on Monday night to overcome jetlag after his return from
London on Sunday. “I was watching the India-England match and was delighted to
see how well spinners Ravi Shastri and Sivaramakrishnan bowled and beat the
batsmen in the air,” Gavaskar told TOI on Tuesday.

Shastri became the
man of the tournament and drove home the Audi car. Siva’s wicket of Javed
Miandad, stumped by Sadanand Vishwanath, turned the final on its head and was
responsible for India’s target staying below 200 (176). Mention Vishwanath to
Gavaskar and he is fulsome in his praise. “He brought tremendous energy to the
side. His competitiveness rubbed off on the rest of us.”

So what are
Gavaskar’s thoughts on the 1985 triumph? “Twenty-five years down the line my
thoughts are about how far the Indian team has come as a one-day unit. It’s a
terrific team now. If they had a couple of all-rounders of the calibre of our
1985 side, the current Indian team would be virtually
unbeatable.”

Gavaskar said the triumph was founded by the few
experienced players in the side pulling their weight – Mohinder Amarnath, Madan
Lal, Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Roger Binny. “No one gave us a chance. Before we
left for the series we had lost the Test series to England 1-2 at home and also
lost the One-Day series.”

In fact, the banner at the MCG dubbed the
two finalists “tram Drivers vs bus conductors”! But the Indian team became such
a compact unit that it played unchanged for the four games and the change
effected for the final was forced: Roger Binny was sick on the day of the final
and Chetan Sharma took his place.

Gavaskar paid tribute to Kapil
Dev’s bowling. “He varied his length according to the batsmen and was impossible
to score off. Most of the runs that were scored off him were through
edges.”

Gavaskar believes West Indies would have been tougher
opponents than Pakistan in the final. Luckily, India never met them as they were
in the other group and Pakistan beat them in the semis.

Gavaskar said
the Shastri-Srikkanth opening partnership had been forged during the series
against England. “Srikkanth was a destroyer. We continued with it and it allowed
us to have experienced batsmen in the middle order like Mohinder, Vengsarkar
besides myself with Kapil being the floater as per the situation. Mohd
Azharuddin had burst on the scene with three hundreds in a row against England.
People in Australia were eager to see him.”

Gavaskar also remembered
some funny moments of the final. “We pulled the legs of the Channel 9 crew.
Javed and I pretended to do the toss before commentator Ian Chappell came. He
had to do it, but was late. We had been waiting for him in the centre and we
could see how worried he was when he saw us flicking the coin. He was literally
jogging to the centre. Imagine his relief when he was told we had pulled a fast
one on him.”

Beating Pakistan was a matter of India outwitting them.
Gavaskar recalled: “Pakistan were nine down some 30 minutes before the interval.
I just ensured we didn’t have to bat the twenty minutes or so in case they were
all out half an hour before lunch by first calling on Ravi Shastri to bowl and
then pretending to change my mind and call Chetan over from deep square-leg, so
that two minutes before the half hour to lunch would be consumed and we didn’t
have to bat an awkward few minutes before supper.”

And the dressing
room atmosphere after the triumph? “Everyone was jumping, champagne was
bubbling, it was all over my head. The win was as fantastic a gift one could
expect on one’s last day as captain. And of course, the Audi. We had planned to
drive off in it leaving Ravi Shastri with the mike and the interviewer! But that
failed. Imagine Ravi running after us and the car he had won! He had not driven
an automatic gear car and I had to show him how and also be his navigator as the
players sitting on the bonnet blocked his view. He almost ran over the lensmen
who were right in our tracks.”

Gavaskar says above all there was
relief as the Indian team’s self-belief had been restored. “We had won the World
cup in England in 1983 and had won in Australia. We knew we could beat any team
anywhere.”

That’s the legacy that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team has
inherited catapulting them to the top echelons of the ICC rankings.