Benson and Hedges world championship 1985

[King]

I was watching this tourney and there was some very interesting things about that Indian team. Not once did they lose a game in that tourney. They beat New Zealand, West Indies, England and Paksitan of course (in the finals). I think that's about the game they played. India was not able to bowl out only one team through out the tourney i.e Pakistan. They got Paksitan down 9 wickets though. Pakistan got abouot 177 runs. Srikanth was the star of the tourney, he smacked every bowler that he came across. Ravi Shastri was awareded the man of the tourney though. India beat Pakistan by 8 wickets in the finals, a very comfortable victory. How come this tourney get enough mention among Indian cricket fan followers particularly having beat the arch rivals Pakistan hands down?

[King]

The Indian and Pakistani players were quite a sport then. They seem to enjoy each other's company, Gavaskar and Miandad went out for a dummy toss early in the day it seems to con people at the ground. You could even see Wasim Raja applauding Srikanth after he scored a brisk 50. When did it really start to get a bit ugly this India-Pakistan business? Perhaps invention of intenet changed it all.

[apocalypse]

Correct me if I am wrong but I think Srikanth started the concept of hitting in the earlier overs during the tournament

[Predator_05]

Siva and Sadanand Vishwanath were the real UNSUNG heroes of that team. It's a shame niether of them lasted long enough to make an impact at international level. All that talent, down the drain.

[King Tendulkar]

The Indian and Pakistani players were quite a sport then. They seem to enjoy each other's company, Gavaskar and Miandad went out for a dummy toss early in the day it seems to con people at the ground. You could even see Wasim Raja applauding Srikanth after he scored a brisk 50. When did it really start to get a bit ugly this India-Pakistan business? Perhaps invention of intenet changed it all.

No it was them blowing up and killing innocent indians which made things turn ugly ravi!

[Lurker]

1985 Benson & Hedges is my earliest cricketing memory. Was almost a toddler back then but can remember like yesterday. Some highlights that are tattooed in my brain: 1) Kapil Dev knocking off the Pakistan openers in the finals. He dismissed the openers and in walked Qasim Omar who was Pakistan's leading scorer in the tournament. Kapil took his middle stump with the most perfect yorker leaving Richie Benaud commentating, "thats the ball of the tournament". Pakistan did not come back from that situation and posted less than 200 which India chased with ease. 2) Against Australia Roger Binny ran through with Aussies at one time around 5 for 50 or less. They would somehow reach around 160 which India chased easily. For this match I remember we all got up at 4 am or so and by most accounts it was as perfect a start to day as any. 3) In a league match against Pakistan, Azharuddin the new golden-boy of cricket handled Pakistani greats Imran and Akram and scored a 90. I can still recall him walked to the middle, almost unsure as every Azhar's walk to the middle was, thin as a stick but recoiling like a cobra the moment ball left the ball of the bowler. By the way Ravi India did dismiss Pakistan all out in the league game so technically we dismissed every single country we played in the tournament. 4) Against New Zealand in the semi-finals India's chasing run was climbing. At one time it had gone up to 8 runs or so an over(quite a high run rate back then) with Hadlee firing on all cylinders(beleive he had something like 15-2 in 6 overs). Enter Kapil who smacked 4 fours in one over off Hadlee and went beserk. Dileep Vengsakar joined in the fun and India won easily. 5) In the finals after India won Shastri was given the Audi which he drove with almost every Indian player sitting inside, or on top, or bonnett. It was quite a team effort. Indian bowlers did a fantastic job, specially Kapil, Binny and Shiva. Openers - Sreekanth and Shastri almost always gave a great start with Amarnath and Vengsarkar providing support when needed. And Sadanand Vishwanath was brilliant behind the stumps! Only person who did not do anything of note was Sunny Gavaskar. By the way Ravi is there a way you can put some of the video of that series? Specially that of semis and finals?? xxx

[dial_100]

I remember the game against NZ was like 105 in 13 overs where they managed to finishh the game 5 balls to spare. Terrific Vengsarkar and Kapil. Yeah Ravi... Please.....find some thing for us. I would love to watch those games or any part.

[King]

By the way Ravi is there a way you can put some of the video of that series? Specially that of semis and finals??

I've found all the games Lurks. I will start from the first game and go on to the finals. This is the only tourney I watch without missing a ball of the highlights every time. Perhaps it could be to do with the coloured clothing, not losing a single game and the white ball.

[sahildesai]

Does anyone have highlights of this tournament?

[vvvslaxman]

youtube had few clips like L Siva foxing Miandad.

[vpg0002]

Surprising that the video's of this series is not available.

[vvvslaxman]

Surprising that the video's of this series is not available.

It was available. I think they took it out.

[CoverDrive]

My first memory if watching cricket and enjoying it. The colored clothing, broadcast quality with animated ducks/classic catch contests , the Audi as prize and Indias performance new me away. I particularly recall sadanand vishwanath being really good