Over to you - responses

Which do you think was the better team: that of '83 or '85?

Name: Diwakar
Comment: Certainly the 1985 team was better than the 1983 team in the context that the 1985 team had variety apart from the 1983 heroes(not to demean the stalwarts of the winning world cup team.) Eg : 1. Leg spin of L. Shivaramkrishnan. 2. Athletic fielding of Md. Azzarhuddin. 3. Agility of wkt keeper S. Vishwanath (more of a one-day cricket specialist) 4. We had a clean winning record (we beat every team that we played except WI & SL because we didn't happen to play them); while we lost a couple of matches in 1983. 5. Victories in Australia are ranked higher than those in England.

Name: Navin
Comment: My vote goes to 1985 team. When India won the world cup 83 no one was thinking about that. Team performed to win the matches as Kapil said at that team. No one was thinking about the finals. It was more like to win the matches than to win a cup. Matter was reversed in 1985. Besides India lost the Test series at home against England but in the Australia they were called World Cup champion. This was a big pressure and team performed under that condition. Besides that in that series team played as a champion whom to defeat was nearly impossible. I therefore vote for the 1985 team.

Name: Dilip N. Patkar
Comment: The Indian cricket team of 1985 was certainly the best. I still recall the expressions of surprise and disbelief from the commentators at India dismissing most sides for under-200 scores, with some controlled, disciplined and consistent medium fast bowling. The batsmen, in turn, accomplished their task without much fuss. One must, however, remember that the confidence and self-belief the team members displayed owed considerably to the 1983 team's magnificent achievements in winning the World Cup. Top class fielding of 1985 team also was the fallout of brilliant fielding performance of 1983 team.

Name: Murali Krishna Devarakonda
Comment: Near-perfect execution from the Indian team. How often can you say that? And that's what you can say about the 1985 team led by Sunil Gavaskar. Luck didn't win us any games here. The opposition didn't throw away any games they had nearly won by underestimating India and getting carried away-, which is what happened in the 1983 final. West Indies threw the game away- it wasn't a winning total that we has set them to chase, nor did we blow them out of the game with our bowling- they simply threw it away. To our credit, we smelled blood with the fall of a couple of wickets, and kept the pressure on. At best, the 1983 team was a determined one, that believed in itself, and didn't lose any chances that came it's way- it certainly wasn't the best team in the tournament. We struggled to reach the finals after nearly losing to lowly Zimbabwe, for crying out loud! On the other hand, the 1985 team demolished the opposition. Every match was executed perfectly with the opening right from the first ball with Srikkanth and Shastri opening, and playing to a script that suited our game. We weren't the best team in the tournament either, especially in the bowling department, but we were a team on song, and in any given match, by sticking to a well-thought out game plan and executing with near-perfection, this team knocked out every single opponent CONVINCINGLY. So, the only remaining question that remains is: "Would the 1985 team have beaten the 1983 team?" The answer is a resounding, thunderous, unequivocal, YES! Curiously, both Madan Lal and Ashok Malhotra clearly described the 1985 team as the better team- going simply by their analysis of the two teams. But both of them chickened out when it came time to pronounce judgement- I suspect these two are answering a question different from the one I'm answering; they're answering the following question: "Which victory was more important in the history of Indian cricket". And if that were the question, I'd agree with them that the 1983 win was more important, for reasons well enunciated by Madan Lal. But THAT'S NOT the question. So, neither is the answer. The Indian team led by Sunil Manohar Gavaskar that blew the competition out of the ground in the 1985 Benson & Hedges Championship is the best Indian team ever to take part in any championship!

Name: Sanjay Mudur
Comment: The main team members were same for 1983 and 1985. In 1983, we did have a memorable win, but we shouldn't forget that we were termed the underdogs. No one expected us to win. There was no pressure at all. Teams like Australia and West Indies might have got overconfident. We just can't rule out these possibilities. Our 1983 team had nothing to lose. On the other hand, India was already a world champion since 1983 and carried this pressure through the 1985 series. Very much true of the champions, India beat all the teams pretty convincingly. We got all teams "all out" except once again Pakistan (9 wickets). We fielded very well, our batting paved way for a new concept of hard hitting in the first 15 overs (thanks to Sunny for the tact and Srikantth for the action). Having known his limitations, Sunny pushed himself down the batting order to number 6(I think), and this is great captaincy. We had perfect set of bowling attack and perfect blend of batsmen in Sri, Shastri, Vengy, Jimmy, Kapil, Sunny and occasionally Sadanand (his wicket keeping was awesome). So...I do not see any aspect where I could say "this wasn't good". Now you tell me which was the best team... undoubtedly, 1985.

Name: Mohan
Comment: I agree with Wisden. Winning World Cup in 1983 was a wonderful feat and that win made the world to look up and notice Indian one-day cricket team. However, I think the 1985 victory was near perfect. At the end of the tournament, no one was in doubt that Indian team was the best team in the tournament by a distance. And no other Indian team after that team came anywhere close to that performance.

Name: Ramesh Srinivasan
Comment: We are not discussing which trophy is more valuable - but which team was the strongest. There is no doubt that the 1985 team was by far the best that India has ever fielded. Kapil's devils won each match with a never-die attitude; everybody chipped in with a 20 here; a wicket there. They were the underdogs and no match was won until the final shot or wicket. They clung on desperately and won. In striking contrast, Sunny's 1985 team was supremely confident. They didn't break a sweat. Anyone could win a match single-handedly. They bowled out everyone and won with overs to spare. They were the favorites. Gavaskar was supremely composed as a captain in the 1985 World Series Championship. He was decisive and shrewd. Cheeka (Srikanth) was at his very best, blasting every bowler to all parts of the ground. Shastri's limitations to stroke-making turned out to be a perfect complement to Cheeka and they had an exceptional tournament. Binny and Kapil got the early breakthroughs in every match. I still vividly remember the match against Australia where Binny bowled a few through the gate. The spin bowling of L. Shiva was mesmerizing and the keeping of Sadanand Vishy was simply breath-taking. His zeal and alertness is something I am yet to see in any other keeper. Moments I cant forget in the 1985 WSC: 1) Shiva getting the great Miandad stumped 2) With the asking rate very high and none of the Indian batsmen being able to score briskly, Jeff Crowe drops Kapil when he hadn't scored much. The commentator says "There goes the match" and what a prophecy it turned out to be. Kapil hammers Hadlee for 20-odd runs in a single over and India wins. 3) Sunny's captaincy, calming presence and keeping everyone in control, in the death overs, including when Cheeka drops a sitter in the deep 4) Cheeka's extraordinary six of Azeem Hafiz in the finals.

Name: Rishi Chawla
Comment: In my view, 1985 team was the best Indian cricket team. The 1983 team taught us that India could win. It gave us the "eye of the tiger" killer instinct approach, but by 1985 we nurtured it and become more mature and professional at winning games. Nobody can take the honor from the 1983 team, however 1985 team was the best. But from a team standpoint, the 1985 champions will rank the best just because of the authoritative nature of the wins that were compiled. The viciousness of the defeats were clearly visible in the Pak camp when during the awards ceremony a few of the Pak players were annoyed posing for photographers. Sure, we won all the matches but what was more interesting was we did it with both the bat and the ball consistently. Getting teams out for less than 200 in the batsmen friendly Aussie pitches and then finishing off the games with a loss of a couple of wickets and overs to spare was like the order of the day for the Indian team. The way they conducted themselves on the field. I remember especially a catch that Srikkanth missed against NZ in the semis and Gavaskar was mad at him. But the person who was really disappointed was Kris himself. A few balls later he made a similar catch. The commitment to win was one aspect that everybody had and they truly believed in it.

Name: Karthik
Comment: I think that there's no point in arguing this, If we call 83 team as the best how can we defend that team losing to Windies 6-1 just after the world cup in India? If 85 is the best then why didn't India win any cup after that for a long time. I would tell that there were better teams, which provided consistent display than these teams. I would call the period between 1994-1996, we were winning a lot and then in 1998 when Azhar took over from Sachin, we started winning again. Azhar is the most successful captain in terms of victories in tests and one-dayers, Sourav is all set to beat that. We display consistent performance every time (consistency strictly compared to the previous ones). We had one or few victories like 1971 in Windies, in England, 1986 in England, 1983 in world cup and 1985 in Australia. But they happened at very long intervals and there were enough losses in the middle. So stop screaming about 1983 world cup team and all bullshit, just because we got a world cup. Sri Lanka won a world cup in 1996 and were devastating in that whole year. We lost 6-1 in India against West Indies, which shows what happened in 1983 was a miracle.

Name: N.S.Bharath
Comment: There was a fundamental difference between the two teams. The team of 1983 were surprised to find themselves in the final, leave alone winning. The 1985 team was the other way round. Infact in the match against New Zealand in the semis, it was only surprising that India struggled initially but then the records were set straight. The team was confidence personified which has not happened since that time.