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.