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Published 14:23 IST, May 6th 2020

Ravi Shastri claims that India's 1985 team could easily challenge Virat Kohli's ODI team

Ravi Shastri said that there was no doubt that the team of 1985 would give any Indian team a run for their money, even Virat Kohli's current Indian team.

Reported by: Jatin Malu
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India head coach Ravi Shastri has made a huge claim by saying that the Indian team that won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket can give the current Indian team a tough challenge. Ravi Shastri recently opened up on the memorable victory and said that India played some of their best white-ball cricket between 1983 and 1985.

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Ravi Shastri makes huge claim about 1985 Indian team who won World Championship of Cricket

In 1983, India won its first-ever World Cup by beating the mighty West Indies at the iconic Lord’s against all expectations under the leadership of Kapil Dev. A lot of people said that the Indian victory was a fluke but the Indian team gave a solid answer to their critics when two years later, India lived up to their favourites tag by winning the World Championship of Cricket, beating Pakistan in the final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

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Sunil Gavaskar was the captain of the Indian team in the tournament where the team performed brilliantly as they crushed each and every opponent that came in its way. Notably, Ravi Shastri emerged as the best performer of the tournament and was named the Player of the Series. Ravi Shastri had won the Audi A6 car for his impeccable performances throughout the tournament and was famously crowned the 'Champion of Champions'.

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While speaking to Sony Sports, Ravi Shastri said that they won nearly alll big events at the world stage and added that it was an incredible, rare period India had as a team where they beat all their opponents across 3-4 years. He further said that they had got a unit that could play in all conditions. He even went on to say that the team of 1985 was a stronger team than the 1983 team under Kapil Dev.

Ravi Shastri, who was part of both the teams, said that they had 80 per cent of the 1983 World Cup-winning team. But some of the youngsters they had, such as Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Mohammad Azharuddin, came in to add to the experience they had. Ravi Shastri further said that there was no doubt that the team of 1985 would give any Indian team a run for their money, which even includes Virat Kohli's current Indian team. Co-incidentally, Shastri is the current head coach of Kohli's team.

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IMAGE COURTESY: BCCI.TV

Updated 14:23 IST, May 6th 2020

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