Here’s why Ravi Shastri rated India’s Australia Test series win over 1983 World Cup triumph

Ravi Shastri was extensively trolled for his remarks in the aftermath of the drawn Sydney Test that ensured a 2-1 series win for India against Australia

Updated on: Feb 5, 2019, 18:53:07 IST

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By HT Correspondent

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India registered a historic Test series win over Australia on their home turf last year. The visitors’ 2-1 triumph in the four-match series was their first Down Under in 11 trips spanning 71 years. The historic nature of defeating the cricketing superpowers on their own turf is hard to overestimate.

File photo of India coach Ravi Shastri. (AFP)

And Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri went on to rate the achievements of Virat Kohli’s men above the 1983 World Cup campaign, when India became world champions for the first time in their history.

Here’s what he said: “I will tell you how satisfying it is for me. World Cup 1983, World Championship of Cricket 1985 - this is as big, or even bigger, because it is in the truest (Test) format of the game. It’s Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest”.

Shastri was extensively trolled for his remarks in the aftermath of the drawn Sydney Test that ensured a 2-1 series win for India.

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However, in an interview with Cricbuzz, Shahstri has defended his comments.

“In 1983, I was in the dressing room. In 1985, I was in the dressing room. In 2018-19, I was in the dressing room. Why do I rate this? Because Test cricket is the purest form and we came to Australia as heavy weight champions of Test cricket, home and away. We were not favourites - no team can come to Australia as favourites because Australia will chew them out. But we were not underdogs to come and surprise them either. We came as number one Test side and we played as the number one Test side, and we won,” the Indian coach said.

Following their Test triumph, Kohli’s side went on to win the three-match ODI series 2-1 against Australia and followed it up with a comprehensive 4-1 win in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand.

India will now look to win the three-match T20 series against the Black Caps with the first game due to be played in Wellington on Wednesday.

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