OTD: Australia registered close victory against India in Chennai during 1987 Cricket World Cup 

Allan Border’s team had won the 1987 World Cup by beating its arch-rivals England in the final. The defending champions heading into that year’s World Cup were India who had won the 1983 tournament. 

The Indian team led by Kapil Dev took on Australia in Chennai on the 9th of October 1987. It was the third match of the tournament. The Indian team had some huge names like Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Kapil Dev the skipper. 

India won the toss and chose to bowl first on a hot day in Chennai. This was the first World Cup where the duration of an ODI game was supposed to be 50 overs. The match lived to its top billing and produced a humdinger of a contest.

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David Boon and Geoff Marsh began the innings well and added 110 runs for the first wicket. Interestingly Mitchell Marsh the son of Geoff Marsh had also begun by opening the innings against India on Sunday. David Boon was out for 49 when he was trapped in front of the wicket off the bowling of Ravi Shastri. 

Geoff Marsh meanwhile batted well to score a sublime century before falling for 110. His innings came off 141 deliveries with 7 fours and a huge six. Dean Jones then took over as he scored quickfire 39 runs with 2 fours and 2 sixes. One of those sixes changed the course of the game. 

Ravi Shastri had informed the umpires at the interval he felt his leg had touched the boundary. The Australians were given six runs as the score was changed 270 during the interval. 

Chasing 271 for a win, Sunil Gavaskar took the attack to the opposition scoring 32-ball 37 with 6 fours and a six. Srikkanth too was aggressive scoring 70 runs off 83 balls, the top scorer for India was Sidhu with 73. 

Craig McDermott kept taking wickets at regular intervals including that of Sidhu, Vengsarkar, and Azharuddin. The Australians kept the Indian middle-order under pressure with some tight bowling and field. 

The home fans were heartbroken when they lost the game a single run.  The fans wondered if only Shastri could have taken the catch India would have won the game in what was an exciting encounter between the two teams.