1984-85 Series saw England visiting India for 5 tests and winning by 2-1. The series saw two major development for India. First was the controversy that stopped Kapil from creating a record and second was the debut of Azharuddin who went on to hit record 3 consecutive centuries in debut tests.
India Vs England History: Test Series Result
India Vs England 1984-85 Series: Statistics & Record
India Vs England 1984-85 Series: Test Results
3rd Test was the controversial test match where Kapil Dev was not included in the playing XI when he was set to create a record of playing 100 consecutive tests. Gavaskar was the captain and media blamed it on his old rivalry with Kapil.
Bowlers
The magic of Sivaramakrishnan did not help much as other Indian bowlers failed. With 23 wickets, he was the best bowler of the series. Kapil (10), N Yadav (9), Shastri (5), G Sharma (4), Amarnath (2) and Manoj Prabhakar (1) got wickets. Indian bowlers took 57 English wickets.
English players took 64 wickets. Edmonds, Cowans and Foster (14 wickets each) were the leading wickettakers. Pocock (13), Ellison and Cowdrey (4 each) and Lamb (1 each) grabbed wickets in the series.
Batting
English batsmen cherished the Indian ground and attack. The top order aggregated high totals. Gatting with 576 runs was the leading scorer of the series. Opener Robinson (444) and Fowler (438) broke the Indian attack. They were involved in two huge opening partnerships. Lamb (241), Downton (183), Gower (167) and Edmonds (159) were other batsmen to cross 100-run in the series.
Indian batsmen, on the other hand struggled. Except the record three centuries by Azharuddin they could not pose much as a team. Azhar (439) with 3 centuries and a half-century, Mohinder Amarnath (406) and Ravi Shastri (374) were the top three scorers for India. Kirmani (291), Vengasarkar (284), Kapil Dev (253), Gavaskar (147), Srikkanth (141 in 4 innings) were other prominent scorers.
Captains
Gavaskar failed miserably scoring 147 runs in 9 innings and also getting blamed for using his power as captain to prevent Kapil Dev from achieving record appearances in Test cricket. Gower also failed scoring only 167 runs in 7 innings.
Wicketkeepers
Downton could not impress much with his 183 runs hitting two half-centurires in 6 innings. Kirmani on the other hand was India’s fourth highest scorer of the series aggregating 291 runs with the help of a century and a half-century.
Allrounder
For the third consecutive series, Kapil Dev emerged as the best allrounder of the series.
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