5 iconic India-Australia clashes in World Cup cricket

India vs Australia at Chennai, 1987 Reliance World Cup

Sidhu smashed 73 but could not help India win

Among one of the epic India-Australia matches in World Cups was their Group A clash in the 1987 World Cup hosted jointly by India and Pakistan. It was the first of two humdingers between the two teams in back-to-back ODI World Cups.

Australia batted first and a century by the great Geoff Marsh propelled their score to a huge 270 for 6 in their 50 overs. Manoj Prabhakar was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 2 for 47.

India's top order trio of Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth and Navjot Singh Sidhu gave the Indians a perfect platform to chase down the target of 271. While Gavaskar scored 37 off 32, Srikkanth and Sidhu got 70 and 73 respectively.

Big Aussie paceman Craig McDermott brought his team back in the match by picking up 4 quick wickets and destroying the backbone of the Indian batting line-up. Despite dominating the match at one stage, India eventually lost the World Cup encounter by an agonising margin of 1 run.