Remembering India's first ever World Cup win in 1983, this day 35 years ago

Yashpal Sharma batting against Australia

India's Game #6: vs Australia, Group Stage

If losing two games in a row drained a lot of hope from the Indians, the win against Zimbabwe helped in restoring it a little bit, as the Indians found themselves facing the Australians for a second time, soon afterwards. At 3 wins and 2 losses, India were tied to second place in the group with Australia, and the win actually decided who went into the next stage of the tournament.

It was equal pressure for both the Indians and the Australians from a tournament-point-of-view, but according to the Indians they had exceeded their own expectations already, and that helped in reducing the effect of the pressure on them - which helped, as evident from the end result, as the Aussies literally crumbled in front of the Indian brigade.

Winning the toss, India opted to bat first, as for the first time in the whole tournament, every Indian batsman exhibited a good batting display, most of them scoring in the 20s or above. Yashpal Sharma top-scored once again with 40 off 40, while Sandeep Patil scored 30 off 25. The duo's middle order partnership proved vital as India went on to score 247 runs in 60 overs. The Aussie bowlers bowled 37 extras.

The real Indian display came in the second innings, with clinical displays from Madan Lal (4 for 20 in 8.2) and Roger Binny (4 for 29 in 8) cleaned up the Aussies for 129 runs in 38.2 overs. The 118 run margin of win for the Indians was their highest so far against Aussies till date. Roger Binny was adjudged Man-of-the-match for his four wickets and 21 runs while batting first.

The win meant that India will go on to the semifinals along with Windies from Group B, while Pakistan and England advanced from Group A. India were to face England in the first semi-final.