Winning the first Asia Cup and my performance in it will always be remembered: Surinder Khanna

Jhansi, 13 April (Hindus). It was the day of 13 April 1984 when India won the Asia Cup for the first time under the leadership of Sunil Gavaskar by defeating its arch-rival Pakistan by 54 runs in which wicketkeeper batsman Surinder Khanna played an important role. The 36 year old incidents are still fresh in Khanna's mind.

India played this tournament without Kapil Dev, who made the team world champion a year ago. He was in Sharjah then but had to go to England for a knee operation.

Only three teams participated in this tournament. India defeated Sri Lanka by ten wickets in the first match. India bowled out Sri Lanka for 96 runs with the brilliant bowling of Madanlal, Chetan Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar. After this, Khanna (51 not out) and Ghulam Parkar (32) took the team to the finals with an easy win.

While talking to sports expert Brijendra Yadav, Khanna said, 'I was making a comeback then. Syed Kirmani was also included in the fifteen-man squad, but Gavaskar decided to keep me in the playing eleven. I was coming back after the 1979 World Cup and hence this tournament was very important for me. When I became man of the match in the first match after my return, the entire team celebrated it. Kapil was also involved in this.

India faced Pakistan in the final. India decided to bat first and scored 188 runs for four wickets in 46 overs. Opener Khanna again showed the magic of his bat and scored 56 runs. Apart from them, Sandeep Patil scored 43 runs and Gavaskar scored 36 not out. In response, Pakistan team was out for 134 runs in 39.4 overs. Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri took three wickets each, while four batsmen were run out.

Khanna said that 'there was a lot of grass on the pitch and it was not easy to bat. We were playing without Kapil, but we knew that we would be successful in defending our score. We had become champions in the first Asia Cup itself. When Gavaskar lifted the trophy, it was a memorable moment for us. I was adjudged the best player of the tournament, it was an important moment in my cricket career.