Sports | The record breakers

Change was in the air. That became evident in the first weeks of 1985 itself when Mohammed Azharuddin, a wiry 21-year-old from Hyderabad with seemingly elastic wrists, hit three hundreds in his first three Tests—a feat unsurpassed till today). By March, India had announced to the world that 1983 was no ‘fluke’, winning the Benson & Hedges World Championship on a new stage where white balls, colour uniforms, DN (day-night) matches and new rules prevailed.And by 1987, the cricket world knew where the money was too, with the World Cup moving out of England for the first time, and Reliance coming onboard as sponsor. But for India’s sports fans, it was to be a so-near-yet-so-far kind of year, losing in the WC cricket semis and also getting blanked by the Swedes in the tennis Davis Cup final after much heroics to reach there. The year also saw an Indian colossus, Sunil Gavaskar, hanging up his pads, having by then broken many of the Test batting records of the time. Gavaskar in 1986 | Azharuddin, after his second Test ton in Chennai, ’85 Tendulkar in 1989 But as one Little Master left the pitch, another was set to take strike. Sachin Tendulkar was a tender 16 in 1989 as he took guard at the crease, showing ‘remarkable composure’ against a hostile Pakistan attack. By the 1990 tour of England and the ‘magisterial’ 119 n.o. at Old Trafford, comparisons were already being drawn with the young SG. The legend only grew from there.Meanwhile, the ‘Payyoli Express’ was lighting up the track-and-field arenas. After the 1100th of a second heartbreak at the 1984 Olympics, P.T. Usha came back with bagfuls of golds at the 1985 Asian Athletics meet (100m, 200m, 400m and 4x400m) and the 1986 Seoul Asiad, with chants of ‘Usha, Usha’ ringing out in the stadium. Luck, though, deserted her again at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a heel injury laying low her plans before the finals. Usha continued to compete (a last gold came at the 1998 Asian C’ships), but never hit that worldbeater stride again..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}In other sporting news, a young Vishwanathan Anand was making lightning-fast moves on the chessboard, becoming the Junior World Champion and India’s first Grandmaster in 1987, when he was just 18. Anand would go on to qualify for his first Candidates tournament (to see who challenges the champion) in 1993 but would lose to ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov in the quarters. Time, though, would prove that the future five-time world champion was just warming up.Closing out 1994, there was heartbreak for Indian cricket fans. Kapil Dev, India’s, and perhaps the world’s, finest all-rounder, announced he was leaving the field. The country never could find a player to fill those shoes again.- EndsPublished By: Yashwardhan SinghPublished On: Jan 3, 2026

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Sports | The record breakers

Sunny, Kapil, Azhar, Sachin, Usha, Vishy—names that came to be forever etched in India's sporting history

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