Ian Bishop picks West Indies and Pakistan as the WTC finalists of the 1980s

There is a lot of difference between the West Indies team of today and the West Indies team of the 80s. The Caribbean side stamped their authority in the gentleman’s game as they won the first ICC World Cup in 1975. The team also ruled the purest format of the game for almost two decades as West Indies didn’t lose a single Test match from 1980 to 1995, a record which still stands to date.

Thus, looking at the terrific line-up that West Indies had in the 80s, former West Indies speedster Ian Bishop backed his team to win the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship. Notably, the maiden WTC final is being played between India and New Zealand.

Both the teams have reached this stage after performing consistently in the purest format of the game for the past two years. While India finished the WTC league stage as the table-toppers, New Zealand found themselves sitting in second place.

Ian Bishop was involved in an interactive conversation with Sports presenter and Jasprit Bumrah’s wife Sanjana Ganesan. During the interaction, the former fast bowler was asked an interesting question regarding who would have won the WTC final if the event happened in the 1980s.

West Indies would have been the undisputed champions of Test cricket: Ian Bishop

Bishop was quick to respond as he picked his team as the favorites to lift the trophy. Speaking about the finalists, the veteran asserted that Pakistan would have made it to the final as West Indies considered them as one of their most lethal oppositions. 

“West Indies and at one point, and I sort of played only in the back end of the 1980s… But the great West Indies team was playing from 1979 to 1989-90. So I would think at times, Pakistan we considered our toughest opponent and sometimes Australia. But the West Indies would be in there for sure,” Bishop told Sanjana in a video posted by ICC. 

“The West Indies, definitely (would have won). Listen, don’t shout at me check the records. From 1980-81 to around the early 90s, the West Indies did not lose a single Test series, which is unparalleled in the history of Test match cricket. So undoubtedly, before rankings, before World Test Championship Finals, the West Indies would have been the undisputed champions of Test cricket,” Bishop concluded.

Who would have been the two finalists if the #WTC had taken place in the 1980s? 🤔

Can you guess @irbishi’s answer? 😉📽️ pic.twitter.com/Ao5wDHQqXz

— ICC (@ICC) June 21, 2021