Twelve long years and three editions later, the cricket World Cup left
the shores of England to move to the sub-continent with India and
Pakistan becoming the first co-hosts in 1987, that saw a new title
sponsor and produced a new champion.
The reign of 60-over matches
gave way to the 50-over format due to light conditions in the
sub-continent where eight teams -- seven Test playing countries and
winner of the ICC trophy Zimbabwe -- locked horns in the month long (Oct
8-Nov 8) tournament played across 24 venues -- 14 in India and 10 in
Pakistan. Of the 27 matches, India staged 17, Pakistan 10.
A new
look Australia, led by Allan Border, held their nerve in crunch
situations to lift the trophy before 95,000 cheering spectators -- the
largest in a World Cup game till then at the majestic Eden Gardens Nov
8.
The final -- staged away from Lord's for the first time -- was
evenly poised till England captain Mike Gatting lost his head and
attempted a reverse sweep that led to his side's downfall. England
eventually lost by seven runs with Australia opener David Boon adjudged
man-of-the-match for his knock of 75.
The game's strong following
in the sub-continent and India's title triumph in 1983 brought fans in
droves to the stadia throughout the event, though both co-hosts crashed
out in the semi-finals.
The cricketing world also watched with
awe the maturing of a young Australian side, who bowled great
restrictive stuff at the death and displayed a steely nerve in
plundering runs match-after-match during the slog overs. Steve Waugh had
arrived and in the coming years would go on to become one of the finest
all-rounders and captains to have come from the Aussie stable.
On
the other hand, it was the swansong for the legendary Indian opener
Sunil Gavaskar, who was playing his fourth World Cup. The technically
sound batsman scored his only ODI hundred in his penultimate innings,
notching up an unbeaten 103 against New Zealand. The century came as a
big relief for the extraordinary batsman, who had for the last 12 years
been facing criticism for the ignominious 36 runs he scored in 60 overs
in the inaugural World Cup.
Indian pacer Chetan Sharma achieved
the first hat-trick of the World Cup in the same game, seeing the back
of Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield off successive balls.
Gavaskar and Sharma were declared joint man-of-the-match as India sailed
into the last four with a nine-wicket victory.
After the match
an emotional Gavaskar said: "I had a sleepless night. I have been
struggling with migraine and fever on-and-off the field since Delhi. I
didn't think I had the talent or stamina that you need to keep running
in this sort of cricket. The talent to move away from stumps and still
play powerful shots was never in me. It is certainly a memorable day."
However,
the Indian fairy tale ended abruptly at the Wankhede stadium .
England's centurion Graham Gooch and Gatting (56) played the sweep shot
to telling effect against the two left-arm spinners -- Maninder Singh
and Ravi Shastri. After England finished at 254/6, India seemed on
target at 204/5 in 40 overs, but then collapsed suddenly to be all out
for 219.
The other semi-final at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore saw
Australia post 267/6 but Pakistan paid the price for a bad start to fold
up for 249.
The fourth World Cup, called the Reliance World Cup
after the new sponsors Reliance Industries, would remain etched in
memory for the sportsmanship shown by West Indies pacer Courtney Walsh
and India skipper Kapil Dev.
Turning out against Pakistan in a
Group B match in Lahore, two-time winners West Indies were skittled out
for only 216 in the face of some fiery bowling by Imran Khan, Saleem
Jaffar and Wasim Akram.
The match turned close and Pakistan
needed two runs for victory with only one ball remaining. Ace spinner
Abdul Qadir was on strike against Walsh.
When Walsh was about to
bowl, he found non-striker Saleem Jaffar out of the crease. The
Caribbean pacer could have run him out to clinch the game for the
Windies, but showing exemplary sportsmanship, Walsh just cautioned
Jaffar and went back to his run up. Qadir took two runs from the
delivery to put Pakistan in the semis and knock out the West Indies.
Later, Walsh was rewarded by the World Cup Committee. A commoner presented him a hand woven carpet for his generosity.
The
other incident occurred in the inaugural game featuring India and
Australia at Chepauk . Put in to bat, Australia had made a sound start,
courtesy a century plus opening stand between David Boon (49) and
man-of-the-match Geoff Marsh (110).
Dean Jones, who came in after
Boon's dismissal, pulled Maninder, and Shastri failed to take the catch
in the deep. In the process, the ball crossed the boundary.
The
umpire asked Shastri whether it was a four or a six, but Shastri was not
sure, and the umpires signalled a boundary. But the Australians
insisted it went over the boundary and took the matter to match referee
Hanif Mohammad.
At the lunch break, Kapil concurred with the
Australians and two more runs were added to the visitors' total, which
went up to 270. And astonishingly, India were all out for 269, and lost
the match by only one run!
(Kushal Chakraborty is a freelancer. He can be contacted at [email protected])
