When the 11th ICC Cricket World Cup kicks off on Valentine’s Day of 2015 at Melbourne, it would have been about 40 years since the quadrennial tournament began in 1975. On June 7, 1975, the day the first tournament opened, four matches were played- England vs India at Lord’s; Pakistan vs Australia at Headingley in Leeds; East Africa vs New Zealand in Birmingham and Sri Lanka vs West indies in Manchester. The sub-continent teams, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, began their World Cup with losses, but for cricket, a tradition was set which continues to date, and which has contributed immensely to cricketing folklore.
The first two World Cups remain memorable, essentially due to the absolute dominance of the West Indies team. Led by the redoubtable Clive Lloyd, the men from the Caribbean just blew away the competition, if any. Backed by their battery of fearsome fast bowlers, and an equally daunting batting line-up featuring skipper Clive Lloyd, openers Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, Alvin Kallicharran and Vivian Richards, the West Indies fielded men who never took a step back. India’s performance in the first two tournaments was abysmal, with the team losing five of six matches it played across two tournaments.
So, India began the 1983 tournament with no expectations under the leadership of the young all-rounder, Kapil Dev. It surprised everyone (including probably themselves) when India began its campaign by beating the defending champions West Indies by 34 runs! Yashpal Sharma top scored for India with 89 to help post a challenging 262, while Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri (team director of the current team) took the Windies out for just 228. Later, in the group stage, India thrashed the formidable Australian team by 118 runs—Binny again doing the damage with four wickets.
The defining moment in the tournament came against Zimbabwe, when batting first, India was tottering a beaters in unfamiliar conditions, and triumphed. India beat England in the semis, and despite posting a paltry 183 in the final against the defending champions, romped home audaciously. The image of Kapil Dev lifting the ‘Prudential Cup’ at the Lord’s balcony became the defining image for Indian cricket.
The 1987 World Cup was the first time the tournament was hosted outside England. The dust bowls of the subcontinent- India and Pakistan, were joint hosts- were vastly different from the seaming wickets in England. The hosts topped their groups, and drew different opponents in the semifinal. A dream India vs Pakistan final at Eden Gardens in Calcutta was on the cards before eventual winners Australia took out Pakistan, while India was swept aside by England skipper Graham Gooch’s dominating innings of 115. Australia beat their old enemies England by a slender margin of seven runs.
From this point on, subcontinental teams became a dominating force in world cricket and all the World Cups from 1992 onwards have featured one of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka in the finals. It is quite another story that Australia ended up winning three of six finals in this period!
While the 1987 edition saw the introduction of 50 over matches— ODIs before that were 60-overs-a-side affairs— the 1992 edition saw another innovation, which stuck and made the action more television friendly, like coloured clothing for the teams! South Africa came out of political isolation and joined the league of big boys straight away. Their brand of aggressive cricket backed by some electric fielding by the likes of Jonty Rhodes and Brian McMillan made cricket enthralling for all. Cricket has evolved with each World Cup: 1992 and 1996 saw innovative batting by Mark Greatbatch and Sanath Jayasurya during the fielding restrictions, 1999 had the enthralling sight of Shoaib Akhtar running in from the boundary to bowl thunderbolts at almost 100 miles an hour. In 1999, Lance Klusener showed the world how you needed a clinical finisher down the order, something that all the good teams boast of right now. Pakistan won the 1992 edition, Sri Lanka in 1996 and then Australia began its invincible run, which went from 1999 to 2007.
Sourav Ganguly’s men had a dream run in 2003 in South Africa right up to the final, where they ran into a marauding Ricky Ponting, while every Indian cricket fan (and some players, too) are in denial about the existence of the 2007 World Cup. The year 2011 saw the return of the World Cup to the subcontinent, and India began the tournament as clear favourites, but stumbled in the group stages. India played out a tie against England in Bangalore – a match in which India’s batsmen, led by a Sachin Tendulkar century, helped post 338, but bowler’s lost the initiative against some aggressive batting.
A tie left both teams unhappy, more so for the visitors as they would go on to lose the next match against the unheralded Irish team. India lost to South Africa again, after posting a 300 plus total, but got their act together then sailed through to comfortable victories in the knock-out stages against the defending champions Australians and arch rivals Pakistan.
Facing Sri Lanka in the finals was a tricky proposition, as both the teams had played against each other in the run-up to the tournament a number of times, and were familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Batting first, Mahela Jayawardene scored a century to help Sri Lanka post a daunting 274. India’s chase began disastrously with Lasith Malinga getting Virender Sehwag out in the very first over, and India’s talisman of the tournament, Sachin Tendulkar walked back to the pavilion with the score reading 31. MS Dhoni then did something that only he could, promoted himself after the fall of Virat Kohli’s wicket in the 22nd over and along with Gautam Gambhir took India home. Although Gambhir got out, falling short of a well-deserved century, a win was almost certain by then.
Down under in 2015 things may not be easy, but the Indian team has had a fair time to acclimatise. They have a fair chance of performing well at the World Cup. Here’s to hoping that the new era of Indian cricket begins on a high note.
(In arrangement with The Man)