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Kapil Dev

Nothing engages the community of cricket players, experts, critics and fans as the biggest tournament of them all – the ICC World Cup. And this year, the tournament returns to the sub-continent making it an even more delightful prospect for local fans.  In the run up to the tournament that begins February 19, bcci.tv’s Akshay Manwani takes a look at India’s fortunes at the carnival of cricket over its previous nine editions.
1975: Hosts – England; Winners – West Indies
Played between eight nations, including East Africa, the inaugural World Cup of the limited overs format was an innovation that took some time getting used to. India struggled right through, winning just one game, against minnows East Africa.  Sunil Gavaskar put up an inglorious performance in the opening game of the tournament, scoring an unbeaten 36 runs while India unsuccessfully attempted to chase down the English total of 334/4 in 60 overs.  Clive Lloyd’s sparkling century (102 off 108 balls) in the final helped the West Indies beat Australia by 17 runs and lift the first ever World Cup.
1979: Hosts – England; Winners – West Indies
Canada replaced East Africa as the designated minnows for the competition. India lost all three of its group games, against West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and so failed to qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition. Viv Richards followed up Clive Lloyd’s act from the previous World Cup final. He blasted his way to a 157-ball 138 which set up a 92-run win for West Indies against England to give them their second consecutive World Cup victory.
1983: Hosts – England; Winners – India
The tournament that ushered in a new era for the game in India, if not the entire sub-continent. Putting the disappointments of the previous campaigns behind them, India stunned everyone by beating the mighty West Indies and the Australians in the league stage. Somewhere in between those upsets, Kapil Dev, the Indian captain, played one of the all-time great one-day innings. Coming in to bat with the score at 17 for 5 against Zimbabwe in a league game at Tunbridge Wells, Dev stroked a blustery 175 off 138 balls to set India on the course to victory. England, too, were humbled in the semi-final by the Indians. But when India scored just 183 while batting first in the final against West Indies, no one disputed the Caribbean’s chances of making it three in a row. Then Balwinder Sandhu bowled Gordon Greenidge off a wonderful in-swinger, Kapil Dev took a magnificent catch running backwards to get rid of Viv Richards and Jimmy Amarnath took 3/12 in his seven overs to give India a most improbable 43-run victory. The nation has been celebrating ever since.
1987: Hosts – India and Pakistan; Winners – Australia
India romped through the league stage of the tournament, losing just once to Australia in their first game of the tournament by an agonising one-run margin. Yet the prospect of a grand finale seemed possible when both India and Pakistan reached the semi-final stage. However, India were trumped by a Graham Gooch century in their semi-final encounter against England, while Pakistan were stranded in their run chase against Australia by Craig McDermott’s 5/44. Allan Border’s men were to emerge victorious against their Ashes foes in the final to bring in a new era of Australian dominance over the game of cricket.
1992: Hosts – Australia and New Zealand; Winners – Pakistan
Coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches and the introduction of fielding restrictions – the 1992 edition was the prototype of the new age World Cup. Australia, favourites to win from the beginning, were disappointing. India didn’t fare much better either, the only saving grace for the side being the win over arch rivals Pakistan in a closely contested game that became famous for Javed Miandad’s antics. New Zealand and England, playing consistently well right through, were favourites to reach the final. England made it to the big game but were trumped by Imran Khan’s lads. Having discovered form late in the tournament, Pakistan went on to lift their first ever World Cup victory.
1996: Hosts – India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; Winners – Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, riding on the strength of their batting order, were the spectacle of the tournament. Their openers blitzed while the middle-order built on the foundation set by them. India beat Pakistan in a quarter-final game in Bengaluru, best remembered for Ajay Jadeja’s breathtaking assault on Waqar Younis. But they struggled to chase down the total set by Sri Lanka in the semi-final on a deteriorating Eden Gardens wicket. The match referee awarded the semi-final to Sri Lanka after crowd trouble disrupted the game. Aravinda de Silva produced an all-round performance in the final against Australia to help Sri Lanka become the only host nation to win the World Cup.
1999: Hosts – England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Netherlands; Winners – Australia
Sachin Tendulkar had to return midway through the tournament owing to the demise of his father, but scored a memorable century upon his return against Kenya. Tendulkar’s absence was just the catalyst Zimbabwe needed to upset India, a result that barred India’s progress to the semi-final stage in spite of them beating England and Pakistan in two keenly contested games. Australia, having been defeated by New Zealand and Pakistan in the league stage, pulled off seven consecutive victories, including a thrilling tie against South Africa in the semi-final. This was the first of their three consecutive World Cup wins.
2003: Hosts – South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya; Winners – Australia
India, following a crushing loss to Australia early in the league stage, played superbly thereafter. Sachin Tendulkar scored 673 runs over the course of 11 games; Ashish Nehra produced figures of 6/23 against England; while Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh played some tremendous supporting roles. The only problem for an in-form team India was an even better Australian side who tore into the former’s bowling in the final by scoring 359 runs. India lost that game by 125 runs, but after eight consecutive victories in the lead up to the final, it was a summer with no regrets for Indian fans. Tendulkar’s 75-ball 98 against Pakistan at Centurion in the league stage remains an enduring memory from that World Cup.
2007: Hosts – West Indies; Winners – Australia
Following two shock defeats, to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, India couldn’t make it past the league stage of the competition. It was India’s worst performance at a World Cup for a long time. Australia, though, carried the form of the previous two editions into this tournament as they remained unbeaten right through to the final. In the rain-truncated final, Adam Gilchrist, batting with a squash ball in his glove, scored 149 runs off just 104 deliveries against Sri Lanka to propel Australia to its third consecutive World Cup victory.

source: bcci.tv
 

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