The World Cup got off to a spectacular start, courtesy the opening ceremony in Bangladesh. But as always the cricket has been average for the first 3 matches. The India Bangladesh match promised a lot due to the historical significance of 2007 encounter. When Sehwag put his first ball away for four, the die was cast for Bangladesh. The decision to bat first by Shakib was probably more influenced by his spinners not being able to grip the ball due to the dew effect. Also statistics would have played a major part in it where this ground favoured the side batting second. Statistics never lie so they say, but the conditions and the Indian batting line up has changed so much that it is virtually impossible to chase down 350 + scores that they put up even if you are Australia. India's bowling needs some tweak possibly by bringing Ashwin to bowl opening spells with Zaheer but you would get caught out if there is something in the surface for pacers with only Munaf in the lineup. Still the diehard Indian fan would miss DADA and Irfan as the allrounder option !!!
The second match was a disaster for Kenya and NZ batsmen didnt get anything out of it by way of batting practice. So much for minnows playing in the World cup and instead of proving ICC wrong , these teams are reaffirming the decision to cut down the teams. One of my friends tweeted that school children should have been let free for the match. Atleast 1 stand could have been free and reserved for this category in all matches is my take. Let us set a trend which could be followed all over the cricketing world..
Canada versus SriLanka a tweet said was Punjab vs Srilanka , considering the number of people born outside and now playing for Canada, Balaji Rao playing for Canada after playing in Chennai being one of them . When the scoreboard said WDBR bowling to DPMDJ , it made interesting reading for the number of letters of the english alphabet being used even in abbreviated form. I had decided to watch the Canada innings till Cheema was around to get an idea of how effective his hitting skills are and he didnt disappoint is the verdict. This match also showed the inefficiency of the UDRS system being used in its current form in this tournament. Atleast bring on the SNICKO !! . We could also do with Bill Lawry and Mark Nicholas in the commentary team to add the extra Pepsi fizz to this tournament. Probably the upcoming matches will promise more in terms of cricketing value...
Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
2007 - The Disappointing World Cup
As the World Cup moved to West Indies , everyone was excited. ICC was trying to expand the reach of the game and no better place than West Indies which was very close to North America , the hotbed for consumption and where marketing would definitely help in getting television revenues. So they thought and it was upto all the elements to prove it wrong. The spectators who were denied of their customary accessories ( in West Indies they come in droves and with music and beer ) and tickets were priced ridiculously high which negated the prospect of having good crowds. The weather had to be favorable for the tournament to succeed and it was not. India and Pakistan had to to at least progress to the S - 8's and they did exactly the opposite.
People from subcontinent who were living in America had already booked their tickets to watch their respective team matches and they were hugely disappointed with the first match between India and Bangladesh. Watching on TV at uncomfortable timings, Indians were in for a rude shock when the strong batting line up on paper was found wanting against the Bangladesh slow bowlers. When Tamim Iqbal started blazing away at the Indian seam attack , the damage was done and Indian dream of moving past the 1st round was shattered.
The other team which ICC expected to get through was Pakistan and they had an early setback with the mystery death of their coach Bob Woolmer . When they lost to West Indies in the first match, they had a must win game against Ireland and their batting was found wanting once again in the face of good swing bowling.
With India and Pakistan out of the tournament, the only team which remained among the super powers was Sri Lanka and they did not disappoint. The West Indies board was hoping that Chris Gayle's team would come through to the semi finals and they belied their initial promise and expectations to lose some of their crucial encounters. The semi final line up was not too great to read and the favourites Sri Lanka and Australia easily won their matches .
The final was characterised by Adam Gilchrist's golf ball gloves ( to get a better grip !!! ) century. Again a big century in the final by an Australian made the match a cakewalk for Australia but not before rain interrupted drama and D/L methods being used. Sri Lanka had too much to chase like India in 2003 and they were found wanting in the finals . It must be said though that Srilanka have made it a habit of reaching the qualifying stages of the World Cup without much ado and are one of the top ODI teams in the world.
This is a world cup where I hardly remember any match in great detail , this is possibly because of the ridiculous timings of the matches and weather not being very favourable for cricket. Mcgrath's man of the series award was a reward for his tireless , hardly acknowledged match winning efforts ( possibly in his entire career !! ) . ICC as expected was blamed for the long , boring, dreary , damp World Cup and they were not the only one to lose revenue. ESPN Star the official broadcasters were left in shambles after this dismal tournament and hoped for the other ICC events of 20-20 etc to bail them out.
As expected after such a huge loss, the cash cow had to be milked again and the World cup moved back to India, Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to improve the balance sheets. The ODI format is in danger of becoming extinct due to the 20-20 fever and this could be the last chance of resurrection and redressal. However the millions hope that the 28 year itch ends this time and we break some established myths of home teams not winning the tournament
People from subcontinent who were living in America had already booked their tickets to watch their respective team matches and they were hugely disappointed with the first match between India and Bangladesh. Watching on TV at uncomfortable timings, Indians were in for a rude shock when the strong batting line up on paper was found wanting against the Bangladesh slow bowlers. When Tamim Iqbal started blazing away at the Indian seam attack , the damage was done and Indian dream of moving past the 1st round was shattered.
The other team which ICC expected to get through was Pakistan and they had an early setback with the mystery death of their coach Bob Woolmer . When they lost to West Indies in the first match, they had a must win game against Ireland and their batting was found wanting once again in the face of good swing bowling.
With India and Pakistan out of the tournament, the only team which remained among the super powers was Sri Lanka and they did not disappoint. The West Indies board was hoping that Chris Gayle's team would come through to the semi finals and they belied their initial promise and expectations to lose some of their crucial encounters. The semi final line up was not too great to read and the favourites Sri Lanka and Australia easily won their matches .
The final was characterised by Adam Gilchrist's golf ball gloves ( to get a better grip !!! ) century. Again a big century in the final by an Australian made the match a cakewalk for Australia but not before rain interrupted drama and D/L methods being used. Sri Lanka had too much to chase like India in 2003 and they were found wanting in the finals . It must be said though that Srilanka have made it a habit of reaching the qualifying stages of the World Cup without much ado and are one of the top ODI teams in the world.
This is a world cup where I hardly remember any match in great detail , this is possibly because of the ridiculous timings of the matches and weather not being very favourable for cricket. Mcgrath's man of the series award was a reward for his tireless , hardly acknowledged match winning efforts ( possibly in his entire career !! ) . ICC as expected was blamed for the long , boring, dreary , damp World Cup and they were not the only one to lose revenue. ESPN Star the official broadcasters were left in shambles after this dismal tournament and hoped for the other ICC events of 20-20 etc to bail them out.
As expected after such a huge loss, the cash cow had to be milked again and the World cup moved back to India, Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to improve the balance sheets. The ODI format is in danger of becoming extinct due to the 20-20 fever and this could be the last chance of resurrection and redressal. However the millions hope that the 28 year itch ends this time and we break some established myths of home teams not winning the tournament
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
2003 - World Cup of Controversy
This world cup was dogged by controversies before it even started and during the event as well. This was supposed to be the free and fair World cup since it was hosted in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe and ICC and SA wanted to make a statement to the world. Shane Warne tested positive for a banned substance and sent home before the matches started, New Zealand refused to travel to Kenya , Olonga and Andy Flowers black arm band protest accompanied by England's refusal to travel to that country.
The first match was a cracker and SA finished second best due to another gem from Brian Lara who had made it a habit of scoring against the South African bowling and the hosts were left panting from day 1. There was a similar innings of Stephen Fleming against the same opposition opening the batting and the predictability and lack of variety of the SA bowling was getting exposed time and again. The other big innings from Andrew Symonds put paid to Pakistan hopes in their first encounter after Australia had lost 4 for almost nothing. I saw the match highlights again last week on Star Cricket and that was a brutal counter attack from "Roy". Pakistan, I guess never recovered after that and I presume if you get on the opposite side of an innings like that, it is very difficult to get a move on and build the momentum. India on the other hand had a stroll against Netherlands before being caught out against Australia. The Indian spectators did not take the defeat too lightly and they were only pacified after India started putting in some match winning performances in the Nehra match against England where Ashish was deadly under lights.
The matches were following a predictable pattern with the James Anderson match ( Pakistan vs England ). James Anderson exposed the familiar Pakistan frailities against top quality swing bowling under lights. The balls to remove Yousuf (then Youhana ) and Inzamam were absolute beauties. Probably he had watched Nehra in the previous game. Chasing under lights was becoming more and more difficult because of the dew and the lights freshening up the pitch exposing the sub continental teams.
The India Pakistan match where the broadcasters hoped to break even after the losses of the boycotted matches ,insipid encounters involving the minnows was an exciting match for all Indians of course. The very size of the Pakistani total was making all the indian watchers sweat during the lunch time. SRT however had other plans and didnt bother about the batsmen getting out at the other end. Remember that Abdul Razzaaq dropped SRT and " Pata hai, Tuune ***** " quote from Wasim. Dravid and Yuvraj got India past the winning line after Tendlya had fallen for a masterly 98. India meanwhile also beat NewZealand in the Super 6s and were winning almost everything in sight and were on a roll.
Australia meanwhile was quietly progressing but they had a disastrous match against England which many would remember as the Michael Bevan match. With Andy Bichel , he made sure that Australia came through with a smart level headed innings and was hailed as the best finisher after these efforts . This made him the perfect foil for the aggressive top order of the team.
The semi final line up was set and Australia was playing Srilanka and India was playing Kenya . Kenya had qualified by default since they had a super six walkover from New Zealand as well. South African think tank had some hard explaining to do for messing up the rain calculations and they were as a result one run short of the required target and possibly a place in the semi final.
India was having an easy match against Kenya and everyone in India was hoping that the Australia juggernaut will be halted by the SriLankan spinners. Australia meanwhile were well aware of the slippery ground of 1996 and played with utmost caution and professionalism. This match was characterised by the Gilchrist walk , whether he would have walked if Australia was 20 for 1 is a moot point . But now the image had been set and he had no option but to walk every single time he thought he was out - Precedents created by Accidents.
India easily won their encounter against Kenya and this was the first time that 2 momentum sides were meeting in the final and it was obvious that one who blinks first would get knocked out. Ganguly won the toss and put Australia in and Zaheer bowled a dreadful over giving 15 runs. Suddenly Australia seized the intiative by putting the sword to Srinath and though Hayden went quickly , still Australia were motoring along with Ricky Ponting and Gilchrist putting away almost everything that the spinners and pacers offered. By the time Australian innings was finished, the writing was on the wall. Getting 7 + in a world cup final was never easy and despite the Sehwag innings, the great opportunity of winning the world cup was well and truly over.
Big centuries for winning causes from Symonds, Fleming and Lara , great swing bowling from Nehra & Anderson, Michael Bevan's innings against England, Gilchrist walk against Sri Lanka , miscalculations of DLL which made the electronic scoreboard display the total after each over in the subsequent matches, Shane Warne ( not surprising !! ) and India's golden chance of winning GOLD were the moments to remember from this World Cup. The ICC initiative of spreading the game to other countries was still not taking off despite including so many teams in the World Cup.
The first match was a cracker and SA finished second best due to another gem from Brian Lara who had made it a habit of scoring against the South African bowling and the hosts were left panting from day 1. There was a similar innings of Stephen Fleming against the same opposition opening the batting and the predictability and lack of variety of the SA bowling was getting exposed time and again. The other big innings from Andrew Symonds put paid to Pakistan hopes in their first encounter after Australia had lost 4 for almost nothing. I saw the match highlights again last week on Star Cricket and that was a brutal counter attack from "Roy". Pakistan, I guess never recovered after that and I presume if you get on the opposite side of an innings like that, it is very difficult to get a move on and build the momentum. India on the other hand had a stroll against Netherlands before being caught out against Australia. The Indian spectators did not take the defeat too lightly and they were only pacified after India started putting in some match winning performances in the Nehra match against England where Ashish was deadly under lights.
The matches were following a predictable pattern with the James Anderson match ( Pakistan vs England ). James Anderson exposed the familiar Pakistan frailities against top quality swing bowling under lights. The balls to remove Yousuf (then Youhana ) and Inzamam were absolute beauties. Probably he had watched Nehra in the previous game. Chasing under lights was becoming more and more difficult because of the dew and the lights freshening up the pitch exposing the sub continental teams.
The India Pakistan match where the broadcasters hoped to break even after the losses of the boycotted matches ,insipid encounters involving the minnows was an exciting match for all Indians of course. The very size of the Pakistani total was making all the indian watchers sweat during the lunch time. SRT however had other plans and didnt bother about the batsmen getting out at the other end. Remember that Abdul Razzaaq dropped SRT and " Pata hai, Tuune ***** " quote from Wasim. Dravid and Yuvraj got India past the winning line after Tendlya had fallen for a masterly 98. India meanwhile also beat NewZealand in the Super 6s and were winning almost everything in sight and were on a roll.
Australia meanwhile was quietly progressing but they had a disastrous match against England which many would remember as the Michael Bevan match. With Andy Bichel , he made sure that Australia came through with a smart level headed innings and was hailed as the best finisher after these efforts . This made him the perfect foil for the aggressive top order of the team.
The semi final line up was set and Australia was playing Srilanka and India was playing Kenya . Kenya had qualified by default since they had a super six walkover from New Zealand as well. South African think tank had some hard explaining to do for messing up the rain calculations and they were as a result one run short of the required target and possibly a place in the semi final.
India was having an easy match against Kenya and everyone in India was hoping that the Australia juggernaut will be halted by the SriLankan spinners. Australia meanwhile were well aware of the slippery ground of 1996 and played with utmost caution and professionalism. This match was characterised by the Gilchrist walk , whether he would have walked if Australia was 20 for 1 is a moot point . But now the image had been set and he had no option but to walk every single time he thought he was out - Precedents created by Accidents.
India easily won their encounter against Kenya and this was the first time that 2 momentum sides were meeting in the final and it was obvious that one who blinks first would get knocked out. Ganguly won the toss and put Australia in and Zaheer bowled a dreadful over giving 15 runs. Suddenly Australia seized the intiative by putting the sword to Srinath and though Hayden went quickly , still Australia were motoring along with Ricky Ponting and Gilchrist putting away almost everything that the spinners and pacers offered. By the time Australian innings was finished, the writing was on the wall. Getting 7 + in a world cup final was never easy and despite the Sehwag innings, the great opportunity of winning the world cup was well and truly over.
Big centuries for winning causes from Symonds, Fleming and Lara , great swing bowling from Nehra & Anderson, Michael Bevan's innings against England, Gilchrist walk against Sri Lanka , miscalculations of DLL which made the electronic scoreboard display the total after each over in the subsequent matches, Shane Warne ( not surprising !! ) and India's golden chance of winning GOLD were the moments to remember from this World Cup. The ICC initiative of spreading the game to other countries was still not taking off despite including so many teams in the World Cup.
Monday, February 14, 2011
1999- World Cup of Swing & Super Sixes
The World Cup was back in England without the Prudential tag attached to it. Expectations were high for India since they had won the last World Cup played in England. The gap between the previous one and this one was 3 years , strange but probably ICC did not want a millenium event, most strange. This was a swing country where the Indian pace attack could be a handful with Srinath and Prasad accompanied by some good swing bowlers in Sourav Dada and Robin Singh. ICC was trying out new formats in the form of Super Sixes being introduced for the first time. India was again led by Azhar and had a solid batting line up in Sachin, Sourav followed by Dravid, Azhar , Jadeja and some allrounders in Robin Singh and Anil Kumble with Mongia the keeper not to forget the elegant lazy Sadagopan Ramesh. Many would remember the pleasing Indian attire of television friendly blue with yellow birdies if I can call it that.
I was watching the World Cup this time at distant Ambasamudram in southernmost part of India ,England was possibly around a day away from here by flight. Indians may also need to look at the map to locate this place. These were the days when India was at the mercy of cable operators who would jack up the price of the channel just before a major event , the audience had no choice but to pay. The timings were quite convenient for us to return from office and still manage to watch some decent cricketing action. India losing their first match was becoming common place and they did here as well to South Africa. The match against Srilanka at Taunton was a match to remember, Ramesh was out to Chaminda Vaas and this brought together two great young cricketers in Sourav and Dravid together and they played out of their skins liteally and dismantled the Sri Lankan bowling. I still remember Sourav dancing down the track to hit Muralitharan out of the ground and with Sourav and Rahul scoring big hundreds, the result was a foregone conclusion but the margin was reminiscent of a West Indian victory of the older times.
Tendulkar was forced to take a break due to his father's sudden demise and India played without him against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe are a team who regularly cause upsets in this format of the game as they did to Australia in 1983 and almost put it past India as well in the Kapil 175 match. The total they scored was just average since 250 was now becoming easily gettable for most teams. Andy Flower, Grant and Neil Johnson were good players and were experienced in these conditions since they were already part of the county circuit. Ramesh got India to a great start and India was cruising towards an easy win when suddenly wickets started tumbling and Olonga was made to look like Glen Mcgrath by the late order. Robin Singh , Srinath and Prasad were all cleaned up in one over and India needing 9 off 2 overs lost by 3 runs. This derailed the momentum somewhat and India had a potential elimination encounter with England which was the best match for me from India's perspective and I still remember the two days on which this match was played, the match was continued from where they left off on the second day. I was back home early again and it was around 4 pm when the match started on the second day. Debhasis Mohanty was amazing and catches were automatically going to Azhar at slip with the batsman nicking almost everything.
India were in the S 6's but were considerably at a disadvantage since Zimbabwe had also qualified and they could only take points of the teams whom they had already played. The opening match of the S 6s was a disaster, Australia easily scored 280+ and India had lost almost half their side very early with Glen Mcgrath at his very best. This match had Jadeja scoring a memorable 100 and his partnership with Robin was entertaining . Also interesting was all the others made single digit scores ( how many times has this happened before ??). India against New Zealand was another losing match which Roger Twose scored a match winning kock to put India out of the World Cup.
The South Africa against Australia match was a cracker of a contest even better than the final , not before Pakistan had easily put it past New Zealand in the other semi final . Saeed Anwar looking in ominous form made the total look very easy. SA had done a fantastic job in the first half getting Australia all out for 213 and it was only South Africa who could lose the match. Kirsten and Gibbs had got a measured start but a constant stream of wickets put the chase under doubt with Warne turning it on. South Africa were pressing the self destruct button at regular intervals till Klusener had other ideas. The final wicket was all drama and this mixup was similar to the Raju /Srinath mixup in 1992. I still remember Allan Donald at the other end and Klusener hitting the ball to cover. BTW , Waugh had brought the entire field up inside the circle and that was courageous captaincy but many will say nothing to lose for Australia ,everything to lose for SA since it was the last wicket.
The final was played at Lords , the mecca of test cricket which had a nice and attractive press box at one side of the ground but nobody expected the final to be as one sided as it was. Abdul Razzaq was promoted to number 3 and didn't make much of a difference to the contest and Pakistan was bowled out for 132. The only hope for Pakistan remained early wickets and Waugh and Gilchrist didnt give Pakistan much of a chance and half way point was reached without much of damage. Pakistan were regretting the decision of batting first which was in fact the sensible thing to do since in a pressure chase , they would have crumbled anyway.
The take home moments not in the mentioned order were of course the Indian win against Pakistan in the S-6s, Indian win against Srilanka where our batting was consistently good , Indian win against England fashioned by good quality swing bowling, South Africa getting the chokers tag after the Klusener Donald mixup, Australian professionalism at its best in the tied match and clinical victory in the final. The pinch hitting concept was not too evident here since the swinging ball made the batsman circumspect. Zimbabwe cricket was revitalised by their victory against India and the tailenders had made Olonga a household Indian name to remember and hate.
I was watching the World Cup this time at distant Ambasamudram in southernmost part of India ,England was possibly around a day away from here by flight. Indians may also need to look at the map to locate this place. These were the days when India was at the mercy of cable operators who would jack up the price of the channel just before a major event , the audience had no choice but to pay. The timings were quite convenient for us to return from office and still manage to watch some decent cricketing action. India losing their first match was becoming common place and they did here as well to South Africa. The match against Srilanka at Taunton was a match to remember, Ramesh was out to Chaminda Vaas and this brought together two great young cricketers in Sourav and Dravid together and they played out of their skins liteally and dismantled the Sri Lankan bowling. I still remember Sourav dancing down the track to hit Muralitharan out of the ground and with Sourav and Rahul scoring big hundreds, the result was a foregone conclusion but the margin was reminiscent of a West Indian victory of the older times.
Tendulkar was forced to take a break due to his father's sudden demise and India played without him against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe are a team who regularly cause upsets in this format of the game as they did to Australia in 1983 and almost put it past India as well in the Kapil 175 match. The total they scored was just average since 250 was now becoming easily gettable for most teams. Andy Flower, Grant and Neil Johnson were good players and were experienced in these conditions since they were already part of the county circuit. Ramesh got India to a great start and India was cruising towards an easy win when suddenly wickets started tumbling and Olonga was made to look like Glen Mcgrath by the late order. Robin Singh , Srinath and Prasad were all cleaned up in one over and India needing 9 off 2 overs lost by 3 runs. This derailed the momentum somewhat and India had a potential elimination encounter with England which was the best match for me from India's perspective and I still remember the two days on which this match was played, the match was continued from where they left off on the second day. I was back home early again and it was around 4 pm when the match started on the second day. Debhasis Mohanty was amazing and catches were automatically going to Azhar at slip with the batsman nicking almost everything.
India were in the S 6's but were considerably at a disadvantage since Zimbabwe had also qualified and they could only take points of the teams whom they had already played. The opening match of the S 6s was a disaster, Australia easily scored 280+ and India had lost almost half their side very early with Glen Mcgrath at his very best. This match had Jadeja scoring a memorable 100 and his partnership with Robin was entertaining . Also interesting was all the others made single digit scores ( how many times has this happened before ??). India against New Zealand was another losing match which Roger Twose scored a match winning kock to put India out of the World Cup.
The South Africa against Australia match was a cracker of a contest even better than the final , not before Pakistan had easily put it past New Zealand in the other semi final . Saeed Anwar looking in ominous form made the total look very easy. SA had done a fantastic job in the first half getting Australia all out for 213 and it was only South Africa who could lose the match. Kirsten and Gibbs had got a measured start but a constant stream of wickets put the chase under doubt with Warne turning it on. South Africa were pressing the self destruct button at regular intervals till Klusener had other ideas. The final wicket was all drama and this mixup was similar to the Raju /Srinath mixup in 1992. I still remember Allan Donald at the other end and Klusener hitting the ball to cover. BTW , Waugh had brought the entire field up inside the circle and that was courageous captaincy but many will say nothing to lose for Australia ,everything to lose for SA since it was the last wicket.
The final was played at Lords , the mecca of test cricket which had a nice and attractive press box at one side of the ground but nobody expected the final to be as one sided as it was. Abdul Razzaq was promoted to number 3 and didn't make much of a difference to the contest and Pakistan was bowled out for 132. The only hope for Pakistan remained early wickets and Waugh and Gilchrist didnt give Pakistan much of a chance and half way point was reached without much of damage. Pakistan were regretting the decision of batting first which was in fact the sensible thing to do since in a pressure chase , they would have crumbled anyway.
The take home moments not in the mentioned order were of course the Indian win against Pakistan in the S-6s, Indian win against Srilanka where our batting was consistently good , Indian win against England fashioned by good quality swing bowling, South Africa getting the chokers tag after the Klusener Donald mixup, Australian professionalism at its best in the tied match and clinical victory in the final. The pinch hitting concept was not too evident here since the swinging ball made the batsman circumspect. Zimbabwe cricket was revitalised by their victory against India and the tailenders had made Olonga a household Indian name to remember and hate.
Friday, February 11, 2011
1996 - World Cup of belief in Spin
The one day cricket action started picking up momentum and slowly but steadily colors were replacing the white attire ,cricket was becoming more of an entertainment and tradition was slowly being abandoned for the benefit of the TV and less for the spectator at the venue.
The World Cup moved back to the sub continent and after the damp WC of 1992, atleast it was moving to more favourable weather. However the safety concerns in Sri Lanka made Australia, West Indies forfeit matches by not traveling there ,SL were undoubtedly disappointed since they wanted to prove a point by hosting a trouble free event.
India were again led by Azhar playing his 3rd World Cup and the team was again packed with the usual variety of spin and pace. Srinath, Prasad and Prabhakar were potent with the new ball, Kumble miserly and Raju added the left armer angle. However some shocks for India were in store against SL when playing their round robin game. India had posted an above average total of 270+ in the match with SRT easily making a century at the small Kotla but Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya had other ideas. They tore into the Indian bowling especially Manoj Prabhakar and repeatedly the ball was flying over the in field . This was pinch hitting at its best and Ranatunga had made one of the best opening pairs out of average players in the middle order. The pressure gone , SL romped home winners and the whole world started taking SL seriously.
Since there were minnows like Netherlands, UAE, Kenya , the World Cup started picking up momentum only at the QF stage when there was an India Pakistan match at Bangalore. Surprisingly Wasim Akram pulled out of the match citing injury and they were led by Aamir Sohail. Tongues started wagging in India and Pakistanis the next day were throwing stones at Akram's residence. India were brimming with confidence and made a not so imposing total . It was left to the bowlers to make the intial dents and build the pressure which they did exceedingly well. I still remember the pumped up Indian side aided by the partisan Bangalore crowd which cheered every run of the home team and jeered every run of the Pakistanis. I was equally excited watching on the television and when Salim Malik and Inzamam fell , I believed India were on the road to their second World Cup win. Every Indian felt that beating Pakistan was the ultimate achievement and probably the team didnt bother winning after that.
The other QFs were equally interesting , West Indies against South Africa which was decided by one man Brian Lara and it was a calculated assault and exposed South Africa's lack of variety in the bowling . Australia on the other hand had made short work of New Zealand despite Chris Harris scoring one of his best knocks and the ever classy Mark Waugh contributing to the Australia cause.
The stage was set for old rivalries to be renewed when Australia met the West Indies. I was home early that day with tooth ache and watched the first ball which was a perfect in swinger from Ambrose to Mark Waugh who tried to flick it to mid wicket and was caught plumb in front . Australia had lost almost half of their batsman without much on the board and it was left to Law and Bevan to grind the bowling and Bevan nudged , prodded and hoicked in the end to get Australia to some respectability and belief that they could pull it off with the never say die Australian spirit. West Indies as usual had done all the hard work and were cruising but some ill luck and cramps for Chanderpaul accompanied by some good death bowling and horrible batting saw them lose. West Indies had scored all the points but Australia as is their wont had won the moments that mattered and the match.
The first semi final had the 2 host nations fighting for a place in the final and India surprisingly elected to field when they knew that Eden would become a mine field with the late night dew. Probably it was justified when the intial wickets fell and Eden had probably more people in unreserved seating who were cheering every wicket. The team probably didnt realise that SL was doing exceedingly well with the run rate and there were clawing back through Aravinda and Ranatunga. Aravinda didnt bother much about the crowd or the lack of cheering and proceeded to play a Richards kind of knock. The total was a good one and made better by the failure of Sidhu at the top. When SRT and Manjrekar were playing, it was just a question of seeing through the overs and getting the runs. But suddenly the pitch started behaving like a minefield with SRTs dismissal and when Azhar and Manjrekar also fell in quick succession , the hope began receding.
Srinath was a pinch hitting failure and the Indian batting was crumbling to Jayasuriya who was pushing the ball through with some assistance from the pitch . The dew, fog combination was also not enough for the batsmen to get some runs against the spinners. When the Indian batting imploded and the 2Ks at the crease, the crowd decided that it was enough and decided to interrupt the match. That they didnt have faith in the batting abilities of Kumble and the efforts of Kambli was understandable since one had never seen Kumble bat and Kambli was not looking like getting India out of the self created dark tunnel. Indian chances were buried in the black soil of Eden, houses of the players were stoned and several careers cut short.
This didnt deter Sri Lanka from traveling to Pakistan for the final against a super good Australia. The final was the never say die spirit of the underdogs against the professionalism of the champions. 2 captains who led their teams with great poise and instilled confidence in the team to a point that in commentators language " Something had to give ". A final has always the key moments which sometimes go your way ( the Luck factor ) or individual brilliance which galvanises the team to pull of something spectacular. SL bowled decently well except for their medium pacers and did not deviate from their well defined formula of strangling the batsmen and then allowing the batsmen to commit hara kiri.
When chasing , around 50 runs can be added to the total because of pressure of chasing and when Jayasuriya and Kalu fell trying the big shots , it looked as if Australia was in the drivers seat. Gurusinha had failed in the previous match and was desperate to make amends and was complementing Aravinda who played spin and pace with equal conviction. The cover drives of Aravinda were gorgeous and Ranatunga put in the finishing touches. Australia was caught unawares by the planning of the chase and probably didnt see the Australian coach on the other side. The great Warne was rendered ineffective partly by the due on the ground and Ranatunga Aravinda combination who have oodles of time at their disposal to play the dab and the sweep. Many would say that the Mark Waugh over cost Australia the match but Srilankans were continously chipping away at the total and reducing it to manageable proportions where the pressure of the final became non existent.
The take home moments of this World Cup were the refusal of the teams to play in Sri Lanka , the collapse at the Eden, West Indies embracing defeat against Kenya ( there were completely hopeless ) and Australia from a winning position, India crumbling with the Eden pitch against SL, Manoj Prabhakar reduced to bowling off spin when Kalu and Sanath were going berserk , the meticulous Sri Lanka who had clinical strategies for each match. Quite a long World Cup in which many matches were forgotten as soon as they were played but for Sri Lankans & Australians a world cup to remember.
The World Cup moved back to the sub continent and after the damp WC of 1992, atleast it was moving to more favourable weather. However the safety concerns in Sri Lanka made Australia, West Indies forfeit matches by not traveling there ,SL were undoubtedly disappointed since they wanted to prove a point by hosting a trouble free event.
India were again led by Azhar playing his 3rd World Cup and the team was again packed with the usual variety of spin and pace. Srinath, Prasad and Prabhakar were potent with the new ball, Kumble miserly and Raju added the left armer angle. However some shocks for India were in store against SL when playing their round robin game. India had posted an above average total of 270+ in the match with SRT easily making a century at the small Kotla but Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya had other ideas. They tore into the Indian bowling especially Manoj Prabhakar and repeatedly the ball was flying over the in field . This was pinch hitting at its best and Ranatunga had made one of the best opening pairs out of average players in the middle order. The pressure gone , SL romped home winners and the whole world started taking SL seriously.
Since there were minnows like Netherlands, UAE, Kenya , the World Cup started picking up momentum only at the QF stage when there was an India Pakistan match at Bangalore. Surprisingly Wasim Akram pulled out of the match citing injury and they were led by Aamir Sohail. Tongues started wagging in India and Pakistanis the next day were throwing stones at Akram's residence. India were brimming with confidence and made a not so imposing total . It was left to the bowlers to make the intial dents and build the pressure which they did exceedingly well. I still remember the pumped up Indian side aided by the partisan Bangalore crowd which cheered every run of the home team and jeered every run of the Pakistanis. I was equally excited watching on the television and when Salim Malik and Inzamam fell , I believed India were on the road to their second World Cup win. Every Indian felt that beating Pakistan was the ultimate achievement and probably the team didnt bother winning after that.
The other QFs were equally interesting , West Indies against South Africa which was decided by one man Brian Lara and it was a calculated assault and exposed South Africa's lack of variety in the bowling . Australia on the other hand had made short work of New Zealand despite Chris Harris scoring one of his best knocks and the ever classy Mark Waugh contributing to the Australia cause.
The stage was set for old rivalries to be renewed when Australia met the West Indies. I was home early that day with tooth ache and watched the first ball which was a perfect in swinger from Ambrose to Mark Waugh who tried to flick it to mid wicket and was caught plumb in front . Australia had lost almost half of their batsman without much on the board and it was left to Law and Bevan to grind the bowling and Bevan nudged , prodded and hoicked in the end to get Australia to some respectability and belief that they could pull it off with the never say die Australian spirit. West Indies as usual had done all the hard work and were cruising but some ill luck and cramps for Chanderpaul accompanied by some good death bowling and horrible batting saw them lose. West Indies had scored all the points but Australia as is their wont had won the moments that mattered and the match.
The first semi final had the 2 host nations fighting for a place in the final and India surprisingly elected to field when they knew that Eden would become a mine field with the late night dew. Probably it was justified when the intial wickets fell and Eden had probably more people in unreserved seating who were cheering every wicket. The team probably didnt realise that SL was doing exceedingly well with the run rate and there were clawing back through Aravinda and Ranatunga. Aravinda didnt bother much about the crowd or the lack of cheering and proceeded to play a Richards kind of knock. The total was a good one and made better by the failure of Sidhu at the top. When SRT and Manjrekar were playing, it was just a question of seeing through the overs and getting the runs. But suddenly the pitch started behaving like a minefield with SRTs dismissal and when Azhar and Manjrekar also fell in quick succession , the hope began receding.
Srinath was a pinch hitting failure and the Indian batting was crumbling to Jayasuriya who was pushing the ball through with some assistance from the pitch . The dew, fog combination was also not enough for the batsmen to get some runs against the spinners. When the Indian batting imploded and the 2Ks at the crease, the crowd decided that it was enough and decided to interrupt the match. That they didnt have faith in the batting abilities of Kumble and the efforts of Kambli was understandable since one had never seen Kumble bat and Kambli was not looking like getting India out of the self created dark tunnel. Indian chances were buried in the black soil of Eden, houses of the players were stoned and several careers cut short.
This didnt deter Sri Lanka from traveling to Pakistan for the final against a super good Australia. The final was the never say die spirit of the underdogs against the professionalism of the champions. 2 captains who led their teams with great poise and instilled confidence in the team to a point that in commentators language " Something had to give ". A final has always the key moments which sometimes go your way ( the Luck factor ) or individual brilliance which galvanises the team to pull of something spectacular. SL bowled decently well except for their medium pacers and did not deviate from their well defined formula of strangling the batsmen and then allowing the batsmen to commit hara kiri.
When chasing , around 50 runs can be added to the total because of pressure of chasing and when Jayasuriya and Kalu fell trying the big shots , it looked as if Australia was in the drivers seat. Gurusinha had failed in the previous match and was desperate to make amends and was complementing Aravinda who played spin and pace with equal conviction. The cover drives of Aravinda were gorgeous and Ranatunga put in the finishing touches. Australia was caught unawares by the planning of the chase and probably didnt see the Australian coach on the other side. The great Warne was rendered ineffective partly by the due on the ground and Ranatunga Aravinda combination who have oodles of time at their disposal to play the dab and the sweep. Many would say that the Mark Waugh over cost Australia the match but Srilankans were continously chipping away at the total and reducing it to manageable proportions where the pressure of the final became non existent.
The take home moments of this World Cup were the refusal of the teams to play in Sri Lanka , the collapse at the Eden, West Indies embracing defeat against Kenya ( there were completely hopeless ) and Australia from a winning position, India crumbling with the Eden pitch against SL, Manoj Prabhakar reduced to bowling off spin when Kalu and Sanath were going berserk , the meticulous Sri Lanka who had clinical strategies for each match. Quite a long World Cup in which many matches were forgotten as soon as they were played but for Sri Lankans & Australians a world cup to remember.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
1992 - The World Cup of COLOR
As Australia won the World Cup in 1987, they were the strong favourites to win the next edition held in their own country and New Zealand. New Zealand was also one of the likely semi finalists since they would play most of the matches at home and not many players of the World Cup had played in cold wintry conditions of that country. This was also the birth of pyjama cricket as it was called , the advent of coloured clothing and lights adding to the excitement of watching the 50 over game. This also marked the official end of white clothing in one dayers , after which it became evident that the game had to be played on holidays and weeknights to get more people to watch the game. The top 4 teams would eventually qualify for the semi finals after each team would play the other once.
India had a good team but were distinctly unlucky in this edition. They had a good attack comprising Kapil, Srinath , Prabhakar and spinners in Ravi Shastri , Venkatpathi Raju with Tendulkar bowling his seam ups and spinners in case of necessity. They are poor starters and it proved with the match against England going to the wire and India had lost it by 9 runs despite some good bowling and decent batting. I distinctly remember this match watching it on a B&W TV and Kapil and Botham face to face. Botham was opening the batting and bowling for England and Kapil was doing likewise for India in the bowling department before Azhar decided to ask him to open the batting for the rained off match against the SL at Mckay. It was unfortunate since India was widely tipped to win this one for sure.
The matches which India expected to win were all getting shortened and the absurd Duckworth Lewis rule was playing havoc with the rain affected matches adjusting targets disproportionately. India was unlucky against Australia where we saw splendid batting from Azhar and Manjrekar . Manjrekar was never a one day batsman but he showed that batsmen orthodox batsmen can also can make their presence felt in the shorter game. The most crucial moment in the match came at the end when Srinath and Raju were involved in a mix up which resulted in Australia winning. India never managed to get above the 250 mark in any match and that proved the difference in the matches against NZ and West Indies. The match against Pakistan was truly interesting and it showed how the team could play some good cricket against a strong opposition and eventual winners. Tendulkar showed some great maturity in scoring 50 of those runs and getting India to a winning total. The Indian swing bowling was a revelation and they managed to get Pakistan all out which made many a fan in India happy though we never won anything of relevance in the entire competition.
New Zealand on the other hand were progressing extremely well in their matches and they had a dibbly, dobbly , wobbly seam attack in Watson , Larsen, Latham and Harris. Opening the bowling was Dipak Patel bowling off spin when the restrictions were on and an unqualified success to say the least. They also started pinch hitting with Greatbatch in the opening slot who would go after the bowling in the initial stages when the ball was hard and new and the field was up. He was a great success compared to Kapil and Botham and England persisted with Botham at the top till the final while India had abandoned the concept very soon. South Africa playing their first World Cup after readmission were playing hard cricket and showed the world the importance of fielding in the limited overs format where the opposition totals were reduced by atleast 20 runs each match. Allan Donald was steaming in for almost every delivery and it was difficult for batsmen to get bat on ball. Many can remember the Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam falling on the stumps at full stretch.
The semi finals line up read South Africa vs England and Pakistan vs New Zealand and again the world thought that it would be New Zealand vs South Africa in the final. However the rain had other ideas in the SA vs England match which reduced the equation to an absurd 22 runs off 1 ball and SA was knocked out. This was a lucky world cup for Imran's Pakistan , they had a match rained off against England where they most certainly would have lost scoring an insipid 74 on the whole. The match against New Zealand was another lucky escape with Miandad and Inzamam playing some good innings. Inzamam was supposed to be equal to SRT and he tried to prove it in this innings which was measured and was built on calculated assault on the weaker bowlers.
The final was England vs Pakistan with England appearing in the final many a time but still had not won the World Cup , Pakistan were the team with momentum and had luck coming their way too. They had the brilliance of Wasim Akram, the swing of Aaqib and the spin of Mushtaq Ahmed. The raw talent was being channelised extremely well by Imran who was keeping the team together through the World Cup and they were believing in themselves like India in 1983. 249 was not a great total posted by Pakistan and their bowlers had to win it for them. England were losing wickets steadily in the chase until Fairbrother and Lamb started slowly progressing to the target. But once Wasim got Lamb and Lewis , the die was cast in favor of Pakistan and Imran's team were worthy world champions. Nobody in the remotest dreams including Imran would have believed that he had a team which was called that.
The moments to take home from this World Cup were colored clothing and white balls, Raju and Srinath mixup in the match against Australia, Dipak Patel opening the bowling , the class of Martin Crowe's batting and captaincy, Imran's captaincy, Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam, Akram bowling Chris Lewis with a peach of a delivery and of course last but not the least the Duckworth Lewis rule which robbed South Africa of a place in the World Cup final on debut.
It must be said that there were 2-3 young players making their presence felt for their teams, one was the great SRT , Brian Charles Lara for West Indies and the third Inzamam ul Haq for Pakistan. These were the youngsters who would excel for their respective countries in the future.
India had a good team but were distinctly unlucky in this edition. They had a good attack comprising Kapil, Srinath , Prabhakar and spinners in Ravi Shastri , Venkatpathi Raju with Tendulkar bowling his seam ups and spinners in case of necessity. They are poor starters and it proved with the match against England going to the wire and India had lost it by 9 runs despite some good bowling and decent batting. I distinctly remember this match watching it on a B&W TV and Kapil and Botham face to face. Botham was opening the batting and bowling for England and Kapil was doing likewise for India in the bowling department before Azhar decided to ask him to open the batting for the rained off match against the SL at Mckay. It was unfortunate since India was widely tipped to win this one for sure.
The matches which India expected to win were all getting shortened and the absurd Duckworth Lewis rule was playing havoc with the rain affected matches adjusting targets disproportionately. India was unlucky against Australia where we saw splendid batting from Azhar and Manjrekar . Manjrekar was never a one day batsman but he showed that batsmen orthodox batsmen can also can make their presence felt in the shorter game. The most crucial moment in the match came at the end when Srinath and Raju were involved in a mix up which resulted in Australia winning. India never managed to get above the 250 mark in any match and that proved the difference in the matches against NZ and West Indies. The match against Pakistan was truly interesting and it showed how the team could play some good cricket against a strong opposition and eventual winners. Tendulkar showed some great maturity in scoring 50 of those runs and getting India to a winning total. The Indian swing bowling was a revelation and they managed to get Pakistan all out which made many a fan in India happy though we never won anything of relevance in the entire competition.
New Zealand on the other hand were progressing extremely well in their matches and they had a dibbly, dobbly , wobbly seam attack in Watson , Larsen, Latham and Harris. Opening the bowling was Dipak Patel bowling off spin when the restrictions were on and an unqualified success to say the least. They also started pinch hitting with Greatbatch in the opening slot who would go after the bowling in the initial stages when the ball was hard and new and the field was up. He was a great success compared to Kapil and Botham and England persisted with Botham at the top till the final while India had abandoned the concept very soon. South Africa playing their first World Cup after readmission were playing hard cricket and showed the world the importance of fielding in the limited overs format where the opposition totals were reduced by atleast 20 runs each match. Allan Donald was steaming in for almost every delivery and it was difficult for batsmen to get bat on ball. Many can remember the Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam falling on the stumps at full stretch.
The semi finals line up read South Africa vs England and Pakistan vs New Zealand and again the world thought that it would be New Zealand vs South Africa in the final. However the rain had other ideas in the SA vs England match which reduced the equation to an absurd 22 runs off 1 ball and SA was knocked out. This was a lucky world cup for Imran's Pakistan , they had a match rained off against England where they most certainly would have lost scoring an insipid 74 on the whole. The match against New Zealand was another lucky escape with Miandad and Inzamam playing some good innings. Inzamam was supposed to be equal to SRT and he tried to prove it in this innings which was measured and was built on calculated assault on the weaker bowlers.
The final was England vs Pakistan with England appearing in the final many a time but still had not won the World Cup , Pakistan were the team with momentum and had luck coming their way too. They had the brilliance of Wasim Akram, the swing of Aaqib and the spin of Mushtaq Ahmed. The raw talent was being channelised extremely well by Imran who was keeping the team together through the World Cup and they were believing in themselves like India in 1983. 249 was not a great total posted by Pakistan and their bowlers had to win it for them. England were losing wickets steadily in the chase until Fairbrother and Lamb started slowly progressing to the target. But once Wasim got Lamb and Lewis , the die was cast in favor of Pakistan and Imran's team were worthy world champions. Nobody in the remotest dreams including Imran would have believed that he had a team which was called that.
The moments to take home from this World Cup were colored clothing and white balls, Raju and Srinath mixup in the match against Australia, Dipak Patel opening the bowling , the class of Martin Crowe's batting and captaincy, Imran's captaincy, Jonty Rhodes run out of Inzamam, Akram bowling Chris Lewis with a peach of a delivery and of course last but not the least the Duckworth Lewis rule which robbed South Africa of a place in the World Cup final on debut.
It must be said that there were 2-3 young players making their presence felt for their teams, one was the great SRT , Brian Charles Lara for West Indies and the third Inzamam ul Haq for Pakistan. These were the youngsters who would excel for their respective countries in the future.
Monday, February 7, 2011
1987 - The Cup of Reliance
India had won the World Cup in 1983 and were entering the World Cup as defending champions, quite a lift for the team which had no pretensions of being a one day team in the previous one. India had won the World Championship of Cricket under Gavaskar's captaincy and the team had an unbeaten record in that tournament. Also it had won the Asia Cup in 1984 which made it a strong contender in the one day space especially since the World Cup was being played at home.
India started off on the wrong foot in Chennai by losing the first match ever so closely by a solitary run and the star of this World Cup was born that day. Steve Waugh the Mr Cool in Allan Border's Australian team bowling the last over. Like Mohinder in 1983, Steve Waugh was a gutsy cricketer who could bowl a bit and bat outstandingly well and had a temperament which was so crucial to success. Like Amarnath, he also had a red handkerchief sticking out of his back pocket as well.
India's only threat in its group was Australia and India managed to win one and lose one against the Aussies. The other teams New Zealand and Zimbabwe were no threats on the spin friendly Indian tracks which were prepared probably under special directions from BCCI. At that time , ICC was not in charge of the venues like it is today and the pitches were host friendly.
I had the opportunity of experiencing the World Cup at the LB stadium in Hyderabad where New Zealand was playing Zimbabwe. I distinctly remember the ever classy Martin Crowe of New Zealand who was batting so fluently and the cover drives which he played were something that I had never seen before and the 70 odd runs were scored with ease. Also remarkable was the Zimbabwe fielding and John Traicos bowling his off spinners to a well set field and not letting the batsman get away at all. Zimbabwe were the underdogs , but Dave Houghton had other ideas and scored a blistering century . The century was unique because as Kapil Dev in 1983, it was big and he was running out of partners at the other end till Butchart came together to forge a partnership. I was hoping for a Zimbabwe win but Martin Crowe took a catch similar to Kapil running backwards always keeping his eyes on the ball and put paid to Zimbabwe hopes. It made me realise the importance of watching the ball till the last instant while fielding and since the catch was taken very close to where I was parked, it made me feel elated. I ran back home to watch the highlights of this match and also some replays of the dismissals and wanted to spot myself on TV as well.
The other group was in fact more keenly contested with Pakistan moving forward with England . West Indies on the other hand had lost quite a bit of steam and were no longer the side they were in 1983. What will remain of the West Indies from the WC 87 would be the Walsh spirit ( where he refused to run out Salim Jaffer who was backing up too far ), I still remember the incident so vividly even today.
The semi final line up was strong and two home teams playing against England and Australia respectively. The results were also a foregone conclusion India vs Pakistan final and India winning the world cup again. A million people were hoping for this result and the TV broadcasters as well.
Things were already not going to plan in the 1st semi final where Pakistan had already disappointed against Australia and Pakistanis were obviously supporting England for the 2nd semi final. The England batting at the Wankhede and I was watching on TV @ home. The early moments were going to plan until Gooch started playing the sweep shots against the indian spinners. It seemed that India were running out of ideas bowling to him and he would place the ball at will. Maninder and Ravi Shastri were clueless and were letting things drift and Kapil's captaincy was suddenly looking ordinary. India began the chase as if in a daze with regular wickets falling. The England bowling was not great but the total was good and after Gavaskar and Srikanth went , it was upto Azhar. Chandrakant Pandit was playing as a batsman since Vengsarkar was injured and when Kapil hit Emburey high in the air , the die was cast for an Indian defeat. Eddie Hemmings was made to look like Muralitharan by the Indians who were throwing their wickets away. Why Kapil played the shot etc will be reflected upon many a time by Kapil himself but probably what went wrong was the bowling and the failure to contain Gooch & company to a manageable total.
Two unlikely finalists England and Australia and many a Calcuttan would have purchased tickets for the final hoping for an India Pakistan one. Every one in the ground was supporting Australia because England had knocked out India and Australia had ensured that Pakistan didnt make it as well. The final will be remembered for the Australian meticulous way of playing the game and the way they go about every aspect it. At no moment, they were out of the game and the pressure exerted when England was chasing was unbelievable. To the credit of England , they were in the chase when Bill Athey and Mike Gatting were at the crease till Gatting played a shot similar to what Kapil Dev played. Allan Border was waiting for mistakes to happen and Gatting obliged with a reverse sweep which he skied. Wonder what Border told Gatting after that ala. Steve Waugh & Gibbs. When Border lifted the Reliance cup in the fog filled Eden Gardens and the fireworks erupted in the sky, one couldnt help feeling that cricket was the winner ( how many times has this been said :) , the best team eventually won the cup and the Australian team had been rebuilt by Allan Border.
However the moments which still remain for me are Walsh folding his hands when he had the opportunity to run out Jaffer , the cool Steven Waugh final over against India in the first match , the catch taken by Martin Crowe of Dave Houghton , Gavaskar's attacking shots against Ewen Chatfield outsmarting Srikkanth at the other end , the Graham Gooch sweep shot , the Kapil Dev hoick which landed in deep mid wicket's hands and most important of all , the brain freeze of Mike Gatting when he played the reverse sweep. All in all the record turnouts made the sub continent the favoured venue for many more of the cricket tournaments.
India started off on the wrong foot in Chennai by losing the first match ever so closely by a solitary run and the star of this World Cup was born that day. Steve Waugh the Mr Cool in Allan Border's Australian team bowling the last over. Like Mohinder in 1983, Steve Waugh was a gutsy cricketer who could bowl a bit and bat outstandingly well and had a temperament which was so crucial to success. Like Amarnath, he also had a red handkerchief sticking out of his back pocket as well.
India's only threat in its group was Australia and India managed to win one and lose one against the Aussies. The other teams New Zealand and Zimbabwe were no threats on the spin friendly Indian tracks which were prepared probably under special directions from BCCI. At that time , ICC was not in charge of the venues like it is today and the pitches were host friendly.
I had the opportunity of experiencing the World Cup at the LB stadium in Hyderabad where New Zealand was playing Zimbabwe. I distinctly remember the ever classy Martin Crowe of New Zealand who was batting so fluently and the cover drives which he played were something that I had never seen before and the 70 odd runs were scored with ease. Also remarkable was the Zimbabwe fielding and John Traicos bowling his off spinners to a well set field and not letting the batsman get away at all. Zimbabwe were the underdogs , but Dave Houghton had other ideas and scored a blistering century . The century was unique because as Kapil Dev in 1983, it was big and he was running out of partners at the other end till Butchart came together to forge a partnership. I was hoping for a Zimbabwe win but Martin Crowe took a catch similar to Kapil running backwards always keeping his eyes on the ball and put paid to Zimbabwe hopes. It made me realise the importance of watching the ball till the last instant while fielding and since the catch was taken very close to where I was parked, it made me feel elated. I ran back home to watch the highlights of this match and also some replays of the dismissals and wanted to spot myself on TV as well.
The other group was in fact more keenly contested with Pakistan moving forward with England . West Indies on the other hand had lost quite a bit of steam and were no longer the side they were in 1983. What will remain of the West Indies from the WC 87 would be the Walsh spirit ( where he refused to run out Salim Jaffer who was backing up too far ), I still remember the incident so vividly even today.
The semi final line up was strong and two home teams playing against England and Australia respectively. The results were also a foregone conclusion India vs Pakistan final and India winning the world cup again. A million people were hoping for this result and the TV broadcasters as well.
Things were already not going to plan in the 1st semi final where Pakistan had already disappointed against Australia and Pakistanis were obviously supporting England for the 2nd semi final. The England batting at the Wankhede and I was watching on TV @ home. The early moments were going to plan until Gooch started playing the sweep shots against the indian spinners. It seemed that India were running out of ideas bowling to him and he would place the ball at will. Maninder and Ravi Shastri were clueless and were letting things drift and Kapil's captaincy was suddenly looking ordinary. India began the chase as if in a daze with regular wickets falling. The England bowling was not great but the total was good and after Gavaskar and Srikanth went , it was upto Azhar. Chandrakant Pandit was playing as a batsman since Vengsarkar was injured and when Kapil hit Emburey high in the air , the die was cast for an Indian defeat. Eddie Hemmings was made to look like Muralitharan by the Indians who were throwing their wickets away. Why Kapil played the shot etc will be reflected upon many a time by Kapil himself but probably what went wrong was the bowling and the failure to contain Gooch & company to a manageable total.
Two unlikely finalists England and Australia and many a Calcuttan would have purchased tickets for the final hoping for an India Pakistan one. Every one in the ground was supporting Australia because England had knocked out India and Australia had ensured that Pakistan didnt make it as well. The final will be remembered for the Australian meticulous way of playing the game and the way they go about every aspect it. At no moment, they were out of the game and the pressure exerted when England was chasing was unbelievable. To the credit of England , they were in the chase when Bill Athey and Mike Gatting were at the crease till Gatting played a shot similar to what Kapil Dev played. Allan Border was waiting for mistakes to happen and Gatting obliged with a reverse sweep which he skied. Wonder what Border told Gatting after that ala. Steve Waugh & Gibbs. When Border lifted the Reliance cup in the fog filled Eden Gardens and the fireworks erupted in the sky, one couldnt help feeling that cricket was the winner ( how many times has this been said :) , the best team eventually won the cup and the Australian team had been rebuilt by Allan Border.
However the moments which still remain for me are Walsh folding his hands when he had the opportunity to run out Jaffer , the cool Steven Waugh final over against India in the first match , the catch taken by Martin Crowe of Dave Houghton , Gavaskar's attacking shots against Ewen Chatfield outsmarting Srikkanth at the other end , the Graham Gooch sweep shot , the Kapil Dev hoick which landed in deep mid wicket's hands and most important of all , the brain freeze of Mike Gatting when he played the reverse sweep. All in all the record turnouts made the sub continent the favoured venue for many more of the cricket tournaments.
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