Chasing the Ultimate Glory - India in World Cups, 1975-2003

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By Shailesh The much awaited part 2 of the "Chasing the Ultimate Glory - India in World Cups, 1975-2003" is now here courtesy of Shailesh. Shailesh takes us through the 2nd edition of the Cricket World Cup in this nostalgic article. Please take time to vote for the article and leave comments by going to the home page and clicking on the original article. It helps the writer to review his writing and also you will be able to earn some points. Prologue The 2nd cricket World Cup was also staged in England in June 1979 and like the previous edition this was also called the Prudential World Cup. Format remained same from the last tournament with 8 teams divided in 2 groups and top 2 teams from each group to play in the semi finals. Matches were still 60 overs per innings with limit of12 overs per bowler. ODI cricket was slowly finding its feet, 27 games were played between last World Cup and this one. For India though the progress was not as quick as one would have liked with the team winning just 1 of the 5 games they played. World cricket in those days was passing through shadows of the controversial World Series Cricket. Last World Cup?s finalist Australia did not select players contracted by Kerry Packer and as a result participated with a weakened team. Defending champions West Indies on the other hand went in with their best possible combination. The Team S. Venkataraghavan was again at the helm for India. Gavaskar, Gaekwad, Vishwanath, Patel, and Vengsarkar formed a solid batting lineup. Bowling department also had some experience to it in form of Venkat and Bedi supported by the left arm swing bowling of Karsan Ghavri. Amarnath provided the important all rounder option together with a young up and coming cricketer Kapil Dev. The Moments India had every reason to feel they had a tough draw this time around, with the opening game against none other than the defending champions West Indies. Put in to bat at Edgbaston, India had a tough time against the four pronged pace attack of Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croft and were bowled out for just 190. Only Viswanath with 75 off 134 balls could manage innings of any substance. For West Indies Holding was the most impressive with 4 for 33 off his 12 overs. The chase proved to be a stroll in the park after Greenidge and Haynes put on a stand of 138. Greenidge went on to get a fine 106 not out as WI chased down the target with 9 wickets in hand. For India the economical spells of Ghavri (25 off 10 overs) and Venkat (30 off 12 overs) was a small compensation but a big defeat was not an ideal start to their campaign. India faced New Zealand in their next game at Headingley. Change of opposition did not make too much difference in terms of performance. Put in to bat India was bowled out for just 182. Gavaskar with 55 was the top scorer but there was no real contribution by rest of the batting lineup. New Zealand did not look in any trouble chasing and they got home with 8 wickets in hand with Edgar top scoring with 84. With two defeats in as many games the world cup was as good as over for India. Sri Lanka was not yet a test-playing nation and they qualified by winning the tournament of associate members that was played in England earlier. For India this match was a chance to retain some pride. India won the toss and elected to bowl first at Old Trafford. The top order did well for Sri Lanka and thanks to half centuries by Wettimuny (67), Dias (50) and Mendis (64) they managed a useful 238 for 5 in 60 overs. For India Amarnath with 3 for 40 was the most successful bowler. India started well in their pursuit with an opening stand of 60 by Gavaskar and Gaekwad. However they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 191 to lose by 47 runs. With 3 defeats in 3 matches including one against the minnows, India had well and truly hit the rock bottom. Epilogue England, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies made it to the semi finals. England and West Indies progressed to meet in the final at Lords where West Indies confirmed their supremacy in world cricket with a 92 runs victory. Richards (138 not out) and King (86) were involved in a stunning partnership and later on Garner with 5 for 38 made sure West Indies were the champions for 2nd time in a row. On the administrative side, the ICC agreed to make this competition a four-yearly event with the next World Cup also to be staged in England in 1983. For India it was hard to find any positives as they seemed to be struggling to adapt to the nature of limited overs cricket. Only hope was that things could not get any worse when they return to England 4 years later. "