India's World Cup journey from 1983 - The sweet and the sour

Can MS Dhoni and his boys kiss the cup of glory one more time for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and for the whole nation? As Sachin rightly pointed out, Kapil's Devils victory over the mighty West Indies in the 1983 Cricket World Cup final has changed the course of Indian cricket forever. Here is a sneak peek at India at the Cricket World Cups since then.

1983 - Beginning of a new era of cricket in India

No one ever thought, not even in their wildest dreams, that India would defeat the Windies who had been unstoppable in the previous two world cups. Led by the legends like Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil took India through the semis with their bats to win over England. Mohinder Amarnath was awarded "Man of the Match" in the finals and semi-finals for his all rounder performance. Roger Binny and Madan Lal led the bowling pack along with Amarnath and took the match away from the Windies. Kapil Dev's 175 not out and the stunning catch to dismiss Vivian Richards running 20 yards cannot be forgotten. Gavaskar, Syed Kirmani and Srikkanth showed their class and took the glorious cup to a nation where cricket was not the same again since then.

1987 - The mega event coming home for the first time

Hosting the World Cup for the first time, India was in great form throughout the league stages, winning five of the six matches, the one lost was just by a margin of 1 run against Australia. India went into the semi-finals looking forward to face the arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. But to the horror of fans, their world cup campaign ended in the semis against England. Although the captain Kapil bowled strongly, Indian batting lineup consisting of Navjot Sidhu and Sunil Gavaskar failed with Mohammed Azharuddin (64 from 74 balls) being the sole batsman fighting back. Navjot Sidhu was India's star with the bat scoring consistently throughout. 

 

1992 - Sachin starts his Word Cup journey, but India fails

Sachin started his Word Cup journey in 1992, but the team had a disastrous tournament with only 2 wins in 8 matches. Held in Australia and New Zealand, the tournament witnessed many innovations in the game which marked South Africa first World Cup and the use of colored clothing. Although Sachin showed the glimpse of his talent with 3 fifties, captain Mohammed Azharuddin was India's best batsman of the tournament with 332 runs.

1996 - When the nation cried with Kambli at the semis

India co-hosted the World Cup once again along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which saw a good performance from the Indian team led by maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who has been the top-scorer for the tournament with a total of 523 runs at an average of 87.16. India marched into the semis beating Pakistan in one of the greatest matches played between the two sides. Facing Sri Lanka who went on to win the tournament, India was at 120/8 chasing the Lankan score of 251 when the disappointed Indian crowd disrupted the proceedings and Sri Lanka was declared the winners. Anil Kumble was India's best bowler in the tournament with 15 wickets.

1999 - Show of India's batting trio, but not beyond the Super Six

The tournament saw the consistency and effectiveness of batting trio Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly with Dravid being the leading run-scorer of the entire tournament with 461 runs at an average of 65.85. The trio also ended the tournament with the top 3 highest scores of the tournament in their names with Sourav Ganguly's 183, Rahul Dravid's 145 and Sachin Tendulkar's 140. Tendulkar had to return back home due to his father's death during the tournament. However, having to win all their games to make it to the semi- finals, India could not reach beyond the Super Six. 

2003 - Unexpected show, but disastrous end at the finals

Although started in a disastrous note with an unimpressive win against Holland and a humiliating loss against Australia, India fought back with a series of wins. India defeated Zimbabwe, Namibia, England and Pakistan in the remaining league matches. Entering the Super Six, India won all the three matches beating Kenya, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. India then once again defeated the surprised entry Kenya in the semis to face the defending champions Australia at the final. But the game saw the Aussies dominance with Gilchrist and Hayden giving a good start from where Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn kept going to finish the innings with Ponting remaining unbeaten on a century while Martyn was not out on 89. In response to the score of 359, all that India could manage was 234 with Virender Sehwag being the lone fighter with 82 runs. Sachin was awarded 'Man of the Tournament'.

2007 - Tournament of Humiliation

In 2007, Indian team landed in West Indies tagged as one of the top favorites for winning the championship, but was knocked out in the first round of the tournament itself. The team was a very balanced one with the wealth of a handful of experienced players and had 2 convincing home series wins against West Indies and Sri Lanka before the World Cup. The team had a disastrous start as they lost to Bangladesh in the opener and had to win the two remaining matches in their group. In the next match, India thrashed Bermuda with a 257 run win. At the final must-win match against Sri Lanka, India were all out for 185 in response to the Lankan score of 254, which marked India's exit from the World Cup.