India’s triumph in the 1983 World Cup gave the subcontinent’s bidto conduct the competition four years later a tremendous fillip,and for the first time, the World Cup – labelled the Reliance Cupafter the new sponsors – was held outside England,

Partab Ramchand11-Mar-2003India’s triumph in the 1983 World Cup gave the subcontinent’s bidto conduct the competition four years later a tremendous fillip,and for the first time, the World Cup – labelled the Reliance Cupafter the new sponsors – was held outside England, when bothIndia and Pakistan jointly hosted the event in October-November1987.Other than the overs per innings being brought down from 60 to 50­ it would have been next to impossible to bowl 120 overs a dayon the subcontinent – there was no alteration in the teamsinvolved or the general format. Once again, the eight teams wereplaced in two groups; Group A comprised India, Australia,Zimbabwe and New Zealand, while group B comprised England,Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka.
© CricInfoFor a change, India and Pakistan were the joint favourites forthe title, although the chances of England and the West Indiescould not be not ruled out. Group B was obviously the moreintriguing one, with three heavyweights fighting it out in thepreliminary stage, so predictably enough, most of the interestcentered round matches in that group. Close finishes proved to bethe order of the day, and a couple of minor surprises meant thatPakistan and England made the semifinals from the group at theexpense of the West Indies.The pattern was set on the opening day, when Pakistan beat down aspirited challenge from Sri Lanka, winning by just 15 runs. A daylater, England surprised the West Indies by two wickets, thewinning runs being scored with three balls to spare. Pakistandefeated England by 18 runs and then got the better of the WestIndies in a scorcher, the final margin being one wicket and thewinning runs being scampered off the last ball.By now the competition was becoming known as much for its nailbiting finishes as for its impeccable organisation. In the returnround of matches, Pakistan again defeated England to make sure ofa berth in the semifinals, and the battle for second spot now laybetween England and the West Indies. The two-time championsseemed to be clawing their way back with two successive victoriesover Sri Lanka, in the first of which Vivian Richards hammered amajestic unbeaten 181 that surpassed Kapil Dev’s 175 not out asthe highest individual score in a World Cup. But a secondsuccessive loss to England knocked them out of contention, andeven though they beat Pakistan in their final league match ­handing the co-hosts their first defeat in six games ­ it was nomore than a consolation prize for the West Indies.Things were less hot in the comparatively passive Group A ­ butonly just. Intense competition was lacking for India andAustralia, who as expected were always ahead of New Zealand andZimbabwe. But close finishes were prevalent in this pool too. Infact, the first match between India and Australia at Madrasproduced the closest possible finish, with the latter winning byone run. New Zealand and Zimbabwe then produced another thrillerthe next day at Hyderabad before the former edged past theirgallant opponents by three runs despite a heroic 141 off 138balls by Dave Houghton.A few days later, Australia defeated New Zealand at Indore bythree runs in the only rain-affected match of the tournament.Postponed by a day because of heavy rain, it was curtailed to 30overs a side after captains Allan Border and Jeff Crowe expressedtheir preference for a game rather than sharing the points for ano-result.The rest of the matches went according to the form-book, andIndia, with five straight wins after that narrow loss, took thetop spot, while Australia with a similar record were second. Bothteams had 20 points, but India’s slightly superior rate saw themavoid a semifinal meeting with Pakistan at Lahore. Instead, theytook on England at Bombay, while Australia had to make the tripto Pakistan.At this stage, all seemed set for an India­Pakistan final clash.India seemed to be peaking just at the right time, whilePakistan, in getting the better of West Indies and England intheir group, had shown themselves to be potential champions. Itwas also the clash that everyone was looking forward to, a realdream final.Such dreams, however, were shattered, for it turned out to be anAustralia­England final. Australia set one up for the underdogswhen they shocked Pakistan by 18 runs. The next day, Englandmaintained the trend by upsetting India by 35 runs. It wasunbelievable, but full credit went to both Australia and Englandfor displaying a professional approach against in-form opponentswho may have been a touch complacent.Both matches followed a similar pattern. Australia scored 267 foreight in 50 overs, and Pakistan seemed well-placed at 150 forthree, and with Javed Miandad and Imran Khan going strongly, theyrequired 118 runs off 15 overs. But Craig McDermott then gotamong the wickets, and Pakistan were dismissed for 249 in 49overs, with the tall and well-built pace spearhead finishing withfive for 44.
© CricInfoAt Bombay, Graham Gooch led the way with a stroke-filled 115 asEngland scored 254 for six in 50 overs. At 204 for five, and with10 overs in hand, India had things well under control, for therequired rate was only five an over. But irresponsible battingcaused a sudden and shattering debacle that saw India bundled outfor 219 in 45.3 overs.The final at Calcutta evoked comparatively lukewarm interest inthe subcontinent, although 93,000 spectators were present at theEden Gardens. Though the final victory margin was only sevenruns, the match was not that close, for Australia always seemedto have things under control from the time they led off with 253for five in 50 overs. David Boon top-scored with 75, enough toget him the Man of the Match award.England had the benefit of sizeable contributions from most oftheir top-order batsmen, but tight bowling and brilliant fieldingsaw to it that they were always behind on the run-rate.Ultimately they fell agonisingly short, finishing at 246 foreight in 50 overs. Australia, then in the midst of a rebuildingprocess and given little chance of winning the title, ended updeserving champions.