Chak De India!

Chak De India!

Friday, January 2, 2015

Win #11 - India's first win over Pakistan in World Cup

In the entire 1992 World Cup, India won two matches only - one of them coming over the lowly Zimbabwe in a rain-affected match. The more notable win was against its rival Pakistan at the SCG. India had lost many matches in the initial part of the tournament (including one close loss against Australia) while Pakistan had a horrible start. Pakistan would go on not only to qualify for the semifinal but also win the tournament. This was also the first World Cup to be played with colored clothing. The tournament saw some great fielding - noticeably Jonty Rhodes runout of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ajay Jadeja's catch of Alan Border in the outfield.

India played the test series and a tri-series tournament in Australia (just like it is planned for 2015 World Cup) but the practice was of no avail. The batting order could not make as many runs as possible and frequent weather interruptions did not help their cause either. Coming back to the match itself, this was one of the classic matches where Pakistan bowled first and restricted the Indian total to a decent 216 of 50 overs. Sachin Tendulkar shored up the batting after the earlier batsmen had occupied too many balls. Together with Kapil Dev, Tendulkar added 60 runs for the sixth wicket while scoring an individual fifty himself.


The response was typical Pakistani. Aamer Sohail got off to a great start and the total was very quickly 105-2 when Sachin Tendulkar stuck with his medium-pace to get him out. Post this dismissal, Pakistan went into a slide. Javed Miandad was at one end but he was more famous for his antics with Kiran More. Trying to imitate More's appeals, Miandad jumped up and down! This was also probably the reason his running between the wickets got affected (and thus ended up running Imran Khan out). Regular breakthrough by all bowlers meant that India was able to win by 43 runs. Javagal Srinath was at his best, getting rid of Miandad and ensuring the tail did not wag much.

No prize for guessing the Man of the Match - Sachin Tendulkar. 

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