The World Cup of 1996, hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, made a few positive contributions to the game despite an unwieldy programme featuring 12 teams. Modern television coverage that took the game to a phenomenal number of countries was the first big plus as it gave the game a greater profile.
Money-making touched new heights as the event drew sponsorship in several areas not thought of earlier though profits were too meagre. The failures were also gigantic, beginning with the laser show at the inaugural that flopped to the refusal of Australia and the West Indies to tour Sri Lanka and play in Colombo where a bomb had gone off two weeks prior to the event.
The preliminary league was nearly meaningless as only four teams were eliminated and they were Zimbabwe plus three Associate members and Australia and the West Indies could get into the quarter-finals despite a forfeit. Travel arrangements were chaotic, practice facilities were not up to the mark and crowds in Pakistan were very poor except for games featuring the host nation.
When the mouse roared:
Kenya’s victory was hailed as one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, to be rated alongside Zimbabwe’s defeat of Australia, or even higher. It was extraordinary because it was the Kenyan bowlers who made victory possible when defending a mere 167.
Kenya’s amateurs bowled the West Indies out for their lowest World Cup total and second lowest ODI total. The upset seemed far from likely as Walsh fired out the first three Kenyans on their being asked to bat first and were 81 for six before Modi and Odoyo chipped in. Oat time wicket keeper Jimmy Adams equaled a World Cup record of five victims, an indication of the condition of the pitch.
When Richardson was bowled early, the pressures were yet to be felt but they certainly became huge when Lara departed, caught behind by roly-poly village ‘keeper Tariq Iqbal.
India and Australia stumble:
India and Australia, the teams more fancied in their group, stumbled in league matches. In fact, India took quite a pasting after running up a total of 271 thanks to an awesome hundred from Sachin who made 137 at a run a ball, adding 175 with Azharuddin in a World Cup record partnership.
In a previous game Romesh Kaluwitharana, the pocket powerhouse of a ‘keeper, had failed to score and was an unknown quantity when he came out to open with Sanath Jayasuriya. In the first three overs, the pair knocked off 42 runs, with Manoj Prabhakar going for 33 in two overs, and had the 50 up in five.
The Lankans started falling behind after Jayasuriya settled down somewhat to make his 79 off 76 balls seem almost sober after a frenetic start. Kumble instigated a minor collapse before Ranatunga and Hashan Tillekeratne picked up the challenge and the scoring rate again in their stand of 131 that brought victory in the 49th over. India had seen cricket of a different dimension as the openers attacked from both ends.
A clash that stirred passions:
The most awaited match of the tournament was the clash between hosts India and Pakistan. The best laid plans of the organizers that would have seen the two meet later in the tournament came to nought as their under-performances in the league brought them together in the quarter finals.
Such were the passions raised by this meeting that a man in Peshawar shot his TV set and then himself after Pakistan lost. Wasim Akram’s effigy was burnt on the streets, but then he had not helped Pakistan’s cause much by pulling out of the match, for ruptured side muscles, on the eve of the match.
Such were the betting market whispers that people may have thought the worst of Akram on both sides of the border. He vehemently denied rumours even as the keen contest was going on in Bangalore.
Sidhu led the way with his 93 but the run rate was nothing to write home about until Ajay Jadeja led a late charge with his 45 from 25 balls that included a daring assault that the tail continued on Waqar Younis’s final two overs that cost 40 runs. Still, all seemed lost for India as the Pakistani openers fired back, the one-over penalty (only such instance in the competition) for slow times adding to the hurt.
Aamir Sohail was off and running like an express train while Saeed Anwar was no slouch either. Sohail’s taunting of Venkatesh Prasad grew as he cut and slammed the Indian seamer. Prasad had his revenge when an over ambitious Sohail slashed wildly and was bowled, the bowler having no hesitation in pointing the way to the pavilion. Even so, the Pakistanis, having made 113 from 15 overs, were way ahead of the asking rate.
Prasad broke the back of the middle order with the wickets of Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam and though veterans Malik and Miandad added runs, the pace of run gathering had slackened considerably. Rashid Latif’s heroics were in vain as Anil Kumble had taken control, firing out the late order with three wickets.
Miandad, made to field as far from the bat as possible to stop him from interfering with the field placements and the captaincy, sounded out about how he had been made to bat way down the order and how his strategic inputs were ignored. This was the street smart Miandad’s final match. He walked off into the sunset of his career even as the World Cup champions were dethroned.
An Indian tragedy:
The semi final against Sri Lanka began like a dream for India with the visitors down to nil for two wickets in the first over. Success stopped right there for the hosts who had made the primary mistake of putting the opponents in only because the Sri Lankans had frightened them out of their wits in the league game in Delhi in which they blasted away in the early overs in the chase.
Having opted to play to deny the strength of their opponents in the chase, the Indians risked batting second on a pitch that had lain under covers for weeks on end as the stage for the opening ceremony a decided flop with the laser show failing to make any sense was built right over it. The match itself ended in a forfeit declared by match referee Clive Lloyd after a restive crowd blew up to vent anger at India’s poor batting performance in the chase soon after Tendulkar was dismissed for a well made 65, stumped off Jayasuriya.
From the depths of 35/3, Aravinda de Silva played the innings of his life to give the Lankans a par score by the 15th over and Mahanama stroked his way in support and others chipped away to make 251 possible.
At 98/1, India seemed well placed until Sachin over balanced and the rot began then and there as the Lankans used their spinners to great effect. So complete was India’s batting disaster that the scoreline reads 120 for eight when the crowd blew up.
Having endured for hours together without so much as water, the crowd threw from the terraces whatever it could get hold of. Lloyd lost his patience but not Tony Greig who conducted post-match interviews as if no riots had just taken place.
