1987
The
1987 Cricket World Cup
held in India and Pakistan was the first World Cup hosted outside of England.
It was also the first tournament where the West Indies were unable to reach the
final. The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current
standard, because of the shorter daylight hours on the subcontinent when
compared to England. Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7
runs, the closest margin so far in World Cup final history.
The
1992 Cricket World Cup
held by Australia and New Zealand brought many changes to the game such as
coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches and an alteration to the
fielding restrictions. It was the first tournament that the South African
cricket team played in, following the end of the international sports boycott.
Referred as the 'Cornered Tigers' at the time, Pakistan overcame a dismal start
to emerge as winners, defeating England by 22 runs in the final at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground.[8]
The
1996 championship was held
in the Indian subcontinent for
the second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host of some of its group stage matches. It
occurred behind the backdrop of political upheaval in world cricket, after a
spiteful Sri Lankan tour of Australia in 1995/96. After the no balling of Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan by Darrell Hair in a Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground,
the tour ended in a spiteful ODI final in Sydney
which saw physical contact between Glenn McGrath and Sanath Jayasuriya, and the refusal of the Sri Lankans to shake
hands at the end of the match. Some Australian players received death threats,
which were compounded by a Tamil Tiger bombing in Colombo. Australia and West Indies refused to
play their respective matches against Sri Lanka there, causing
both matches to be awarded to Sri Lanka by default. After protracted
negotiations, Kenya and Zimbabwe agreed to fulfil their fixtures in Sri Lanka.
The Australian led boycott drew heavy criticism from subcontinental cricket
officials, with former Indian captain Kapil Dev calling for Australia to be expelled.
On
the field, the abrasive and dry subcontinent surfaces resulted in batting
conditions being optimal early in the innings before the ball became softer and
more difficult to strike. Of the five leading run-scorers, four were opening
batsmen, with Mark Waugh becoming the first batsman to
score three centuries in a tournament. Spin bowlers were the most effective, with
four of the leading six wicket-takers. The quarter finals saw co-hosts India
and Pakistan meet in Bangalore. After Pakistani captain Wasim Akram withdrew due to injury, Ajay Jadeja struck 40 from the last two overs from Waqar Younis, setting Pakistan a target of 288. Pakistan were
going well at 109/1, but after Aamer Sohail confronted taunted Indian bowler Venkatesh Prasad after striking a boundary, Prasad bowled him
immediately after, sparking a collapse of 3/19, all to Prasad. After falling 39
runs short, the Government of Pakistan launched an inquiry into the
performance, after angry protests by the public which left one person dead, and
accusations of match-fixing were levelled at Wasim. In the other quarter finals,
Australia and Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand and England respectively, while
South Africa, who were previously undefeated, were upset by the West Indies.
In
the semi-final, Sri Lanka, headed towards a crushing victory over India at Eden Gardens (Calcutta) after their hosts slumped to
120/8 from being 98/1 in pursuit of 252, were awarded victory by default after
riots broke out in protest against the Indian performance. In the other
semi-final in Mohali, Australia defeated the West Indies after the Caribbean
team lost their last seven wickets for 29 runs in their run-chase. Sri Lanka
went on to claim their inaugural championship by defeating the favourites
Australia in the final by seven wickets, held in Lahore.
Tension remained between the two sides after the Australian series, with Sri
Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga declaring
Australian leg spinner Shane Warne in the media before the match,
and proceeding to poke his tongue at Warne during the match after hitting a
six. Aravinda de Silva was
named man of the match, as he was in the semi-final.
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