INDIA AT THE CRICKET WORLD CUP - 3

Q1. Who is the first Indian to bag a 5 wicket haul in a World Cup match?

A. Kapil Dev

B. Robin Singh

C. Venkatesh Prasad

Q2. Which Indian cricketer was part of the 1999 World Cup 15 member squad, but unfortunately never got to play a game in the tournament?

A. Sadagoppan Ramesh

B. Nikhil Chopra

C. Amay Khurasiya

Q3. Name this Indian cricketer who was criticized for missing the Semifinal of the 1987 World Cup which India lost, due to a stomach disorder resulting from seafood allergy, but was handed over the captaincy of Indian team immediately after the World Cup from Kapil Dev.

A. Ravi Shastri

B. Dilip Vengsarkar

C. Mohammad Azharuddin

Q4. In the Semi Final of 1996 World Cup against Sri Lanka who took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, a match notorious for the extremely poor crowd behaviour?

A. Sanath Jayasuriya

B. Aravinda de Silva

C. Kumar Dharmasena

Q5. The highest team total in 2011 World Cup was 370/4 scored by India. Against which team India achieved this total?

A. West Indies

B. England

C. Bangladesh

INDIA AT THE CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2 - ANSWERS

 1. B. East Africa

 

India's first win in World Cup came in the inaugural edition of the World Cup in 1975 where it competed in Group A against England, New Zealand and East Africa, a team of cricketers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Northern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Led  by off-spinner Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, India had a disastrous start as it lost the inaugural match against host England by a huge margin of 202 runs at Lord's.

 

(Sunil Gavaskar)

(Farokh Engineer)

India next played against East Africa at Headingley in Leeds and as expected, won the match, thanks to disciplined bowling from medium pacer Madan Lal (3/15) which restricted East Africa to 120. In the chase, Gavaskar made amends for his atrocious innings against England with a fine half-century (65 not out from 86 balls, 9 fours). Supported by Farokh Engineer (54 not out from 93 balls, 7 fours), the duo hammered the amateurish East African bowling and steered India to a facile victory without losing a wicket.

2. B. VCA Ground, Nagpur

In its last match in Group stage of the 1987 World Cup, held at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur, India needed a big win over New Zealand in order to finish ahead of Australia and secure a home semi-final at Wankhede Stadium, Bombay (the other Semi-final was held at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore).

 

Batting first after winning the toss, the Kiwis were relatively comfortable at 182 for 5 in the 42nd over before Chetan Sharma, the right arm Fast bowler registered the first ever World Cup hat-trick (only the third bowler in the world and first Indian to take a hat-trick in the One Day Internationals), as he accounted for Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over (all clean-bowled) thus restricting Kiwis at 221.

 

India needed to chase the target in 42.2 overs for the home Semifinal, but thanks to some sensational batting from Kris Srikanth (75 from 58 balls) and Sunil Gavaskar (103* from 88 balls - his first and only century in ODIs ), they reached the target in just 32.1 overs with 9 wickets in hand.   

3. B. Kapil Dev

 

In the 1992 World Cup, India after losing its first match in the Round-Robin stage against England by a close margin of 9 runs, played its second match against Sri Lanka in search of a win. Heavy rain before the start of the match delayed the toss and finally when the match started (Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to field in overcast conditions) the overs were reduced to 20 overs per innings.

 

India for a change decided send Kapil Dev as pinch-hitting opener with Krishnamachari Srikkanth instead of Ravi Shastri, the opener in the last match. But the rain played havoc again with just two balls being bowled (both faced by K. Srikkanth) and could not be resumed again.

 

The abandoned match put India under tremendous pressure as India was favorite to win the match against a relatively weak Sri Lanka then. Ajay Jadeja, the prolific batsman made his debut in that rain-marred match.

4. A. Kiran More

In the 1992 Benson & Hedges World Cup, India faced arch-rival Pakistan in its fourth Round-Robin stage match looking for the maiden win in the Tournament. Batting first after winning the toss at Sydney in a day-night match, India set a target of 217 for Pakistan in 49 overs (1 over reduced due to rain delay). In reply, Pakistan seemed to lose the plot with Inzamam ul Haq and Zahid Fazal being dismissed with just 17 runs on the board. Javed Miandad was the fourth man in and tried his best to stitch a crucial partnership with opener Aamer Sohail.

 

But the Indian bowlers were economical and the pressure was building. At the halfway stage, Pakistan were at 85/2. Then the young Sachin Tendulkar who was bowling sent one down the leg side. Miandad tried to play at it but it went through to Kiran More behind the stumps. More appealed long and loud, but the umpire waved it away. Miandad wasn’t pleased with the intense appeal and exchanged some words with the Indian wicketkeeper. The Pakistan batsman then complained to umpire David Shephard, but More didn’t back down. In the same over, More removed the bails in an attempted run-out despite Miandad being well inside the crease.

 

But this time Miandad went first. Clutching his bat in both hands, he jumped up and down while shouting animatedly. More, on the other hand, remained calm. It may not have been the best advertisement for the gentleman’s game but remains an iconic moment from the many India-Pakistan matches that followed.

5. A. Duncan Fletcher

Duncan Fletcher, the former Zimbabwean cricketer was appointed coach of the India national cricket team on 27 April 2011 with an initial two-year contract after departure of Gary Kirsten (reportedly upon Kirsten's recommendation) ahead of names like former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and former Zimbabwe skipper Andy Flower. Under Fletcher's coaching, the Indian national team achieved 8 series victories in a row; including the Champions Trophy in 2013. In 2013, his contract was renewed for another two years up to the 2015 World Cup.

(Fletcher, the south-paw, in 1983 World Cup)

Fletcher, who never played Test Cricket (Zimbabwe got Test status in 1992) but took Zimbabwe to victory in the 1982 ICC Trophy (Zimbabwe qualified to play in the 1983 World Cup), had earlier coached the England cricket team from 1999–2007 and is credited with the resurgence of the England team in Test cricket in the early 2000s.

 

In the 2015 World Cup co-hosted by Australia and England, India as the defending Champions were billed pre-tournament favourites and also had familiarity with the conditions Down Under with an Australian tour preceding the event. Though for the first time ever in a Cricket World Cup, India finished the Group stage unbeaten, it lost out to Australia, the eventual Champions  in the Semi Final (their only loss in the Tournament). Many positives emerged from the tournament from an Indian point of view including barring the semifinal, the Indian team bowled out the opposition in every match, a remarkable feat for a bowling attack traditionally considered to be weaker than the batting; but Duncan Fletcher did not seek for a renewal and his glorious stint as Indian Coach came to an end with the Tournament.

INDIA AT THE CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2

Q1. Against which country India won its first ever World Cup match?

A. Zimbabwe

B. East Africa

C. Sri Lanka

Q2. At which venue Chetan Sharma took the first hat-trick in the history of Cricket World Cup in 1987 edition?

A. Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh

B. VCA Ground, Nagpur

C. Green Park, Kanpur

Q3. The India-Sri Lanka match at the 1992 World Cup in Mackay was severely affected by rain and was shortened to a 20-over match. Even that was not possible and the match ended with just two balls being bowled. To quicken up scoring rate, who did India send as a pinch-hitting opener in this match along with Krishnamachari Srikkanth?

A. Sachin Tendulkar

B. Kapil Dev

C. Ajay Jadeja

Q4. In the picture below, Javed Miandad can be seen mocking which Indian wicket-keeper in protest of his excessive appeal behind the stumps?

A. Kiran More

B. Nayan Mongia

C. Syed Kirmani

Q5. Who was the Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team in the 2015 World Cup?

A. Duncan Fletcher

B. Ravi Shastri

C. Anil Kumble

INDIA AT THE CRICKET WORLD CUP - 1 - ANSWERS

1. C. Madan Lal

In the first-ever match in Cricket World Cup (50-Over) on 7th June, 1975 at Lord's, London, between the host England and India, England won the toss and opted to bat first. Dennis Amiss, an elegant right hander from Birmingham, Warwickshire (Amiss later became a National Selector of English Team in 1992 and in November, 2007, became the Deputy Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board) and John Jameson (born in Bombay) opened the innings for England.

(Scorecard from the first innings of the first-ever World Cup Match)

For India, "Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma" (Madan Lal), who initially played for Punjab (his home state) and later Delhi in domestic circuit, opened the bowling; thus becoming the first bowler to deliver a bowl in the history of Cricket World Cup.

After his retirement in 1987, Madan Lal has been actively involved in the game in various capacities - coached the UAE team for 1996 Cricket World Cup and had a stint as India's national cricket coach between September 1996 and September 1997. He was also a member of the Selection Committee of India from 2000 and 2001.

2. C. Navjot Singh Sidhu

Till date, 14 Indians have scored at least one century in ODI World Cup. Ajay Jadeja (100* against Australia at the Oval - 1999 WC) and Vinod Kambli (106 against Zimbabwe at Kanpur - 1996 WC) each have scored one Century in World Cup.

However Navjot Singh Sidhu despite having 7 half centuries (4 half centuries in 1987 World Cup in a row including in his debut ODI thus becoming the first player to record four successive half-centuries on debut in ODIs that too in a World Cup) to his name, has not scored a century in World Cup. His 93 against Pakistan in the 1996 quarter-finals remains the highlight (highest score) of his World Cup career. In 10 World Cup innings, Sidhu scored 454 runs at an average of 45.4 and a strike rate of 78.82.

3. A. 1 run

The 1987 Cricket World Cup (or the Reliance Cup 1987), the fourth edition of World Cup, was the first one to organized outside England. It was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan.

In the first ever World Cup match held in India, India faced Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras on 9th October, 1987. Australia batting first after losing the toss amassed 270 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Dean Jones played a quick-fire innings of 39 from 35 balls which included 2 Sixes of which one was originally signaled as a "Four" (Australia's scorecard read as 268 for 6 at the close of their innings) by Umpire Dickie Bird after consulting Ravi Shastri, stationed at the boundary rope. This was before the introduction of a TV umpire, who has to his advantage multiple camera angles before making a decision.

During the innings break, the Australian team management had a talk with umpires over Bird’s decision, convincing them that Jones’s shot had crossed over the line. With skipper Kapil Dev’s approval, two more runs were added to the total. However India would later find out that generosity is a virtue that is not exactly rewarding in a sporting arena with high stakes in place as India bundled out for 269 after Maninder Singh was bowled by young Steve Waugh thus losing the match by only 1 run.

4. C. Kenya

The National Cricket team of Kenya is an associate member of the ICC since 1981. Prior to that Kenya along with Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda combined to form the East Africa cricket team, which became an associate member of the ICC in 1966 from which Kenya broke away in 1981 and joined the ICC in their own right as an associate member.

(Jubilant Kenyan players after beating West Indies to register their maiden ODI win in 1996 WC at Nehru Stadium, Pune)

However the team made its World Cup debut in the 1996 edition, the year they gained their One Day International (ODI) status. In their first ever match in World Cup led by Maurice Odumbe against India at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on 18th February, 1996, all the 11 players of Kenya also made ODI debut (It was Kenya's maiden ODI match).

5. B. England

In its second league match in 2011 World Cup, India faced England at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, on a batting paradise. Having scored 370 in their previous game batting first, India elected to bat after winning the toss against England. Riding on a century from Sachin Tendulkar (120 from 115 balls) and half centuries from Gautam Gambhir (51) and Yuvraj Singh (58), India were easily placed at 305 for 3 in 46th over only to be all out for 338 triggered by a five-wicket haul by Tim Bresnan, the English paceman.

In response England had a great start with skipper Andrew Strauss scoring a mammoth innings of 158 and Ian Bell contributing with a fine knock of 69. The 43rd over of the England innings bowled by Zaheer Khan became the turning point of the match as the left-arm seamer got rid of both Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell.

With 14 required for a historic win for England with 2 wickets in hand in the last over, Munaf Patel did a great job to give away only 13 runs. India managed with a memorable tie, only the fourth tied match in history of World Cup!