World Cup (cricket): 1996
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1996
The Wills World Cup
Venue: The Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
Participating teams: Australia, England, India, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, the West Indies, Zimbabwe
Kenya and Zimbabwe were included.
Winners: Sri Lanka, defeating Australia in the final.
India vs Pakistan
IANS | Feb 12, 2015 India vs Pakistan: World Cup history
1996 - India won by 39 runs
This quarter-final match, played at a packed M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, was keenly-contested. While opener Navjot Singh Sidhu scored an authoritative 93 to set India a strong platform, middle-order batsman Ajay Jadeja put the finishing touches to the innings, blasting a 25-ball 45 -- being particularly severe on pacer Waqar Younis -- to enable India post a commanding 287 for eight on the board.
Pakistan's response was aggressive and their openers Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail threatened to take the match away. But a middle-order collapse, triggered by tight slow bowling by spinners Anil Kumble and Venkatpathy Raju, guided India to victory, despite the best efforts of veteran batsmen Javed Miandad and Salim Malik.
Aravinda de Silva
Ayaz Memon India Today February 5, 2015 | World Cup highlights: When the greats got going
124 balls.
107 Runs
Fours-13
Sixes- 0
Aravinda de Silva's sobriquet 'Mad Max' would suggest he was a batsman of reckless daredevilry, but he could be a marauder just as well as being a maestro. The 1996 World Cup was to provide examples of both these sterling facets of his batsmanship.
In the semis, Aravinda launched into a sizzling counterattack against India that fetched him 66 off just 47 deliveries. In the final against Australia, Aravinda was a study in contrast, playing with deep resolve and responsibility to lead his team to victory.
Mad Max he may be, but there was a method to Aravinda's madness that spelt greatness.
Arjuna Ranatunga details SL's triumph
We changed the rules forever, almost by chance
The opening gambit defined our World Cup win of 1996. And by 1999, almost every team in the world had opening batsmen who attacked from the word go from both sides
Arjuna Ranatunga India Today February 5, 2015 |
Arjuna Ranatunga led Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 World Cup
Whenever the 1996 World Cup is spoken about, everybody thinks it was brave of the Sri Lankan team's think tank, led by me, to go ahead and open with two unheralded batsmen. Flattering as it might sound, it's not entirely true.
The story actually predates the World Cup by a few years.
Sanath Jayasuriya, then a young, exciting, if impetuous, young batsman, had been batting with Roshan Mahanama in 1994. Back then, Sanath was a left-arm spinner who could grab a few runs in the lower order. However, I sensed Sanath could do more with his batting. He seemed to possess the self-belief and stroke play that could make him a devastating opening batsman. By the time the World Cup came around, Sanath was quite well settled into his role as opener. A fine balance to the classical style of Mahanama. While the latter held one end up, Sanath would go his merry way trying to take the bowling apart, often losing his wicket in the process.
It was in 1996 that we serendipitously discovered that the future lay in firepower at both ends. We were touring Australia in what was a fiery, controversial and intense series. Mahanama was not at his best and everyone felt we needed to experiment at the top of the order, at least I thought that was the way ahead. I told Duleep Mendis, who was our manager on that tour, that we should try Romesh Kaluwitharana as a partner to Sanath. Kalu, like Sanath, had started off as a lower middle order batsman who liked to play big shots. He used to bat at number six and made handy contributions in the lower middle-order. There was really nothing to distinguish him as a potentially gifted opener. No wonder then that coach Dav What more expressed his scepticism about the plan. But once Duleep and I were on board, Dav too went along with the plan. Kalu had gathered many 30s and 40s at the time and was invariably stranded without partners. He relished the opener's slot and approached batting at the top with an attitude hitherto unseen in world cricket.
We had an uncomplicated plan. In those days, way before power play and other batsman-friendly plans had been put in place, we told Sanath and Kalu to bat with the aim of scoring 100 to 120 runs in the first 15 overs. It was a brave strategy, but I was emboldened by the fact that we had a very strong middle order. Asanka Gurusinghe, Aravinda de Silva, yours truly, Roshan Mahanama and Hashan Tillakaratne made for a solid batting line-up. So even if our young team mates fell in their quest to reach 120, there were enough solid guys at the back end. Looking back, it was an experienced middle-order that allowed Sanath and Kalu to blossom. And going ahead from then on, while it's the openers who get the kudos, the plan only really works when there are quality batsmen to either defend when they fail or really launch on their early attacking batting to pile up a big score. The plan of attacking openers might never have taken off if we did not have such a fine middle-order.
It was also around 1994 that Sri Lanka had begun to focus on a good support team. Dav had joined a little earlier, during our tour of Pakistan. I have always felt that one of Dav's greatest strengths was that he identified areas we needed help in. He was the first guy to identify that we were well below international standards in fitness. He hired Alex Kontouri, who worked at getting us into the best shape we could be in. Fielding was the clear improvement but there were other benefits. With fitness, our energy and alertness seemed to reach new levels and this started reflecting in our batting as well. We progressed rather rapidly from a passable fielding side to one that could match top fielding sides, dive for dive, save for save. Dav managed to focus on areas that needed improvement and never interfered in anything else. Trouble areas such as running between the wickets were sorted out with innovative drills.
The other area that got a boost was bowling. From our entry into cricket, Sri Lanka had always been a team that excelled in batting but never quite had the bowling to make those runs count. Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas were new names on the team list and they were very good prospects. Alex worked well with them to make them strong and able to bowl through intense tours. Both went on to have long careers, and a lot of the credit must go to Alex and Dav.
A long, intense campaign needs a unified and tight think tank. Duleep, Dav, Aravinda and I were able to work together to strategise and keep calm through the entire tournament. Duleep was really supportive and let me take some difficult selection calls because he saw the courage in my convictions. I knew that given the team I wanted, we could challenge the favourites.
The turning point for the campaign was the match against India in Delhi. India posted a huge total on the back of a century by Sachin Tendulkar. However, Sanath blazed to an even more sensational century, proving that the strategy was working like a charm. Beating India, one of the favourites in the tournament, in India was a huge boost to our self-belief. We felt for the first time that we could dream of going all the way. However, it was important to stay focused on each game.
I also remember the semi-final clearly. Thanks to our strategy, we preferred chasing. However, one look at the wicket and we felt that it would not last 100 overs and that chasing would be hard. In that game, Sanath the bowler came to the fore, and it was an unbelievable way in which the game ended, signalling our first entry into a World Cup final.
But it is the opening gambit that defines the World Cup win of 1996. By the time the next World Cup came around, every team in the world was planning and playing their innings like Sanath and 'little Kalu' did in 1996. However, our mindset and approach was one that has remained with me. We resolved to not get pressured by expectations or the desire to win the World Cup. Instead, we planned to take one game at a time.
The reason Sri Lanka will always be remembered for the 1996 World Cup win is the fact that we transformed the strategy of one-day cricket. By 1999, almost every team in the world had opening batsmen who attacked from the word go.
Fascinating facts about World Cups
Author: MS Ramakrishnan, Bangalore, Thu, Jan 22 2015 CricBuzz 1 <>CricBuzz 2 <>CricBuzz 3 <>CricBuzz 4 <>CricBuzz 5
1994: Miandad comes out of retirement to play six Worlds Cups Javed Miandad returned to international cricket just 10 days after announcing his retirement in 1994. Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had a discussion with Miandad, after which the star batsman decided to change his mind. Featuring in the 1996 World Cup, Miandad became the first cricketer to play six World Cups.
1996: Inauspicious start to a World Cup The 1996 World Cup began with a whimper as the opening ceremony in Calcutta suffered galling lapses. Saaed Jaffrey, who starred in the Oscar-winning Gandhi, got the names of several teams and sponsors wrong. To aggravate the situation, the laser show went bust.
1996: Angry fans set Eden Gardens ablaze Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal in the 1996 World Cup semifinal triggered a tremendous collapse as India slumped from 98/1 to 120/8. An outraged crowd then went berserk at the Eden Gardens setting fire in the stands and throwing bottles onto the field. This forced the match officials to stop the match and declare Sri Lanka as winners by default.
1996: One of the greatest comebacks by a bowler After carting Venkatesh Prasad for a boundary during the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal match against India, Pakistan's Aamer Sohail showed the direction in which he hit the ball to Prasad, gesturing him to go and fetch it. Prasad returned strongly the next ball by knocking over Sohail's off stump and signalled him to walk back to the dressing room. Eventually, India went on to clinch the high-voltage clash and progress to the semifinal.
Tax troubles
Cricketing arrears
February 9, 1998/ India Today
The 1996 Wills World Cup cricket championship is long over, but the other match - Jagmohan Dalmiya versus the Income-Tax Department - ended only in 1998.
See also
World Cup (cricket): history <>World Cup (cricket): 1975 <>World Cup (cricket): 1979 <>World Cup (cricket): 1983 <>World Cup (cricket): 1987 <>World Cup (cricket): 1992 <>World Cup (cricket): 1996 <>World Cup (cricket): 1999 <>World Cup (cricket): 2003 <>World Cup (cricket): 2007 <>World Cup (cricket): 2011 <>World Cup (cricket): 2015
