Revision as of 17:58, 8 October 2023

1987

No longer called Prudential, the 1987 Cricket World Cup was co-hosted by India and Pakistan.

It was now the Reliance World Cup

Number of overs: 50

Participating teams: 8 (Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan , Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe)

Winners: Australia, who defeated England.

Reliance, not World

Reliance Cup: Corporate extravaganza

July 15, 1987/ India Today Anil Ambani, executive director, Reliance Textiles, hasn't heard of the World Cup. "What's that?" he asks. But isn't his company sponsoring what it bills as the cricketing event of the century? "Oh, that's the Reliance Cup," he says with a straight face.

1987 WC FINAL || England v Australia || EDEN GARDENS

Henry Blofeld recalls (The Times of India):

I remember the final in Calcutta. Oh dear Mike Gatting and that reverse sweep of Allan Border. It was a shot that didn't quite come off. I believe the ball hit him on the shoulder and flew behind the stumps to Greg Dyer. He was so surprised he almost dropped the ball. I am sure England would have won without that incident. Of course they haven't won a World Cup since.It was the finishing match no one wanted as India and Pakistan had both gone out in the semi-finals. There were thousands of people but the crowd was clinical rather than passionate as it watched a neutral final.

Graham Gooch

Ayaz Memon India Today February 5, 2015 | World Cup highlights: When the greats got going

115 runs

136 balls.

Fours-11

Sixes- 0

Ask Kapil Dev about why India flopped in the 1987 World Cup semi-final and he will say candidly, adding a touch of rustic flavour, "Sab Gooch ki jhadoo ka kamal tha". It was the perfection with which he played the sweep shot at the Wankhede Stadium that put favourites India out of the final.

Gooch repeatedly went down on one knee to sweep Maninder Singh and Ravi Shastri in the arc between mid-wicket and fine leg. By the time he was dismissed for 115, England had reached 203. The target for India was 255. Almost everybody from the middle-order got a start, but could not last long enough to change the outcome of the match.

Fascinating facts about World Cups

Author: MS Ramakrishnan, Bangalore, Thu, Jan 22 2015 CricBuzz 1 <>CricBuzz 2 <>CricBuzz 3 <>CricBuzz 4 <>CricBuzz 5

1987: A captain agreed to change a four to six and his team lost by 1 run When Dean Jones lofted Maninder Singh over mid-off during a 1987 World Cup match in Madras, the umpire, who was unsure if the ball had crossed the boundary, took Ravi Shastri's word and signalled four. However, Jones walked up to umpire Dickie Bird and suggested that it was a six. Dickie then said that the issue would be discussed after Australia's innings. During the innings break, Australian team manager Alan Crompton spoke to the umpires, who then approached India's captain, Kapil Dev. A generous Kapil agreed to change that four to six, which meant India's new target would be 271. Interestingly, India went on to lose the match by 1 run.

1987: From 'Dark Horses' to World Champions Prior to the tournament, Australia skipper Allan Border said, "India and Pakistan are favourites. We are the dark horses." However, the dark horses went on to lift the 1987 World Cup. Australia then became the first team to accomplish a hat-trick, winning the 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups.

1987: The first ever hat-trick in the history of World Cups Chetan Sharma dismissed Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Chatfield off successive deliveries in 1987, thus recording the first ever hat-trick in the history of World Cups. It was also the first hat-trick by an Indian in ODIs.

1987: When Courtney Walsh became Courteous Walsh Pakistan needed 2 runs to win off the last ball in a 1987 World Cup group match at Lahore. Despite the non-striker backing up too much, Courtney Walsh, who was in charge of the last over, liberally refused to effect a run-out. Eventually, Abdul Qadir hit the winning runs and Pakistan won the match by 1 wicket.

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 <>World Cup (cricket): 2019 <>World Cup (cricket): 2023