1975
The real reason behind the staging of the tournament was cricket’s financial plight. Test match attendances were on the wane and with Prudential Assurance offering a £1,00,000 support, the ICC announced the plan for the men’s World Cup just days after the final of the women’s tournament was held in 1973. However, the format was still not widely accepted. Ian Chappell, Australian skipper at the time, was dismissive of it. The Australian cricket board, as author and journalist Gideon Haigh states, did not organise a single ODI between 1975-1979. The Caribbeans thought differently, though. “For us in the Caribbean it was a very important moment. I was shaping a team and the World Cup came at the right time,” said former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, who scored 102 in the final to help his side win the inaugural World Cup.
1979
If it was Lloyd in 1975, it was his protégé, Viv Richards, in 1979. Ably supported by Collis King, Richards played one of the best ODI knocks ever and made sure hosts England wouldn’t even come close to the West Indian total. “We were on a roll. For a period we did not know how to lose,” said Lloyd.
1983
Nothing can compare with India’s Prudential Cup victory on 25 June 1983, which altered the face of Indian cricket. The Times declared, “Kapil’s men turn world upside down: Cannon fodder turned cannon.” The Sunday Express reported that India’s victory was the biggest upset in cricketing history. Tony Lewis wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that India had performed one of the “most mystical acts in her long cricket history.”
1987
A day after India won the World Cup, the BCCI, for the first time, discussed the possibility of hosting the tournament in India. Reflecting on this dream, Raj Singh Dungarpur, one of the country’s foremost cricket administrators, wrote in his foreword to NKP Salve’s The Story of the Reliance Cup, “The concept was well beyond the Western world’s imagination that India and Pakistan could jointly hold the World Cup.”
India and Pakistan, in a rare show of unity, out-voted England 16–12 at the ICC general body meeting in 1984 to move the 1987 World Cup to the subcontinent. It was the first indication that the subcontinent was no longer content playing second fiddle to England and Australia.
1992
South Africa’s re-entry into international cricket spiced up the tournament and for the first time, matches were telecast on cable television in India. Pakistan, from the brink of elimination, scripted a fairytale comeback and Imran Khan had his moment with history on the back of some incredible performances by Wasim Akram and Inzamam ul Haq. India failed to make the semi-finals. India’s high point was the match against Pakistan on 4 March at Sydney. It was the first time India and Pakistan faced each other in the World Cup. The match will forever be remembered for the tussle between Kiran More and Javed Miandad.
1996
Sachin Tendulkar scored the highest runs in the competition, 523, but failed to take India to the final. It was a sad end to a memorable World Cup campaign. After having trounced Pakistan in Bangalore in a high-voltage quarter-final, the Indians collapsed at the Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka. Crowd unrest disrupted the match, which was justly awarded to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka went on to beat Australia in the final to win their maiden World Cup.
1999
Despite the team failing to deliver, three snapshots from the tournament dazzle to this day: Tendulkar’s unbeaten 140 against Kenya days after his father’s demise to keep India alive after two straight losses; the record partnership of 318 runs between Sourav Ganguly (183) and Rahul Dravid (145) against Sri Lanka which saw India post their then highest ODI total; India’s third successive World Cup victory against Pakistan, spearheaded by Venkatesh Prasad’s fine bowling, was collectively consecrated as a tribute to the martyrs of the Kargil War.
2003
After losing to Australia in the second game of their campaign, India staged a miraculous recovery and won eight straight games on their way to the final. The high point of this journey was the victory against Pakistan at Centurion. “If there was ever a match we wanted to win really badly it was this one,” Sachin Tendulkar. Though India lost the final to Australia, it was a memorable tournament for fans back home.
2007
It was one of Indian cricket’s lowest moments. Crashing out in the preliminary stages of the World Cup after losing to both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian fans felt let down by their stars. Greg Chappell’s policies had failed and it was time to chart out a new strategy going forward. Australia, meanwhile, went on to complete the hat-trick of titles.
2011
India’s second tryst with cricketing destiny. For 28 years, India had waited for this moment. And it finally arrived on home soil in the best way possible. The final week of the Cup was the best-ever in India’s cricket history. India beat Australia in the quarter-finals, thanks to the heroics of Yuvraj Singh, before proceeding to beat Pakistan at Mohali in the most-watched match of the tournament and then won the World Cup at the Wankhede, courtesy Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni classics. Indian cricket fans will never forget Dhoni’s eyes as he tracked the ball beyond the boundary on the night of April 2, 2011.
2015
It was Michael Clarke’s moment. A day before the final the Australian skipper had announced his decision to retire. He played a match-winning hand the next day. Clarke had superbly plotted the dismissal of Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s star in the tournament. In his words, “I asked my bowlers to bowl to him as if they were bowling at the death. Bowl yorkers every ball. The plan worked and we were a step closer to the trophy.” For India it was a decent tournament till a Steve Smith hundred took the game beyond India in the semi-final in Sydney.
2019
The tournament witnessed the most dramatic World Cup final ever. After 100 overs, nothing could separate England and New Zealand. With scores tied, for the first time in the World Cup’s history, a Super Over was needed to decide the winner. Quite unbelievably, the Super Over also couldn’t decide the winners as both teams finished on 16 runs. Ultimately, England were declared winners on boundary count. “That final at Lord’s was the greatest 50-over match I have ever played,” said Eoin Morgan, the then England captain.
A brief look at all the 10 participating teams:
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