New Delhi: The 2023 World Cup which is being hosted by India will commence from October 5. The country last hosted the 2011 World Cup and lifted the Trophy. This time too India is being considered as a strong contender. A total of 12 World Cups have been organised since 1975. India became world champion twice in 1983 and 2011 while in 2003 India had to face defeat in the final. The detailed journey follows.
1975 World Cup – 5th rank
The first edition of the Cricket World Cup was organised in England. S Venkataraghavan led the Indian team. The performance was nothing special and the team won only one out of three matches against East Africa and ended up fifth. The winner was the West Indies.
Squad: Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Captain), Syed Abid Ali, Mohinder Amarnath, Bishan Singh Bedi (Vice-captain), Farooq Engineer (Wicketkeeper), Anshuman Gaikwad, Sunil Gavaskar, Karsan Ghavri, Madan Lal, Brijesh Patel, Eknath Solkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Syed Kirmani (Wicketkeeper), Parthasarathy Sharma.
1979 World Cup – 7th rank
It was England that once again hosted the 1979 Cricket World Cup. Its performance was worse than in 1975 and it was eliminated from the tournament after losing all three matches. India was defeated by West Indies (by 9 wickets) and New Zealand (by 8 wickets). Sri Lanka also thrashed India as the Men in Blue finished seventh while West Indies became the world champion for the second consecutive time.
Squad: Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (Captain), Mohinder Amarnath, Bishan Singh Bedi, Anshuman Gaikwad, Sunil Gavaskar (vice-captain), Karsan Ghavri, Kapil Dev, Surinder Khatra (Wicketkeeper), Brijesh Patel, Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Bharat Reddy, Yajurvindra. Singh, Yashpal Sharma.
1983 World Cup - Champion
In 1983, the Cricket World Cup was organised in England for the third successive time. The Indian team was considered a weak team even before the tournament started. The Indian team lost even to the English county team in the practice match. But as soon as the main round matches started, the players of the Indian team came into form. India surprised everyone by defeating West Indies in the league round. After this, team India, captained by Kapil Dev, became world champion for the first time by defeating West Indies by 43 runs in the final.
Squad:- Kapil Dev (Captain), Mohinder Amarnath (vice-captain), Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Sunil Gavaskar, Syed Kirmani (Wicketkeeper), Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil, Balwinder Sandhu, Yashpal Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Sunil Walson, Dilip Vengsarkar
1987 World Cup – Semi-finals
India and Pakistan jointly hosted the 1987 World Cup. For the first time, the World Cup was played in 50 overs instead of 60. The Indian cricket team, under Kapil Dev, performed brilliantly and reached the semi-finals. However, India had to face defeat from England in the semi-finals. In the match against New Zealand, pacer Chetan Sharma achieved the first hat-trick of the World Cup. Australia became world champion for the first time by defeating England in the final.
Squad:- Kapil Dev (captain), Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar (vice-captain), Mohammad Azharuddin, Roger Binny, Sunil Gavaskar, Maninder Singh, Kiran More (wicketkeeper), Chandrakant Pandit, Manoj Prabhakar, Chetan Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Navjot. Singh Sidhu, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.
1992 World Cup – 7th rank
New Zealand and Australia jointly hosted the 1992 World Cup for the first time. The Indian team led by Mohammad Azharuddin had a mixed performance in this World Cup. India lost to England and Australia by a small margin. Sachin Tendulkar played the World Cup for the first time. India stood seventh in this World Cup and Pakistan became world champion under the captaincy of Imran Khan by defeating England in the final.
Squad:- Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Subroto Banerjee, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Vinod Kambli, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri (vice-captain), Sanjay Manjrekar, Kiran More (wicketkeeper), Manoj Prabhakar, Venkatapathy Raju, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Javagal. Srinath, Praveen Amre
1996 World Cup – Semi-finals
The 1996 World Cup was co-hosted by India. India, captained by Mohammad Azharuddin, was considered a strong contender for victory. India made a good start by defeating Kenya and West Indies. India defeated Pakistan in the quarterfinals but lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals. By defeating Australia in the final, the Sri Lankan team captured the World Cup for the first time.
Squad:- Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain), Vinod Kambli, Ashish Kapoor, Anil Kumble, Sanjay Manjrekar, Nayan Mongia (wicketkeeper), Manoj Prabhakar, Venkatesh Prasad, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Javagal Srinath, Ajay Jadeja, Salil Ankola, Venkatapathy Raju.