Giants wary of underdogs’ bite

NEW DELHI – When India did the unthinkable with an upset win over West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final in England, little did they know they would also fall prey to minnows’ hunger for success in future. India were rank outsiders in 1983 when they denied two-time champions West Indies a hat-trick with a 43-run win at Lord’s, but were favourites when stunned by Bangladesh in the Caribbean in 2007.
India boasted exciting batsmen in Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly but soon realised reputation alone was not enough to win matches at the showpiece event. Dravid’s Indians made a horror start when they lost to Bangladesh by five wickets in their opening match in Trinidad, the defeat eventually leading to their ouster in the first round. Bangladesh’s win over a big team was no flash in the pan as they went on to defeat South Africa in a Super Eights game in Guyana.
The tournament saw one more surprise result, with 1992 champions Pakistan losing to Cup debutants Ireland before bowing out of the competition in the first round itself. The underdogs have added spice to the mega-event with their ‘everything to gain and nothing to lose’ attitude ever since non-Test-playing nation Sri Lanka shocked India in a 1979 Cup match at Old Trafford. India, led by all-rounder Kapil Dev, were credited with the biggest upset when they beat Clive Lloyd’s West Indians at Lord’s.
A West Indies hat-trick looked on the cards when they restricted India to a modest 183, with pacemen Andy Roberts (3-32), Malcolm Marshall (2-24) and Michael Holding (2-26) playing key roles. India, who had won just one match against lowly East Africa in the first two editions of the tournament, turned the Cup final on its head with their disciplined medium-pace bowling. Mohinder Amarnath (3-12), Madan Lal (3-31) and Balwinder Sandhu (2-32) were India’s bowling stars as the West Indies collapsed to 140 despite having excellent batsmen in Viv Richards, Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes.
The 1983 tournament also saw non-Test-playing nation Zimbabwe suprise 1975 runners-up Australia by 13 runs at Trent Bridge, with Duncan Fletcher (69 not out and 4-42) being the star performer with an all-round show. Zimbabwe were to pull off another upset, this time in 1992 when they beat England by nine runs at Albury. Their match-winner was chicken farmer Eddo Brandes, who bagged 4-21 off 10 overs.