Rise of the Wizards of Oz

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, jan 26

THE 1999 World Cup stamped ‘chokers tag’ on South Africa for the first time after the Proteas failed to eke out a win against Steve Waugh-led Australia in the semi-finals.
The tournament hosted by England, saw Australia emerging winners defeating Pakistan in the final. This was Australia’s first of the three straight coveted titles.
The Australians started with a six-wicket win over Scotland. But they lost their next two matches against New Zealand (by five wickets) and against Pakistan (by 10 runs).
They survived in the tournament with two straight wins over Bangladesh and West Indies to bring back their journey on track and move into Super Six.
The moment of the World Cup came in the Super Six when Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh in a game Aussies needed to win at any cost. Gibbs dropped the World Cup and Waugh held it with a ton!
Their semis too was heart stopping. Needing nine runs from the last over, Lance Klusener took eight from first two deliveries. And then they choked. Allan Donald and Klusener got tangled in a horrible mix up and the match ended in a tie. Australia moved into the final on better run-rate. In the other semi-final, Pakistan crushed New Zealand by nine wickets.
Australia then avenged their league phase defeat at the hands of Pakistan thrashing them by eight wickets to win the title.
As far as India is concerned, it was a mediocre tournament for them. They did well in the league phase but failed to carry that momentum in Super Six. India managed to beat arch-rivals Pakistan but to their bad luck New Zealand qualified for the semis on better run rate despite losing to Australia. The tournament marked the start of the domination of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly, who showed remarkable consistency. Dravid recorded two mammoth partnerships and ended up as the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 461.

Bite of the underdog

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Jan 25

FORFEITURES, an abandoned game, slogovers and a new champion. The 1996 World Cup is remembered for some innovative power-hitting and slogging that changed the face of One-Day Internationals all over the world.
The Wills World Cup hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the first time, saw the game scaling new heights in the sub-continent following the maiden title win of Sri Lanka.
However, the tournament also had ugly sides. Australia and the West Indies teams refused to travel to Sri Lanka following the Central Bank bombing by Tamil Tigers before the start of the showpiece event.
With both Australia and the West Indies refusing to play, ICC decided to give points to Sri Lanka which helped them walk into the quarter-finals.
Another blot on the tournament was India-Sri Lanka semi-final at Eden Gardens, Kolkata was awarded the eventual champions after crowd trouble.
Chasing Sri Lanka’s 251, India were 120 for 8 when over a million Kolkata crowd threw water bottles on the field that interrupted the game. The officials decided to award the match to Sri Lanka that helped them make the final.
Sri Lankan openers Romesh Kaluwithrana and southpaw Sanath Jayasuriya set a new trend of using the first 15 overs as slog-overs. That helped Lanka amass maximum runs in initial part of the games surprising all.
In the final played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Sri Lanka invited Australia to bat. Australia started well but crumbled in front of Lankan spin attack. From 137 for 1 they slumped to 170 for five and ended at 241-7.
Lanka lost both the hard-hitting openers cheaply but Aravinda de Silva scored 124-ball 107 and Arjuna Ranatunga played a captain’s knock of 47 to help their side lift their maiden title.