ICC World Cup semi-finals history: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 – Part 1
India is playing in front of their home fans for the first time in their history at the semi-final stage of the ICC World Cup 2011 against their bitter rivals Pakistan on 30 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 in Mohali. Both teams will battle it out in this historic contest. While all
eyes are glued to this match, one should not forget the Men in Blue’s illustrious history at the last four World Cup tournaments.
India has participated in four semi-finals to date with the match against their neighbours Pakistan being their fifth. Though not as consistent as their Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723 counterparts, the Indians have put on some strong showings of their cricketing prowess whenever
they had the opportunity.
One has to go as far back as 1983 for India’s World Cup semi-final debut when times were different. The players were dressed in all white, there were 60-overs per innings and the white One Day International ball was still an idea not yet implemented.
There were of course group stages and India was placed in Group B along with defending champions the West Indies. India finished second in their group and faced http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in their first ever World Cup semi-final.
Batting first, the English managed to amass a total of 213 runs before being bowled out with the Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kapil-Dev-c70234 taking 3 wickets. The Indian batsmen matched their bowling performance reaching the target for the loss of only four wickets. It was
an exciting game with both teams fighting hard for a victory.
India seemed to handle their first outing in the knock-out stages of the World Cup well, as they went on to deny the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 their third consecutive World Cup beating them by 44 runs in the final at Lords.
Four years later and India were in the semi-finals of the 1987 World Cup, but this time as champions defending their crown in front of home support. India was placed in Group A and qualified with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 topping the group based on their superior run rate.
Playing in front of a capacity crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820, the Indians had to chase a 254 run target set by England after having elected to field in the first innings. The home side had their middle-order to thank and in particular Mohammad
Azharuddin whose 64 runs gave his team and the crowd some hope. Unfortunately for the Indians, he was dismissed as the team fell 36 runs short of the required total after a batting collapse.
India was absent from the knock-out stages of the competition for the next nine years and only made their return in the 1996 World Cup. India finished third in Group B behind Australia and fellow co-hosts Sri Lanka. This meant that they would face bitter
rivals http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the quarter-finals at Bangalore. A match that meant more for those involved than perhaps a World Cup final would, as beating Pakistan in the mega event was in itself a prospect as meaningful as winning the tournament. After a thrilling match
India booked their place in the semi-final against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
Continued in Part 2
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