The ICC Cricket World Cup came out of England for the first time in 1987, with India and Pakistan playing joint host. It was also the first time that the format was changed to 50 overs an innings from the earlier 60. Pakistan were given the honour of staging the first match in Hyderabad, Sindh. The first match to be held in India the next day, however, provided an absolute thriller.

The upgraded MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which was packed, witnessed a great finish in which India went down to Australia by just one run. India lost, as some believe they often do, because they could not hold their nerve in the final pulsating movements.

Kapil criticized

After the match, critics pointed to skipper Kapil Dev's decision to allow Australia to bat first as the critical factor. India's bowling strength was in spin and a worn out pitch would have been more helpful than a fresh strip. But the great all-rounder wanted to chase a target rather than set one and he almost succeeded.

David Boon and Geoff Marsh gave Australia a solid start by putting on 110 runs. Thereafter, however, no batsman stayed to play a long innings. Only Dean Jones gave a modicum of support to Marsh, who was finally out for 110. Jones was the next highest scorer with 39.

Although challenging, the target was considered gettable, as India had a strong and experienced line-up. Gavaskar and Srikkanth gave India a good start. Srikkanth went on to play a trade-mark swashbuckling innings, but the revelation was Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was seen in his new avatar as an attacking batsman.

India well-placed

When Sidhu was out for 73, bowled by McDermott, India were ideally placed at 207 for 3, needing just 64 runs to win with seven wickets in hand. But Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Kapil Dev did not last long against some inspired bowling by McDermott. They left the job to the lower order.

When Kapil was out at 256 for 7, India needed just 15 runs for victory. Then disaster struck the home team twice: Roger Binny and Manoj Prabhakar ran themselves out as panic set in.

Six runs were needed with Kiran More and last man Maninder Singh at the wicket. It suddenly looked rosy again for India when they were just two runs away from the target with the whole of the last over to go, but with Maninder on strike. Skipper Alan Border then came up with a master move.
He brought on the bowler with the best control, Steve Waugh, for the last six balls. Waugh delivered the goods. The Aussies did not allow a single run and so More stayed off-strike, increasingly frustrated as the over went by. With his second-last ball, Waugh clean bowled Maninder. Australia scored the narrowest of victories: winning by one run, with one ball to spare.