The arrival of the World Cup to India and Pakistan from English shores was the ultimate harbinger of change in the cricketing community. No two cultures, societies, climate, environment, not to mention the people, could be so uniquely dissimilar than Europe and South Asia. And yet, here it was: a World Cup in South Asia.

The British and their allies were of course not too pleased with the World Cup leaving English shores. In fact, it had taken a 16-12 vote, with a promise of more money to associates and full members, which turned the tide against England, who couldn’t match the money.

But the outcry didn’t stop with the announcement of the World Cup shifting elsewhere: there were howls of anticipated chaos in South Asia from those who claimed to come from “civilized” parts of the world. All visiting tours by teams such as England, Australia and New Zealand had their share of horror stories of food, water, heat, and dust. The media in these countries exaggerated their accounts. Players including England’s Ian Botham and David Gower, and New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee, opted to sit out.

But the Cup wasn’t going to wait for any superstar. As history transpired, it was going to throw up new legends and heroes in the process.

Far from the silent crowd and petite grounds of England, South Asia’s huge stadiums dwarfed all memories of the previous World Cup editions, with incessant humming of thousands reverberating around the grounds. Each wicket was met with screams and every run scored was cheered on. That the Indians were the defending champions at home added to the charm of the cup in India, while Pakistani spirits were buoyant because their team was regarded as the world’s best at the time and playing at home was considered a significant advantage.

Pride came before an almighty fall for the Asian giants in 1987: Kapil Dev and Imran Khan were almost too sure of victory at home.

There were no two questions on who would captain Pakistan this time: Imran Khan was fitter than he had been over the last five years, he had led Pakistan to series wins in India and then in England, and had under him a combination to die for. Javed Miandad was in the form of his life as were Abdul Qadir and Tauseef Ahmed. Wasim Akram had matured into a lethal left-armer. Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed could bedazzle with the bat at a moment’s notice, and in Salim Yousuf, Pakistan had at last found a wicketkeeper who could hold his own with the bat.

Australian skipper Allan Border lifted by his team after winning the 1987 World Cup.

Their only real threat came from India, who were once again led by Kapil Dev. In Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammad Azharuddin, they had two of the world’s best batsmen. In young Maninder Singh, they also had a left-arm spinner who could beguile the best. Yet, it was the much mocked Chetan Sharma (the man who conceded the last ball six to Miandad in Sharjah in 1986) who gave one of two surprises — a hat-trick, the first in World Cup history, against New Zealand in the same game where Sunil Gavaskar hit a quick fire hundred (his only in ODIs). Neither played another World Cup.

The rules of the Cup had changed dramatically. Australian rules were applied, as each innings was restricted to 50 overs with a break given between innings. Neutral umpires came in; one was to be from an international panel and the other was local. If the match was in Pakistan, the umpire would be Indian; and if the game was in India, the umpire was from Pakistan.

Since the World Cup was played in October and the first week November, testing heat and humidity also became a factor — some argued that England under Mike Gatting and Australia under Allan Border would at most last till the semis. And that, too, because West Indies were on the wane; under Viv Richards, they had none of the fearsome fast quartet while Malcolm Marshall had opted out.

The Sri Lankans were totally inadequate and even conceded 360 against West Indies, where Richards clobbered them for 181. Although Zimbabwe were used to the heat and dust, they only had one good match, against New Zealand, where a fantastic century by their wicketkeeper, David Houghton, took them to within a stroke of victory. This innings came after Houghton had kept wicket in the morning under 40 degrees temperature; it should have won him the fittest player of the tournament award.

Despite one English journalist having the temerity to predict before the tournament that it would be an all-white final, the Subcontinent waited with bated breath to watch India and Pakistan clash at Calcutta, housing over 100,000 spectators in a 70,000 capacity stadium.

Pakistan admittedly had some lucky escapes despite their strength and home advantage. They were fortunate to survive a late blitz by Aravinda de Silva to beat Sri Lanka by 17 runs, and then successfully defend a low score at Pindi, more due to England’s late order hara-kiri.

Their most thrilling match came against the West Indies, with a sub-plot that made the players look bigger than the game. Chasing West Indies’s 216 at Lahore they were 203-9; it came down to two off the last ball after Qadir hit a six. Courtney Walsh running in then did something strange: finding Saleem Jaffer backing up too far, he stopped midway and warned him when he had every right to take off the bails and run him out. West Indies needed to win to stay alive, but Walsh chose to bowl again. Qadir hit him hard and ran a desperate second to beat the throw. Pakistan had won but so had Walsh. He was much feted after that by local sponsors, but for all practical purposes he had helped knock his team out of the World Cup at group stage for the first time.

Stranger things happened during the tournament, the first to begin carrying innuendos. India restricted Australia to 268 and at the mid innings break told the officials that a four given had actually been a six. That they lost by one run was dramatic irony and added to that much was made of them not being able to chase 16 off the last 24 balls with four wickets intact. The semi-final defeat would let loose another round of suspicious acts.

Australia surprised all and thrived through their top order of David Boon, Geoff Marsh and Dean Jones. These three would consistently attack from the start and then let loose a lower order of all-rounders. Prominent among them was Steve Waugh, who was the master of the death overs whether batting or bowling. With the willow, he knocked off 18 runs off Saleem Jaffer’s last over in the semi-final which was the number of runs by which Pakistan lost. In the final, his tight line and length in the death overs took the run rate beyond English tail-enders; the margin of victory for Australia being seven runs. An ill timed and unnecessary reverse sweep by Gatting that lobbed up when England were cruising was held as the turning point of the final.

Yet, for all the spectacular cricket played in the tournament, Indian and Pakistani supporters were haunted by their teams being knocked out of the final. Pakistan’s skipper Imran Khan was so shattered that he announced his retirement — something he had hinted at doing throughout the year.

In the first semi, Pakistan had been hit by misfortune through injury to their wicketkeeper halfway through the innings, leading to Miandad keeping wickets. Imran claimed he was wrongly given out when Miandad and he had put Pakistan back on track to overhaul Australia’s 267, with a partnership that took them to 150 from 38-3.

Across the border was greater mortification as the chase was India’s to lose. At 204-5, chasing England’s 254 and with nine overs to go, Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri were on the crease. India went on to lose by 35 runs with 27 balls remaining, lofting senselessly when singles were on order. It was ironic they had collapsed in a fashion that the West Indies had four years back to hand them an unexpected victory. They had been champions abroad when no one expected them to be, and had given it away at home when everyone swore that it was theirs to keep.

And so, the cup that was claimed by both Kapil and Imran to be theirs was won by the lesser fancied. The Australians had been going through a torrid time internationally, rebuilding since the early 1980s. Many believed it was the defining moment for a young side: they had won, in India, against the old enemy. It couldn’t get any sweeter than that.

Match summaries

1st match: Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Hyderabad (Sindh) on Oct 8 ­— Pakistan won by 15 runs (Pak 267/6; SL 252)

2nd match: England v West Indies at Gujranwala on Oct 9 ­— England won by 2 wickets (with 3 balls remaining) (WI 243/7; Eng 246/8)

3rd match: India v Australia at Chennai on Oct 9 ­— Australia won by 1 run (Aus 270/6; Ind 269)

4th match: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Hyderabad (Deccan) on Oct 10 ­— New Zealand won by 3 runs (NZ 242/7; Zim 239)

5th match: Pakistan v England at Rawalpindi on Oct 12-13 ­— Pakistan won by 18 runs (Pak 239/7; Eng 221)

6th match: Australia v Zimbabwe at Chennai on Oct 13 ­— Australia won by 96 runs (Aus 235/9; Zim 139)

7th match: Sri Lanka v West Indies at Karachi on Oct 13 ­— West Indies won by 191 runs (WI 360/4; SL 169/4)

8th match: India v New Zealand at Bangalore on Oct 14 ­— India won by 16 runs (Ind 252/7; NZ 236/8)

9th match: Pakistan v West Indies at Lahore on Oct 16 ­— Pakistan won by 1 wicket (on last ball) (WI 216; Pak 217/9)

10th match: England v Sri Lanka at Peshawar on Oct 17 ­— England won by 108 runs (revised target) (Eng 296/4 in 50 overs; SL 158/8 in 45 overs)

11th match: India v Zimbabwe at Mumbai on Oct 17 ­— India won by 8 wickets (with 22.1 overs remaining) (Zim 135; Ind 136/2)

12th match: Australia v New Zealand at Indore on Oct 18-19 ­— Australia won by 3 runs (Aus 199/4 in 30 overs; NZ 196/9 in 30 overs)

13th match: Pakistan v England at Karachi on Oct 20 ­— Pakistan won by 7 wickets (with 1 over remaining) (Eng 244/9; Pak 247/3)

14th match: Sri Lanka v West Indies at Kanpur on Oct 21 ­— West Indies won by 25 runs (WI 236/8; SL 211/8)

15th match: India v Australia at Delhi on Oct 22 ­— India won by 56 runs (Ind 289/6; Aus 233)

16th match: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Kolkata on Oct 23 ­— New Zealand won by 4 wickets (with 2.2 overs remaining) (Zim 227/5; NZ 228/6)

17th match: Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Faisalabad on Oct 25 ­— Pakistan won by 113 runs (Pak 297/7; SL 184/8)

18th match: England v West Indies at Jaipur on Oct 26 ­— England won by 34 runs (Eng 269/5; WI 235)

19th match: India v Zimbabwe at Ahmedabad on Oct 26 ­— India won by 7 wickets (with 8 remaining) (Zim 191/7; Ind 194/3)

20th match: Australia v New Zealand at Chandigarh on Oct 27 ­— Australia won by 17 runs (Aus 251/8; NZ 234)

21st match: Australia v Zimbabwe at Cuttack on Oct 30 ­— Australia won by 70 runs (Aus 266/5; Zim 196/6)

22nd match: England v Sri Lanka at Pune on Oct 30 ­— England won by 8 wickets (with 8.4 overs remaining) (SL 218/7; Eng 219/2)

23rd match: Pakistan v West Indies at Karachi on Oct 30 ­— West Indies won by 28 runs (WI 258/7; Pak 230/9)

24th match: India v New Zealand at Nagpur on Oct 31 ­— India won by 9 wickets (with 17.5 overs remaining) (NZ 221/9; Ind 224/1)

1st Semi-final: Pakistan v Australia at Lahore on Nov 4 ­— Australia won by 18 runs (Aus 267/8; Pak 249)

2nd Semi-final: India v England at Mumbai on Nov 5 ­— England won by 35 runs (Eng 254/6; Ind 219)

Final: Australia v England at Kolkata on Nov 8 ­— Australia won by 7 runs (Aus 253/5; Eng 246/8)

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 28th, 2014