Today we bring to you the interesting information about the 1992 cricket world cup sponsored by Benson and Hedges. It was an exciting tournament played of fast and bouncy pitches of Australia and New Zealand. Cricket was introduced to many new and exciting things like colored clothing, white balls as well as day and night matches. These innovations proved wonderfully attractive and viewership of every match kept on increasing.
There were many nail-biting encounters and heartbreaks like the semis match between England and South Africa. The Pakistani team led by their inspirational captain Imran Khan rose from the brink of ouster to be crowned as the eventual champions. Let’s recapitulate that great cricket tournament and how things went down for each side in the 1992 cricket world cup.
The Round-Robin Stage
The 1992 cricket world cup saw 9 participating teams which were all put in the same group. These sides included India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Every side would play the other other and thus each team was to have 8 league matches. The pitches had great assistance for the bowlers and thus most matches remained moderate to low scoring. There were very few encounters where teams registered a total of more than 300 while batting first.
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New Zealand who were also the co-hosts of the tournament emerged as the best side in the league stage. The won 7 of their 8 Round-Robin matches in the 1992 cricket world cup being led with example by the great Martin Crowe. The Kiwis lost their only league match to Pakistan in Christchurch. The Kiwis excelled in every area from bowling, bating and fielding. They were hungry to raise the great trophy for the first time.
England also qualified to the semis convincingly by winning 5 of their 8 matches along with 1 draw. The other two teams to enter knockout stage were Pakistan who at one stage were facing a likely ouster after early losses and South Africa who were playing their first cricket world cup but showed great conviction in all their matches every. The 4 best sides would thus battle out for the ultimate prize in the deciding stages of the 1992 cricket world cup.
Australia who were the defending champions had a shock tournament as they were ousted in the league stages. They won 4 matches and lost 4 thus facing an early exit despite having a battery of stars led by the great Allan Border in their side. India was another star studded team that had an unsuccessful campaign in the 1992 cricket world cup. The Mohammad Azharuddin led side won just 2 out of their 8 matches in the whole tournament. These victories included 1 each against Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
The 1992 Cricket World Cup Semi-final Showdowns
The 4 best sides qualified to the knockout stage of the 1992 cricket world cup and thus promised some mouthwatering contests. The first semifinal match involved hosts and top ranked round-robin team New Zealand against resurgent Pakistan. The Kiwi team chose to bat first and put a fighting total on 262 runs on the board. The innings were aided by a great knock of 91 runs by their classy skipper Martin Crowe along with 50 runs from Ken Rutherford. The Pakistani bowlers did their job well with Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmad taking 2 wickets each.
The Pakistani batters started with stability but were always slow in the run-rate. Ramiz Raja and Imran Khan scored 44 runs each while Javed Miandad played the sheet-anchor’s role with perfection making classy 57 runs. The asking rate per over climbed towards the end and it was 22-year-old sensation Inzamam-ul-Haq who played the innings of his lifetime to rescue Pakistan. The hard-hitting great scored mast-class 60 runs from just 37 balls. Inzamam had got Pakistan to a safe situation before running himself out. The Pakistanis won the match in 49 over and left the hosts as well as spectators stunned. The team that was saved from ouster by a rain affected tie match would now get a chance to lift the trophy.
If the first semi-final was a nail-biting one, the second one could be described as a heartbreaker. England and South Africa collided in Sydney for a place in the finals of 1992 cricket world cup. The English team opted to bat first and placed a decent total of 252 runs on the board. Graeme Hick would top score for his side making 83 runs from 90 balls. The English total was however looking manageable for the string South African batting line-up.
The Proteas started well and were cruising along nicely to chase the English total comfortably before the rain washed away their dreams. In the 43rd over, the South Africans were 231 for the loss of 6 wickets. They would need 22 runs from 13 balls with two set batsmen on the crease. After the 10-minute rain interruption the sore was revised to 21 runs from 1 delivery. The formality was completed but the score calculating system received heavy criticism. It was later replaced by the Duckworth and Lewis system that is currently continuing.
The Tournament Decider
The historic lawns of Melbourne cricket ground would play the theatre to the final battle of the 1992 cricket world cup. Imran Khan’s Pakistan was up against the English side led by Graham Gooch. The Pakistanis elected to bat first but had a disastrous start losing both openers in the first 9 overs. The two senior members Imran Khan and Javed Miandad then consolidated the innings with a partnership 139 runs that proved so crucial. The Captain scored 72 runs with the Vice-Captain making 58. In the final over the two young stars Inzamam and Wasim Akram made quick knock of 42 and 33 to take Pakistan to a 249 total.
The English team had the first shock in their 3rd over with Wasim Akram getting a perfect ploy to dismiss the great Ian Botham. However, the fighting knocks from Graham Gooch, Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb brought England back into the match. They were cruising at 141 runs for 5 wickets in the 35th over when Wasim Akram displayed a bowling genius of rarity. He bowled to of the finest deliveries and bowled out Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in back to back bowls. The English middle order’s back was broken and would never comeback into the match.
Eventually in the 50th over Richard Illingworth was dismissed by getting caught on mid-on by Ramiz Raja of Imran Khan’s bowling. England were bowled out on 227 runs with just 4 deliveries remaining. The Pakistanis won the match by 22 runs taking home the 1992 cricket world cup. It was the last international cricket match appearance for their inspirational skipper Imran Khan. The team had truly risen from ashes to be crowned as deserving champions.
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That was our detailed overview about the interesting facets on the 1992 cricket world cup. We hope that you enjoyed this article and will be bringing you more interesting details in this cricket mega event in the coming days. Keep visiting SportsCrunch for great news and analysis of every sporting activity around the globe. Do follow us on twitter and Instagram for great updates.
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