India's World Cup journey from 1983 - The sweet and the sour
By Binu Paul, SiliconIndia   |   Saturday, 19 February 2011, 13:25 IST   |    12 Comments
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1992 - Sachin starts his Word Cup journey, but India fails
Sachin started his Word Cup journey in 1992, but the team had a disastrous tournament with only 2 wins in 8 matches. Held in Australia and New Zealand, the tournament witnessed many innovations in the game which marked South Africa first World Cup and the use of colored clothing. Although Sachin showed the glimpse of his talent with 3 fifties, captain Mohammed Azharuddin was India's best batsman of the tournament with 332 runs. 1996 - When the nation cried with Kambli at the semis
India co-hosted the World Cup once again along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which saw a good performance from the Indian team led by maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who has been the top-scorer for the tournament with a total of 523 runs at an average of 87.16. India marched into the semis beating Pakistan in one of the greatest matches played between the two sides. Facing Sri Lanka who went on to win the tournament, India was at 120/8 chasing the Lankan score of 251 when the disappointed Indian crowd disrupted the proceedings and Sri Lanka was declared the winners. Anil Kumble was India's best bowler in the tournament with 15 wickets. 1999 - Show of India's batting trio, but not beyond the Super Six
The tournament saw the consistency and effectiveness of batting trio Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly with Dravid being the leading run-scorer of the entire tournament with 461 runs at an average of 65.85. The trio also ended the tournament with the top 3 highest scores of the tournament in their names with Sourav Ganguly's 183, Rahul Dravid's 145 and Sachin Tendulkar's 140. Tendulkar had to return back home due to his father's death during the tournament. However, having to win all their games to make it to the semi- finals, India could not reach beyond the Super Six.

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