MELBOURNE: Legendary all-rounder Kapil Devon Wednesday said that victory over eventual champions Pakistan in the league stages of the1992 World Cup was the most cherished moment for him in the quadrennial event Down Under.
“India didn’t play particularly well but if you ask me I would say my best memory is we beateventual winner Pakistan in a league match. It’s not a positive memory for me, but to say we beat the team which held the trophy makes me feel better,” said Kapil, who was part of the Indian side that beat Pakistan by 43 runs.
India finished a lowly seventh out of nine sides in the 1992 edition which was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The World Cup returns to the Australian continent in 2015 with the two nations once again joining hands to stage the biggest cricketing event to be held in February-March.
Kapil was speaking at the ICC event where captains in that World Cup walked down memory lane and spoke candidly about their highs, lows and regrets.
“The uniforms are my other memory. In the beginning, they looked odd. In the cricket world, we were used to playing in whites. Back then, the world was changing, television was changing and you need people to see more colour. So, I think they did a great thing,” he said.
“Back then, people were calling it pyjama cricket but I think if you look back, you have to change yourself with the time and I think the administrators did the right thing. Now you look at Cricket World Cup as colourful and that’s because of 1992. It represents national pride and everybody has their own colours to identify themselves with and be proud,” he added.
Pakistan skipper Imran Khan who led his side to a famous win over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the final said: “Despite early setbacks, we knew we needed one good win in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992 and we would be back in contention. The win over Australia (in Perth by 48 runs) provided us that momentum and then there was no looking back for us.”
The former Pakistani great added: “I rate the moments after the World Cup victory as the most pleasing and satisfying of my career as I had never seen the people of Pakistan so happy.”
The losing skipper in the final, Graham Gooch, reflecting on the 1992 world cup, said that his team was the most consistent throughout the tournament before losing to the side that England should have put out much earlier from the competition.
“It was the last World Cup I played in and I captained the side. Looking back I’m proud of our performances throughout the competition, we were probably the form side during the tournament and played good cricket until the final when we didn’t have our best day.
“We had an opportunity to knock them out of the World Cup earlier in the tournament when we bowled them out for 74, but the match was rained off,” Gooch said.
Gooch said despite having some great memories from the world cup, losing in the final for the third occasion was the biggest regret of his career.