1992 and all that

The biggest gift the 1992 World Cup gave to the game of cricket was the pinch hitter. It came in the form of New Zealand's Mark Greatbatch. The Kiwi redefined the role of an opener. His swashbuckling batting was an instant hit as he showed the world how to take advantage of the field restrictions by hitting air-borne shots. Nobody before Greatbatch had come up with such a strategy. India's Kris Srikkanth did play a few shots like that but there was no clear plan.

New Zealand captain Martin Crowe promoted the beefy opener for this purpose. Earlier, an opening batsman looked to give his team a positive start. That said, the approach was slow-paced. No team had even thought of scoring fast. The idea was to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Greatbatch's approach was risky, but thankfully his captain was ready to take that chance. Interestingly, the southpaw had replaced John Wright at the top. The Kiwis went all the way to the semifinals with handsome victories. Greatbatch aggregated 313 runs at an average of 44.

Crowe's decision proved to be a masterstroke. Consequently, cricket discovered some of its finest entertainers in the form of Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Matthew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya and, of course, Sachin Tendulkar to name a few.

These batsmen refined the opener's job, adding elegance and some clean hitting too. "The New Zealand World Cup squad of 1992 surprised everyone with two plans — off-spinner Dipak Patel opening the bowling and Greatbatch going after the bowlers. Greatbatch's aggressive batting was a smart innovation. We saw a different kind of aggression altogether. He attacked from the word go. Jayasuriya and the diminutive wicketkeeper-batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana dished out more of the same in 1996. Sachin did for several years," says former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who took part in the 1987 and 1992 World Cups.

Another former India player, Subroto Banerjee, throws light on Crowe's Patel gamble. "Nobody was prepared to face a spinner as a new-ball bowler. Whenever batsmen tried to go after him, they lost their wickets. Dipak bowled well with the ball skidding through. The batsmen failed to read his deliveries. He picked up one or two wickets besides keeping the batsmen quiet. It worked for Crowe and New Zealand," he says.

"It had much to do with the opener not being used to facing a spinner up front. They expected pacers. However, Dipak was different. He slowed down the momentum and whoever who tried to attack him fell into that trap. When something works for you, you tend to stick to it. After that, many teams gave it a go but were not as successful as New Zealand," Banerjee adds.

After 23 years, Australia and New Zealand gear up to host the World Cup for a second time. In the last couple of decades, the game has witnessed 360-degree changes and most have come after the 1992 World Cup. Prior to that, ODIs witnessed players donning plain white clothing in one-dayers and the red ball. These made way for colourful outfits and white kookaburra balls. Not to mention floodlights.

Moreover, the fifth edition of the World Cup saw all teams play against each other, stretching the duration and number of matches played in the tournament. This alteration meant India would face arch-rivals Pakistan for the first time in the World Cup. "It was the format where all teams played against each other. It was a hectic schedule, but it also allowed us to play Pakistan. That game had garnered tremendous attention and hype.

We were the underdogs as Pakistan were much stronger on paper. But we defended 218 to win. Our bowlers, especially Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath, bowled fantastic," recalls More.

When asked about the frog jump incident involving Javed Miandad, he says, "It was bound to happen. There was just too much pressure. Also, Javed was out as he was caught on the leg side. He knew it. Apart from that, I had five victims to my name and was in the running for the Man of the Match award.. India won that match, and managed to keep their all-win record against Pakistan intact in subsequent World Cups.

Coloured clothing was another innovation. All teams picked colours that gelled with their respective national flag, culture or cricket board logo. Team India opted for dark blue, which gave them the name 'Men in Blue'.

Even the Duckworth-Lewis rule has a connection with the 1992 World Cup. In order to counter the rain-affected matches, the organisers came up with a rule of their own. The downside of the rule was it it favoured the bowling side. South Africa needed just 22 runs from 13 balls to win before a short burst of rain made a mockery of the match, asking Proteas to score winning runs — 22 off one ball.
The funny rule was dumped in 1997 after British statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis invented the D/L Method.

"I guess in many ways, World Cup 1992 was a game changer. That tournament changed the complexion of ODI cricket altogether," More concludes.

World Cup 92 : Team Colours

Team Colour Lettering colour
Australia Gold Dark Green
England Light Blue Dark Blue
India Dark Blue Yellow
New Zealand Silver Black
Pakistan Light Green Mid Blue
South Africa Mid Green Gold
Sri Lanka Mid Blue Lemon
West Indies Maroon Grey
Zimbabwe Red Yellow

1992, a WC of many firsts

• The tournament held from February 22 to March 25 in Australia and New Zealand saw players wear colour clothing with their names on the back for the first time

• White cricket balls replaced the cherry red with black sightcreens also making their debut at the WC

• With previous tournaments being held in England, India and Pakistan, this was the first time the World Cup was held in the southern hemisphere.

• South Africa made their debut at the competition making their return after the end of apartheid.

• But the one rule that definitely changed ODI cricket was having two fielders outside the ring in the first 15 overs.

• We saw the innovative leadership of Martin Crowe who opened the bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel and unleashed a "pinch-hitter" to open the batting in the form of Mark Greatbatch, who took full advantage of the field restrictions in the early part of the innings.

• It also saw the introduction of a new rain rule. By the end of the tournament, the rule was utterly discredited. The idea behind the rule was to avoid the old system - work out the run rate of the first innings and then deduct that for each over lost by the side batting second - which heavily disadvantaged the side batting first. The solution, was that when rain interrupted the second innings of a match the reduction in the target was to be proportionate to the lowest scoring overs of the side batting first, a method that took into account the benefits of chasing, as opposed to setting, a target.