Wills World Cup took place in 1996 and was hosted once again by the Sub Continent. The tournament was as colorful as ever and Pakistan owing to the home conditions was being termed as the favorite as it was the defending champion too.
Three teams were involved for the first time in the tournament namely Kenya, UAE and the Netherlands. The team that only secured a single victory in the 1992 world cup, Sri Lanka, came out all guns blazing in this tournament and won all the group games. South Africa topped their group and then came for the first time in the history of the world cup the quarter final stage. After an intense round of matches, the defending champions, Pakistan, were knocked out by their bitter rivals India and took the entire cricket following world by surprise.
The first semi final proved to be a humiliating affair for the Indians when they lost 6 wickets in a matter of a few overs against the Sri Lankans, who were eventually gifted the match by the then match referee Clive Lloyd. It was because the Indian crowd could not absorb what was happening to the home side and started behaving negatively which made it impossible for the match to continue. The other semi final was an extremely bizarre but close affair as the West Indians lost their grip of the game against Australia by losing their last 8 wickets for only 37 runs.
The pundits had all went in with Sri Lanka as the favorites to lift the trophy in Lahore since they were just playing like true champions and had everything go their way through out World Cup. Australia, playing first at the beautiful Gaddafi Stadium managed to post a decent total but it was chased with utmost ease by the Lankan tigers. Although they couldn't proceed past the semi finals but Anil Kumble (Ind) and Sachin Tendulkar(Ind) led both lists, the highest runs in the tournament and the highest number of wickets. All in all the tournament was dominated by Sri Lanka and they were deserved winners.
For more information about cricket world cup history, visit:
Three teams were involved for the first time in the tournament namely Kenya, UAE and the Netherlands. The team that only secured a single victory in the 1992 world cup, Sri Lanka, came out all guns blazing in this tournament and won all the group games. South Africa topped their group and then came for the first time in the history of the world cup the quarter final stage. After an intense round of matches, the defending champions, Pakistan, were knocked out by their bitter rivals India and took the entire cricket following world by surprise.
The first semi final proved to be a humiliating affair for the Indians when they lost 6 wickets in a matter of a few overs against the Sri Lankans, who were eventually gifted the match by the then match referee Clive Lloyd. It was because the Indian crowd could not absorb what was happening to the home side and started behaving negatively which made it impossible for the match to continue. The other semi final was an extremely bizarre but close affair as the West Indians lost their grip of the game against Australia by losing their last 8 wickets for only 37 runs.
The pundits had all went in with Sri Lanka as the favorites to lift the trophy in Lahore since they were just playing like true champions and had everything go their way through out World Cup. Australia, playing first at the beautiful Gaddafi Stadium managed to post a decent total but it was chased with utmost ease by the Lankan tigers. Although they couldn't proceed past the semi finals but Anil Kumble (Ind) and Sachin Tendulkar(Ind) led both lists, the highest runs in the tournament and the highest number of wickets. All in all the tournament was dominated by Sri Lanka and they were deserved winners.
For more information about cricket world cup history, visit:
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