Famous ICC Cricket World Cup Quotes
May 25 (CRICKETNMORE) - From Imran Khan’s rallying call in 1992 through Steve Waugh’s infamous taunt to Herschelle Gibbs in 1999 and MS Dhoni’s national shame in 2007. As much as any cover drive
May 25 (CRICKETNMORE) - From Imran Khan’s rallying call in 1992 through Steve Waugh’s infamous taunt to Herschelle Gibbs in 1999 and MS Dhoni’s national shame in 2007. As much as any cover drive or searing yorker – a quote can come to encapsulate a tournament.
And at a Cricket World Cup – the war is waged by word of mouth as much as it is out in the middle. The first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 were hosted in England. But make no mistake, they were all about the West Indies.
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The swagger of Viv Richards, the captaincy of Clive Lloyd and the pace of Messrs Garner, Roberts and Holding. The Caribbean kings stormed to both of the tournament crowns. But the first quote that encapsulated the struggles of transitioning to this new form of limited overs cricket came in the curtain raiser at Lord’s.
Sunil Gavaskar produced absurdly slow innings in India’s opening group game against England. Chasing 334 to win, Gavaskar opened the batting and crawled to 36 not out from a whopping 174 balls – prompting his team manager GS Ramchand to pull his hair out:
"It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen. His excuse [to me] was, the wicket was too slow to play shots but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334.”
In 1983 – when it looked like it was going to victory for a third time for the dominant West Indies – a certain Kapil Dev and India had other ideas. Written off by all and sundry before the tournament – David Frith in his capacity as editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly had written the following:
"Show me a person who gave Kapil Dev's team any chance of winning the 1983 World Cup and I will show you a liar and an opportunist."
How quickly he was made to eat his words as India stunned the West Indies in the third final in a row at Lord’s.
“The joy of winning the World Cup cannot be compared with any amount of money,” said the Indian skipper.
The 1987 edition was the last World Cup to be played in whites and it was Allan Border’s Australia that claimed the crown. But 1992 was all about Pakistan and that man Imran Khan.
