Who Won the 1992 Cricket World cup?

The fifth edition of the men’s cricket World Cup was played in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. The 1992 Cricket World Cup is the first World Cup to feature colored clothing, white ball, day-night games and black sightscreens. 9 teams participated in the 1992 cricket World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe were the participating teams. Pakistan – then the underdog won their first and only World Cup in 1992 under the leadership of Imran Khan. 

Imran Khan, the top allrounder in the world during the 80s had a prolific run as captain as he drew 3 series against the ferocious West Indies. He became the first Pakistan captain to win an away Test series in England in 1987. Under his captaincy, the team rose through the ranks to reach the semifinals of the 1987 World Cup but lost to eventual champions Australia resulting in Imran announcing his retirement. The President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq urged Imran to continue playing for the nation, an offer Imran accepted and continued leading the side for five more years.

After the1987 World Cup, Pakistan won a host of multi-team tournaments and series. They won against world champions Australia at home, defeated Sri Lanka in Sharjah, won the Champions Trophy involving India and West Indies in Sharjah, the coveted Nehru cup which had teams like India, Australia, England, Sri Lanka and West Indies and played in India. Pakistan defeated India at home, won the Austral-Asia Cup in UAE (Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh participated), clean swept New Zealand and West Indies at home, Sri Lanka at Sharjah again in 1990, tri series involving India and West Indies and lastly the home series versus Sri Lanka right before the World Cup. Javed Miandad also led the team in absence of Imran in the above period.

Entering the 1992 World cup on a roll with a mix of experience and youth, the Imran Khan led side was smashed in their tournament opener by West Indies, who won by 10 wickets chasing 221 inside 47 overs. Rameez Raja scored an unbeaten century for Pakistan which wasn’t enough to put up a winning score. Success followed for Pakistan in the second game as they defeated Zimbabwe by 53 runs. Aamir Sohail was the centurion in this game taking his team to 254/4 batting first. A young Wasim Akram picked up 3/21 in his 10 overs restricting Zimbabwe to just 201/7.

Then came the lucky escape for the team which eventually helped the side to go through the semifinals. A strong England bowling attack skittled Pakistan for 74 in 40.2 overs with Derek Pringle taking 3 wickets for 8 runs in 50 balls. Imran’s contemporary Ian Botham ended with 2/12 in his 10 overs. In response, Wasim struck early removing the opposition captain Graham Gooch for just 3. After 8 overs, England reached 24/1 but due to inclement weather and consistent rain, the match was abandoned with both teams getting one point each.

The next match was the first ever India Pakistan fixture in the history of World Cup. The match at Sydney Cricket Ground was reduced to 49-overs per side due to the slow over rate of the Pakistan team who bowled first and restricted India at 216/7 with Sachin Tendulkar scoring an unbeaten 54 in 62 balls. Chasing a gettable total, opener Aamer Sohail contributed 62 with Javed Miandad scoring 40 runs but the rest of the lineup couldn’t offer much resulting the team getting bundled for 173 in the final over. Fast bowling trio of Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar and Javagal Srinath all picked up 2 wickets apiece.

Another dramatic game followed with Pakistan taking on South Africa at Brisbane. Batting first, the Proteas scored 211/7 in their 50 overs. Chasing the target, Pakistan were 74/2 in the 22nd over when rain arrived and played spoilsport for an hour. Pakistan then had to chase a revised target of 194 in 36 overs but could only crawl to 173/8 with South Africa winning the game by 20 runs.

Aamer Sohail and Javed Miandad rescued Pakistan in the next and important game as they played against World champions and the co-hosts of the tournament, Australia at Perth. Batting first, the Pakistani order collapsed yet again with Steve Waugh taking 3 wickets. Chasing an easy total of 221, Australia were troubled by the Pakistan fast bowling trio of Wasim Akram (2/28), Aaqib Javed (3/21) and captain Imran Khan (2/32). In the later stages, leg spinner Mushtaq Ahmed chipped with 3 wickets skittling the Aussies for just 172 in 45.2 overs and creating ripples in the tournament. Before this fixture, Pakistan had lost 3 games, had one match abandoned and won only 1. Captain Imran Khan asked the players to play like ‘cornered tigers’, a famous term which continuous to be referred to the Pakistan team. What followed is written in the history books.

Mushtaq carried his form in the next match against Sri Lanka, taking 2 wickets and restricting the Lions for 212/6. A half century from Miandad ensured Pakistan took the game at Perth by 4 wickets and then later beat New Zealand by 7 wickets with Rameez Raja scoring yet another unbeaten century chasing 167 at Christchurch. It was both New Zealand and Pakistan’s final match of the group stage and a must-win encounter for the men in green. It was Pakistan’s 3rd consecutive victory. Australia and West Indies were the other 2 sides with 4 wins but with the game against England washed out, Pakistan had that extra point to enter the top 4 and reach the semifinals.

The group stage game against Pakistan was New Zealand’s 1st loss in the tournament and shook them a bit as well. Playing the same team in the semi-final at Eden Park, Auckland, the Kiwis batted first and scored 262/7; Martin Crowe top scoring with 91. Pakistan was the team with the lowest total in the tournament and now they were required to score their highest in the event to do the unthinkable. It was also to be the 2nd highest score chased in the tournament.

Aamer Sohail was dismissed cheaply in the 7th over but Raja and skipper Imran, batting at number 3 steadied the ship and scored 44 each. Javed Miandad stepped on the big stage and scored a wonderful 57 not out sharing a 87-run partnership with young Inzamam-ul-Haq who top scored with 60 in just 37 balls before getting run out in the 45th over. Wicketkeeper Moin Khan then hit 20 in 11 balls adding 26 runs for the 7th wicket to finish the game with 6 balls to spare. Pakistan had reached the World Cup final for the first time in the history of the game.