Lightening strikes Old Trafford, and India unearth gold

Shoaib shatters the Kiwis, Mohinder ambles to glory

Shoaib shatters the Kiwis

Shoaib Akhtar: unstoppable © Getty Images

Old Trafford was witness to a lop-sided semi-final in 1999, thanks mainly to an all-out, devil-may-care, floppy-haired speedster called Shoaib Akhtar. Having just shot to prominence with a fiery spell in a pre-World Cup series in India, Shoaib chose a venue more Karachi than Manchester - it was the hottest day of the tournament, the surface hard and dry, and a 20,000-strong sea of green and white blared instruments - to stamp his claim as the fastest and most exciting bowler in the game.

Shoaib was at his blistering best, hitting the stumps three times and consistently topping 90 mph. Best of all, he reminded everyone that fast bowling was supposed to be just that - fast.

Shoaib bowled three spells, 4-3-3, and cleaned up a batsman in each. With Shoaib's 15th ball, Nathan Astle, reduced to fishing and hopping for the first of his 17 deliveries, had his leg stump flattened by an express delivery that burst through his airborne defence. You knew more was coming.

As Roger Twose and Stephen Fleming trudged along, a score of 250 looked remotely possible. Wasim Akram would have none of it, however, and brought Shoaib back to a tumultuous roar. Twose picked up a pair of twos, then was beaten twice outside off stump. Fleming drove Shoaib off the back foot with panache, and then slashed him to third man. Shoaib shook his head, returned to his run-up, and served up the ball of the match, if not the entire tournament. It was a yorker, 92 mph and moving, and Fleming jammed his bat down on it about an hour to late. Leg stump went packing, the crowd erupted, the bowler celebrated.

One final spell remained, and sure enough, Shoaib came back on in the 46th over, around the stumps, and took out a clueless Chris Harris's leg stump with a devilishly disguised slower one. With electrifying speed, Shoaib restricted New Zealand to a modest 241 for 7. He didn't need any fielders on the day - wicked inswinging yorkers were his poison. It didn't matter a damn that he was the most expensive bowler for his side; he was out there to take and break wickets.
Jamie Alter

Amiable, apologetic, victorious

Mohinder Amarnath: unruffled © Getty Images

That took India to Lord's and up against twice-winners West Indies. Lloyd won the toss and put India in, and 55 overs later his pace quartet of Roberts, Garner, Holding and Marshall had done its work: India 183 all out, kept in the contest thanks to Srikkanth's incandescent 38 and Mohinder's "composed play against pace" - as Kapil Dev put it - in scoring 26.

Indeed, by the time of this match, Amarnath had established quite a reputation for standing up to the West Indies attack; the moustache he sported through the World Cup was to hide the remains of the 25 stitches he'd required after being hit by a Marshall special on India's tour of the Caribbean weeks earlier.

At the innings break, the hoots of West Indian supporters ringing round the ground, Kapil did his Agincourt bit: We have nothing to lose, but remember we've scored 183 runs, they are yet to do so, so make them fight for every run.

The next couple of hours turned on two moments of sheer brilliance, unscripted and on the fly. First, Balwinder Singh Sandhu's inswinger clipped Gordon Greenidge's off bail and West Indies slipped to 5 for 1. Next, Kapil's catch to dismiss a rampaging Richards, running backwards for 20 yards to pouch the ball just in front of the deep midwicket boundary.

From 50 for 1, West Indies were reeling at 66 for 5, then 76 for 6. But then the tail began to wag as Dujon and Marshall strung together a healthy partnership. Enter Mohinder and his dibbly-dobblys, and he removed both batsmen to leave West Indies at 124 for 8. The writing was on the wall, and soon Mohinder made sure it was indelible by removing Holding. West Indies were all out for 140, India won by 43 runs.

Mohinder's contribution may seem less consequential when compared to the relative pyrotechnics of Sandhu and Kapil but his figures - 7-0-12-3 - speak of how he choked off West Indies' relatively sober fightback after the big guns collapsed under the weight of hubris. "Mohinder has the laziest, relaxed way of bowling, as if he's jogging," his captain wrote, years later. "But these are deceptive moves as he trips them by making the ball wobble and induce all kinds of indecisiveness in batting."

Amarnath's achievements through 1983 led to his being named one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year. This was what the Almanack said in its commendation: "He stood firm while the West Indian bowling was at its most hostile and Srikkanth went for his ebullient shots at the other end. Together they shared the highest partnership of the match. Finally his amiable, almost apologetic medium pace finished off three of the last four wickets for 12 runs."

Amiable, apologetic, lazy, relaxed. On that mad, typically chaotic Indian summer's day, Mohinder Amarnath turned those adjectives - and the bookies' odds - on their collective head. Cricket has changed so much we probably won't again see such an unassuming performance to win a World Cup final.
Jayaditya Gupta

© Cricinfo

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Matches

New Zealand v Pakistan at Manchester

India v West Indies at Lord's

Players/Umpires

Mohinder Amarnath

Shoaib Akhtar

Series/Tournaments

ICC World Cup

Teams

India

Pakistan