This was the biggest of all World Cups to date and not only because of the 9th team (South Africa) was returning to the world stage, but also because of the sheer number of matches that were going to be played. Among the other changes to the format, most of the matches were going to be day/night affairs and played with a white ball in coloured clothing. Suddenly, cricket had become colourful!

But all these changes didn't perhaps agree with the Indian team of its planning. Having recently lost a Test series against Australia in Australia, India was on the backfoot. And with little experience with the white ball and under lights, the disadvantage was clearly there. The prodigious swing that the white balls (there was one on either side of the wicket) offered was always going to trouble the Indian batsmen even if the bowlers were going to enjoy it a little. But India's campaign got off to the worst possible start.

Perth, a bouncy wicket and India's traditional dislike for the bouncing ball all came together. Add to this England's resourcefulness in the field and with their multi-faceted players like Dermot Reeve and Ian Botham all proved too much for India. Batting first on a bouncy WACA pitch, England was well served by Robin Smith's 91 and Graham Gooch's 51. Together, they put on 110 for the second wicket. But India struck back through Kapil Dev (2/34), Manoj Prabhakar (2/34) and a wiry young Javagal Srinath (2/47). England was restricted to 236 and the total was something India could chase.

A slow start to the reply with Shastri taking 112 balls for his 57 put India on the backfoot but they replied well through Srikkanth (39), Tendulkar (35) and Subroto Banerjee (25*). In fact, Banerjee had brought India to within 9 runs of victory but when the fourth run out of the innings was effected by Ian Botham, India had fallen short in another close game. This match also marked the only instance of Tendulkar facing Ian Botham and Tendulkar did have the upper hand for a bit, but Botham's guile saw him pick up his wicket eventually.

India's next match was against their neighbours Sri Lanka that was washed out after just two balls. Not quite the outcome the Indian team would have wanted, but at least they had a point and were underway! India's next encounter was against the hosts Australia, who had beaten them by a solitary run in 1987. The Australians were themselves struggling this time but India could not really make them pay. In the end, thanks to some good batting by Dean Jones and David Boon, Australia managed to post 237 for 9. The Indian reply was dominated by a 93 from Captain Mohammed Azharuddin and 47 from Sanjay Manjrekar. In the end, though, India fell short by one run yet again. And Steve Waugh had a part to play this time too when he run out Venkatapathy Raju who was scrambling to score the run that would have tied the match.

India's campaign was well and truly in trouble now and the importance next match could not have been emphasised more. To add to this, their opponents were Pakistan! The first time the neighbours were meeting in the World Cup and tensions were bound to run high. Add to this an over-enthusiastic Kiran More and Javed Miandad and there's a piece of history! But More had the better match of the two while Miandad's snail-like 40 left his team with too much to do. Batting first, India posted a respectable 216 powered by Ajay Jadeja (46) at the top of the order. But the star for India was Sachin Tendulkar who scored a quick 54 (62b) and his partnership of 60 with Kapil Dev (35) set the Indians on track. Aamir Sohail (62) and Javed Miandad (40) were the only two batsmen who contributed for Pakistan. Once their 88-run partnership was broken, the rest of the batting line up fell away for just 68 runs and Pakistan was bowled out for 173, 43 runs short of the target.

India next played Zimbabwe and the rain rule that had robbed them against earlier, helped India this time. Zimbabwe was well on their way to chasing down India's 203 in 32 overs. But rain curtailed the match and Zimbabwe fell short by 55 runs. Andy Flower (43*) was the star and had Zimbabwe at 104 for 1 in the 20th over. For India, Sachin Tendulkar's swashbuckling 81 (77b) set up the big total.

More rain in the games to follow and after two consecutive wins, the Indians would have felt they had a chance of going far in the tournament. But against the West Indies, their next opponents, a combination of rain and some poor bowling kept India out. Azharuddin's 61 and Srikkanth's 40 had pushed India to 197 all out. By no means a competitive score. Anderson Cummins' pace and accuracy had shocked the Indian batting and caused this meek submission. In reply, the Windies were in a spot of bother at 5 for 112 with Srinath returning the favour! But Keith Arthurton (58*) and Carl Hooper (34*) made sure the West Indies got home safely. Some rain along the way had revised their target to 195 in 46 overs. No sweat!

India was now half out of the door and could not afford another loss. Playing an on-song New Zealand in Dunedin, Azhar won the toss and chose to bat first. After a shaky start, Tendulkar (84) and Azharuddin (55) shared a 127-run partnership that gave India hope Kapil Dev contributed a 33 to push things further and leave India at 230. Chris Harris and opening bowler, off-spinner Dipak Patel were India's undoing! The total India had set was not too big, but wasn't too small either and could have been defended. But Mark Greatbatch had another good outing scoring 73 off just 77 balls to put India out. Andrew Jones ensured there was no collapse and New Zealand was home and dry with their sixth win in a row. India's campaign was over.

The last match India played was against South Africa was reduced to 30 overs a side thanks to some more rain. India did well to post 180 in their 30 overs thanks to a belligerent 79 by Azharuddin. Kapil Dev then added 42 off 29 balls to push the run rate higher. When South Africa came to bat, Andrew Hudson (43) and Gary Kirsten (84 off 86b) put together 128 for the opening partnership and although they lost a few quick wickets in the middle, was always ahead of the asking rate. South Africa won with 5 balls to spare and was in the semi-final. India would have to catch the next flight back.

On their return, India had to face the wrath of a cricket-crazy nation, especially some of the batsmen whose poor batting had cost India a few matches. By far one of India's worst campaign since 1979, a lot of rebuilding was to be done. Subroto Banerjee, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth and Kapil Dev would not play in the next tournament in India and new stars like Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar were to be the team's mainstay for the next decade.

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