Lucknow, Oct 29: As India and England took each other on in the 2023 Cricket World Cup, they had crossed swords eight times since the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975. The win:loss ratio between them stood at 4:4.
In the first encounter at Lord's, London in 1975, England thrashed India, then quite unaccustomed to limited overs cricket, whereas the English, who invented the format, were endowed with a decade of experience in inter-county competitions.
Kapil Dev's Indians, however, surprised the tournament hosts at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1983 in the semifinal en route to upsetting the West Indies in the final and the title.
Four years later, England returned the compliment in the last four stages at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, before losing to Australia in the final. In 1992, too, England got the better of India at the WACA, Perth.
Their next meeting was at Edgbaston, Birmingham in 1999; and India came up trumps. Indeed, they repeated the success four years later at Kingsmead, Durban.
In a tournament held in the subcontinent, India once more defeated England at Dhaka; and proceeded to regain the crown at the Wankhede under Mahendra Dhoni. In the most recent clash, though, at Edgbaston four years ago, England eclipsed India and went on to win the World Cup for the first time.
(IANS)
