What if: India had won the 1996 World Cup at Lahore

2. Azhar, the movie, would have been about India’s most successful captain – and not about match-fixing

Mohammad Azharuddin and Emraan Hashmi in a promo for Azhar

Until the time Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni came into the picture, Mohammad Azharuddin was easily the most successful Indian captain. It was only after the semi-final loss that people started questioning Azhar, and by the end of 1996 Sachin Tendulkar replaced him as the Indian skipper.

However, if India had won that semi-final against Sri Lanka and the World Cup, Indian cricket may not have had to go through the match-fixing saga. Although the charges against Azhar were not proved, a vast section of Indians still feel that he betrayed the nation. In any case, the entire cricketing world was engulfed in a sordid match-fixing controversy at the turn of the century, and it took a long time for the sport to regain the trust of the fans.

Well, all that may not have happened if India would have become world champions in 1996. The status that Azhar would have got after winning the World Cup would have been unimaginable. And the recently released movie ‘Azhar’ would not have been about match-fixing but about India’s most successful captain. The poster of the movie would have been a smiling Azhar with the World Cup trophy in his hands.