In this blog we go back down the memory lane to the 1996 world cup played in the subcontinent, a megaevent which had plenty of nerve wrecking clashes to offer but the 2nd semifinal b/w Australia &West Indies at Mohali certainly tops the chart. Australia won the toss & decided to bat on the pitch which had a fair bit of grass cover. Straight away australians were set on backfoot with Ian Bishop & Courtley Ambrose creating havoc in the top order .Both of them accounted for Waugh brothers,Mark Taylor &Ricky Ponting inside the first 10 overs.At 15/4 it was left to crisis man Michael bevan & Stuart Law to pull their side out of the woods.The duo batted sensibly churning the strike ,putting the odd one to the fence & in the process added 138 for the 5th wicket in 32 overs.The lower order pushed the total past 200 which finally stood at 207/8 in alloted 50 overs.
West Indies batting second expected the due factor to help in their chase. In the 7th over of their innings, Shane warne was introduced in the attack & immediately drew the first blood taking out Courtney Browne with a sharp reflex catch of his own bowling. Lara ,Richardson,Chanderpaul batted well ,taking the score to 165/2 in 40 overs with Lara gone for run a ball 45 & Chanderpaul heading towards a century.Needing another 43 runs in 10 overs with 8 wickets in hand,the match seemed well within West Indies grasp. So was the case that West Indian dressing room even opened bottles of scotch & whisky to celebrate the upcoming win. At this point Chanderpaul , already hampered by cramp threw his wicket away trying to go for the lofted shot over mid on. Once he fell the innings swerved out of control. Big hitters like Harper & Gibson were promoted up the order but they fell in quick succession adding extra pressure on the much recognized batsman. Shane warne was brought in and the move paid as he took 3 crucial wickets.For the first time Australians were on the top in the game. Richardson was still there to face the final over from Fleming. When he put the first ball to the fence West Indies required 6 runs from 5 balls with 2 wickets in hand & it looked like victory was in his grasp. But a misjudgment resulted in Ambrose being run out. Final man Walsh came in to face the music,tried to heave at they very first ball he faced & had his timber disturbed with Richardson left stranded on 49.
So it was all over for the Windies falling short by 5 runs.It was a case of so near yet so far for them. The Australians had looked gone for all money & one has to say it was one of the most sensational comebacks of all time if not the best. Mark Taylor said afterwards that the game was lost by a side which at one point of time won 90 percent of it.In the process West Indies lost the first world cup Semi Final!
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