The shows and no-shows of 1996

February 2026 India is preparing to host the T20 World Cup for the second time In February 1996 a good 30 years ago India was gearing up to play cohosts to their ODI World Cup No2 after 1987Bangladesh pulling out and Pakistan saying that they wonrsquot play India in the group stage is a controversy that plays big on the mind of the average cricket fan Back in 1996 it was the issue about Australia and West Indies forfeiting their matches in Sri Lanka on February 17 and February 25 respectively The Australians and West Indians felt Sri Lanka was too dangerous to tour following a bomb blast in Colombo on January 31 that killed 91 and injured 1400 peopleZimbabwe who were also scheduled to play a game in Sri Lanka had no such qualms England playerturnedwriter Vic Marks quoted their manager Denis Streak father of late allrounder Heath in the Observer as saying ldquoWe come from a country which knows about war and wersquore not going to worry about a few bombs You could get run over by a bus in the streetrdquo Eventual World Cup 1996 winners Sri Lanka were declared winners by default in both those gamesPresently Pakistanrsquos decision not to play India in the group stage is viewed as support for Bangladesh In 1996 there was no doubt about India and Pakistanrsquos support for Sri Lanka A joint India and Pakistan XI called the Wills XI took on Sri Lanka in Colombo for an exhibition match on February 13The Wills XI led by Mohammed Azharuddin beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in a 40over game at the Premadasa Stadium An elated Azharuddin lifted the Wills Solidarity Cup Sumit Mukherjee writing in The Telegraph India said the match proved ldquothat only sportsmanship could conquer fear of terrorismrdquo and that the ldquodisplay of solidarity between the coorganisers of the Wills World Cup India Pakistan and Sri Lanka came as a fitting rebuttal to Australian and West Indian fears of lack of security and touched the hearts of millions of cricket fans hererdquoIn 1996 the Asian bloc stood united against their socalled seniors in world cricket West Indies followed England Australia and South Africa in getting Test status Today Pakistan and Bangladesh are at loggerheads with India but like in 1996 the game will go on as it wereThe buildup to the 1996 World Cup was an exciting one for a journalist like me covering his first World Cup I followed the teams that landed in Mumbai The West Indians touched down here on the afternoon of February 8 I donrsquot remember them having a press conference or their players having anything to do with the media at the airport Centaur HotelTheir last ODI engagement was the triseries in Australia where they did not qualify for the final contested between the hosts and Sri Lanka The Zimbabwean and Kenyan teams tuned up for their World Cup at the Rashtriya Chemicals amp Fertilizers RCF ground at Chembur Kenya and the Netherlands played a practice game at the Brabourne Stadium on February 5Both teams were welloiled for the fixture the Netherlands team training a few hours after landing in Mumbai on February 3 The Dutch were led by 43yearold Steven Lubbers He looked at players like Nolan Clarke the 48yearold Barbados cricketer to help Netherlands give a good account of themselves A few days later I was fortunate to be present when Ian Chappell on World Cup commentary duty reunited with Clarke who he played against way back in 1973 in the Caribbean Chappell remembered Clarkersquos strokeplay in the Australians vs Barbados game in March 1973 ldquoIrsquom still hitting themrdquo Clarke said with a chuckleIf that was some reunion to remember there was one between a pressman and cricketer Rajan Bala the veteran journalist who was at the Brabourne Stadium to watch the Dutch train was delighted to meet their coach David Trist who came to India as part of Graham Dowlingrsquos New Zealand team in 196970 Unfortunately both Trist and Bala are no longer with usMeanwhile I asked Lubbers what he would like to achieve during the World Cup and he said with a smile ldquoWe just want to play decent cricket without being disgracedrdquoAs one would expect all three minnows in Mumbai were goodnatured and gelled well with the media One got access to the players and Zimbabwersquos late team manager Babu Memon even allowed a couple of press reporters to travel in their team bus from the RCF ground I sat behind Andy Flower and his indepth discussions with a teammate came back to me when I attended his media briefings as Englandrsquos Team Director in 2011 when India lost the Test series 04Kenya trained hard too and their players were not coy to reveal their humble beginnings Steve Tikolo carved his own bats from logs of wood and he grew up idolising Viv Richards Little that we realise in that pretournament phase that Tikolorsquos top score of 29 would contribute to Kenyarsquos win over Richardsrsquos fellow West Indians later that month in PuneThe win in Pune added to their short list of achievements that included beating England lsquoArsquo and India lsquoArsquo not long before the 1996 World Cup Derek Pringle another former England allroundertunedjournalist took special interest in Kenyarsquos 1996 World Cup forays as he was born and brought up there and his late father Don played for Kenya then known as East AfricaUnfortunately Pringle was not assigned to cover the Kenya vs West Indies game in Pune Kenya and Zimbabwe won a game each during the 1996 World Cup and the Netherlands were not bowled out in any of their five games Scotland who have replaced Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup can be a delight to watch too mdash and hopefully can contribute to dimming the spotlight on the current rowmiddayrsquos Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper