Pace-setter

Cricket World Cup in India
India, Oct-Nov 1987

India and Pakistan jointly organised cricket’s World Cup, after England had hosted the first three editions of the tournament. The main sponsor was Reliance Industries, and this was the first instance of Indian money playing a significant role in world cricket. Defending champions India, though, lost in the semifinals in Mumbai, and Australia went on to record a memorable title win.

First Grandmaster
Coimbatore, Dec 1987

Viswanathan Anand became India’s first chess Grandmaster at the age of 18, merely months after winning the World Junior Championships. A true trailblazer, Anand at 18 had already gone far beyond any Indian chess player before him, but he had a long way to go yet.

Paes’s bronze Atlanta, Aug 1996 Leander Paes, former junior champion at Wimbledon and US Open, had established himself as a very good player on the senior circuit, though his best wins came in the Davis Cup. In the Atlanta Olympics, Paes became only the second Indian to win an individual medal. Paes lost to Andre Agassi in the semifinals but, in the bronze medal match, he beat Fernando Meligeni to bring cheer to a nation that had not won an Olympics medal for 16 years.

Davis final again
Sydney, Oct 1987

India, led by Ramesh Krishnan and the Amritraj brothers, beat Argentina and Israel at home before shocking Australia in the semifinals in Sydney to make the final. In the final against Sweden, in a cold Gothenburg in December, India had no chance, especially on the clay the Swedes had chosen as the playing surface. India lost the final 0-5, winning only one set, in the doubles.

Hirwani’s sweet 16
Chennai, Jan 1988

West Indies were very formidable in 1987-88 when they toured India, but they were not quite as scary as the early 1980s. India were routed in the first Test in Delhi, which was followed by draws in Bombay and Calcutta. In the final Test at Madras, a debutant, Narendra Hirwani, stunned the West Indians. The leg-spinner took eight wickets in each innings, finishing with a match haul of 16/136, and the series was drawn.

Sher roars
New Delhi, Mar 1991

Finally, an Indian professional won the Indian Open. A caddie at the Delhi Golf Course, Ali Sher started playing golf with a club cut from a tree limb, and could only rarely find time to practise. Billoo Sethi had won the title as an amateur in 1965, and Ali Sher became the first Indian pro to win the title in 1991, and repeated the feat two years later.

India host SA
India, Nov 1991

As South Africa gave up its policy of apartheid, India became the first nation to host their cricket team. India won the ODI series 2-1, but the series was more notable for another reason — the South African cricket board offered BCCI a huge sum of money to ensure the three ODIs were telecast in South Africa. This was a landmark in the history of BCCI — it tasted big money for the first time and the monopoly of Doordarshan (which used to receive payments from BCCI for match telecasts) on cricket telecast was broken in 1993.

Another World Cup
India, Feb-Mar 1996

India hosted the cricket World Cup along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the final being played in Lahore. India reached the semifinals where they were on the verge of losing when the crowd erupted in anger. The match was abandoned and India was disgraced as a host.

Hesh’s first laugh
Paris, June 1997

Mahesh Bhupathi became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam title when he paired with Japan’s Rika Hiraki to take the French Open mixed doubles title. This was also the year when Paes and Bhupathi forged a bond that earned them glory in men’s doubles.

Dev’s record
Ahmedabad, Feb 1994

Early in 1992, Kapil Dev became the second man after New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee to take 400 wickets in Test cricket. It was tough going after that, but in February 1994, Kapil broke Hadlee’s record of 431 wickets, and ended up with 434 when he retired.

Sachin emerges
Karachi, Nov 1989

In February 1988, the world first heard of Sachin Tendulkar — when he and Vinod Kambli added 664 runs in a school match. Tendulkar was the first to get into the Indian team, making his Test debut at Karachi against an attack that contained Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir. He failed in the only innings he played, before making two 50s in the rest of the series. A star was born.

Other achievements

1990: At 17 years, Sachin Tendulkar became India’s youngest Test centurion at Old Trafford

1992: Geet Sethi stunned defending champion Mike Russel of Britain 2529-718 in Bombay to become the first Indian to win the World Professional Billiards Championship, a title he retained in 1993

1994: At the Hiroshima Asian Games, India won four gold medals in a total of 22 to finish eighth, but the hockey team’s silver after loss to South Korea brought only gloom

1995: Viswanathan Anand challenged Garry Kasparov for the world title in New York’s World Trade Center. After eight draws in a row, Anand won the ninth game, but Kasparov then won four of the next five games to keep his crown

1996: Sourav Ganguly made a 100 on Test debut against England while Rahul Dravid, the other debutant, made 95 in the same innings

1997: Nilesh Kulkarni became the first Indian to take a wicket off his first ball in Test cricket, against Sri Lanka in Colombo. But the next wicket fell at 615 as Sri Lanka piled up 952/6