India in the 1979 Cricket World Cup

The Cricket World Cup or the Prudential World Cup was contested for the second time in 1979 in England. The West Indies were the defending champions and the hot favorites to win this tournament and they did so in style. This team under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd defeated England in the final. The West Indies was placed in Group B where the other teams were India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Some of the players in the Indian squad were as follows – Mohinder Amarnath, Bishan Singh Bedi, Anshuman Gaekwad, Sunil Gavaskar, Karsan Ghavri, Kapil Dev, Surinder Khanna, Brijesh Patel, Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath.

Group match against West Indies

The first group match of India was against the West Indies on 9th June 1979 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The umpires were John Langridge and David Evans. India batted first and was all out for 190 in 53.1 overs. Gundappa Viswanath scored 75 runs in 134 balls. Michael Holding bowled 12 overs, conceded 33 runs and made 4 dismissals. West Indies replied by scoring 194 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in 51.3 overs. Gordon Greenidge faced 173 deliveries and hit 106 runs and was awarded the Man of the Match. Kapil Dev took 1 wicket for 46 runs in the 10 overs which he bowled. West Indies won this match by 9 wickets.

Group match against New Zealand

The group match between India and New Zealand was contested at Headingly, Leeds on 13th June 1979. Alan Whitehead and Lloyd Budd were the umpires in this match. The Indian batsmen played for 55.5 overs and all 10 were out for 182 runs. Sunil Gavaskar managed 55 runs in 144 deliveries. Brian McKechnie gave away 24 runs and took 3 wickets in his 12 overs. New Zealand scored 183 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in 57 overs. Bruce Edgar remained unbeaten on 84 after facing 167 balls. He was declared as the Man of the Match. Mohinder Amarnath bowled 12 overs in which 39 runs were scored and took 1 wicket. New Zealand won this match by 8 wickets.

Group match against Sri Lanka

On 18th June 1979, Sri Lanka and India played a group match. The venue for this match was Old Trafford in Manchester and the umpires were Ken Palmer and Alan Whitehead. This match was originally scheduled on 16th June 1979, but due to rainfall, the reserve day was used. Sri Lanka batted first and in the stipulated 60 overs lost 5 wickets and scored 238 runs. Sunil Wettimuny contributed 67 runs in 120 balls. Mohinder Amarnath bowled 12 overs and took 3 wickets while giving away 40 runs. India was all out for 191 runs in 54.1 overs. The top scorer for India was Dilip Vengsarkar who made 36 in 57 deliveries. Somachandra de Silva bowled 11 overs, conceded 29 runs and made 3 dismissals. Sri Lanka won this match by 47 runs.

India played 3 group matches and lost all three and hence had zero points. It had a run rate of 3.13 in these matches. After the group matches, it had to exit from the 1979 Cricket World Cup championship.