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India host the Black Caps in the Cricket World Cup semifinals on Wednesday, the fourth time India will have home advantage at this stage of the tournament - but having the crowd on their side hasn’t always worked out.
In 1996 a record 110,564 fans attended the semifinalbetween India and Sri Lanka and a section of the crowd played a part in the home side’s defeat. Sri Lanka officially won the game by default after a rioting crowd disrupted play late in India’s chase.
India sent Sri Lanka in and made an impressive start with Javagal Srinath dismissing openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana in the opening over. First drop Asanka Gurusinha then made 1 off 16 balls before Aravinda de Silva (66) and Roshan Mahanama (58) got them back on track. They eventually made 251 for eight - a respectable total in the mid-90s.
A young Sachin Tendulkar playing in his first semifinal opened the batting and made 65 from 88 balls. But when he was stumped off the bowling of Jayasuriya, the wheels came off the Indian innings, with India slumping from 98 for one to 120 for eight. When Aashish Kapoor was dismissed for a golden duck by Muttiah Muralitharan leaving India needing 132 to win, the crowd had had enough.
Bottles, cans and plastic bags were thrown on to the field, leading to Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga taking his team from the ground. That only made matters worse. Members of the crowd started fires in the stands and match referee Clive Lloyd eventually awarded the match to Sri Lanka by default.
Indian batsman Vinod Kambli was left stranded on 10 not out and was in tears as he walked off the ground while Sri Lanka celebrated making their first final, eventually going on to stun Australia.
“The Indians are out there complaining, Kambli’s complaining, but Clive Lloyd is making his position absolutely clear,” said commentator Tony Greig. “And he said, ‘Look, if they can’t behave themselves and we can’t get on with this match then that’s the end of that and I’m awarding the match to the Sri Lankans’,” Greig added.
Kambli was confident India still had a chance of chasing down the total.
“They keep showing that clipping of me crying. To be honest, tears roll down my cheek even today,” Kambli said in an interview in 2017.
“We had played like terrific cricket throughout the tournament. We had beaten Pakistan in the quarter-final. All seemed well till Sachin was batting. But once we lost him, it was downhill from there. I remember watching five batsmen depart while I was at the crease. Had at least one of them kept me company, we could have made a match of it. I cried because I thought I was robbed of a chance to do it for my country.”
It was the second time India had lost a semifinal on home soil. In 1987, they were the defending champions but fell short in their semifinal against England, losing by 35 runs - also at Wankhede Stadium.
They finally won a home semifinal in 2011 when they beat rivals Pakistan by 29 runs. Sachin Tendulkar scored 85 in a man-of-the-match performance.
