In June 1975, the first Cricket World Cup was organised in England, and India was a part of it. Since then, 12 editions have taken place (1975, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019) and India has won two Cricket World Cups (1983 and 2011).
In this article, we will tell you about the very first match India played in the first Cricket World Cup in 1975.
1975 World Cup: Indian Squad
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (captain)
Bishen Singh Bedi (vice-captain)
Anshuman Gaekwad
Brijesh Patel
Eknath Solkar
Sunil Gavaskar
Syed Abid Ali
Farokh Engineer (wicketkeeper)
Gundappa Vishwanath (reserve wicketkeeper)
Karsan Ghavri
Madan Lal
Mohinder Amarnath
India’s first match – June 7, 1975: India vs. England
The first match of India, the first match of the Cricket World Cup, was against England. It was played in London at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Shockingly, the very first match was surrounded by controversy! And…the reason was one player, Sunil Gavaskar.
Because of Gavaskar’s controversial knock, this cricket match became notorious. India was chasing a mammoth target of 335 for victory. Gavaskar, interestingly, carried his bat for the entire 60 overs. But he scored only 36 runs (off 174 balls). He hit just a solitary boundary. Reportedly, he did not attempt to go for victory. Arguably, Gavaskar did not even try to accelerate the scoring rate.
As an outcome of this, the country could only score 132/3 in 60 overs. India lost the match by 202 runs. This severely affected the team’s chances of making it to the semifinals of the tournament. In general, the match was a national disgrace for India and in particular, for Gavaskar. For his disgraceful innings, he was criticized from all sides.
It is not even clear today why he played so slowly in that important cricket match. Reportedly, Gavaskar, on his part, claimed that he was out of form at the time!