50 years on: India’s historic Hockey win, Cricket team’s World Cup flop

Right from pre-independence days the two sports -- Hockey and Cricket --- had vied for the hearts and minds of the Indian populace

Fifty years ago (March 15, 1975), the Indian hockey team became the first in Indian sporting history to win a team world championship. The Indian national cricket team the very same year flopped in the inaugural (Prudential) World Cup in England.

the Indian hockey team became the first in Indian sporting history to win a team world championship on March 15, 1975 (HT Photo)

Right from pre-independence days the two sports had vied for the hearts and minds of the Indian populace. Indian hockey made their debut at the Olympics in 1928 at Amsterdam a winning one with the first of eight gold medals and Dhyan Chand, dubbed ‘The Wizard’ of world hockey dazzling one and all with his amazing skills. Four years later the Indian cricket team led by the flamboyant and hugely popular CK Nayudu made their Test debut at the Lord’s cricket ground in London.

The Indian national cricket team in 1975 flopped in the inaugural (Prudential) World Cup at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London. (AP Photo)

While hockey was always a sentimental favourite of the masses capturing their hearts, cricket was the rival that captured the minds of the public and had the glamour element with both celebrities and high-profile politicians flocking to attach their names to it. Yet hockey brought all the laurels at the international level, winning gold at the Olympics from 1928 to 1964 (there were no Olympics in 1940 and 1944 due to the war), save for the loss in the 1960 Rome final to Pakistan, and then again at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Cricket on the other hand had to wait 20 years and 25 Tests for its first victory and did not win a Test match or series abroad till New Zealand in 1968.

The icing on the cake was the 4-0 drubbing of Great Britain in the 1948 London Olympics final just one year after India had thrown off the colonial yoke to become an independent nation. But then the defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the 1960 Rome final was like a national calamity, the first time India had failed to win gold. No wonder four years later at Tokyo ecstatic celebrations broke out on every street corner across the country when that result was reversed and the gold was ours once again. It was like national pride had been restored, coming just two years after the India-China war. Yes, that is how much hockey meant to every Indian.

But back to 1975. India were in the final of the third World Cup hockey championship at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, face-to-face with arch-rivals Pakistan.

At the Olympics India had failed to reach the final for the first time in 1968 at Mexico and had to settle for bronze as they did at Munich in 1972. But now was their golden chance to climb to the top of world hockey once again.

And they did, beating Pakistan 2-1 in a pulsating match, the winning goal fittingly scored by Ashok Kumar, son of the immortal Dhyan Chand.

Unfortunately for countless hockey fans across the country, there was no telecast on the state-run Doordarshan TV network which had a low-key launch in 1959 and was still stuck in the black-and-white era. Instead we tuned into All India Radio (AIR) where famous commentator Jasdev Singh got increasingly emotional as the clock wound down for the final hooter which would signal victory for India. Back home the team led by Ajitpal Singh received a hero’s welcome wherever they went.

Doordarshan finally went colour and launched the national hook-up in time for IX Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982, the biggest multi-sports event to be held in India with 33 participating nations including the hosts. In 1951 Delhi had hosted the inaugural Asian Games with just 11 countries taking part.

Of all the different sports in New Delhi the one under the most intense focus was hockey, the only one of the 23 in which India had excelled on the world stage. India had fallen from the winning podium in the two subsequent chapters of the World Cup but across the nation hopes were high that India would regain glory in front of its supporters. The Congress government of Mrs. Indira Gandhi had made the organization of the Asiad a prestige event with son Rajiv Gandhi a key member of the Special Organising Committee (SOC).

So when the final everyone had hoped for on December 1 at the refurbished National Stadium came to pass--a replay of the 1975 World Cup-- the stadium was packed to capacity. The Prime Minister, her son and his family, a number of cabinet ministers and the President, Giani Zail Singh were all in attendance as were celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan. While Indian sportspersons had tasted success in various events, the hockey gold was seen as the ultimate prize, watched by thousands at the venue and millions across the country, many on their spanking new colour TV sets.

But it turned out to be a crashing anti-climax. India scored first and the crowd exploded in joy. Nothing could have prepared them though for what followed--a deluge of goals by Pakistan resulting in a 7-1 drubbing which took the wind out of the sails of what had been a brilliantly organised event. The VIPs melted away, the crowd was dejected and furious.

Then in 1983 the Indian cricket team led by iconic all-rounder Kapil Dev stunned the entire sporting world by pulling off one of the all-time miracles in the history of team sport. In the final of the Prudential World Cup at Lord’s India shocked the mighty West Indies, winners of the first two events in 1975 and 1979, a result that would have a seismic effect on the cricket world and lead to England losing the rights to stage the next chapter in 1987 to a joint bid by India and Pakistan.

The advent of live national colour television thanks to the Asian Games of the year before gave Indian cricket a tremendous boost as both the semi-final against England and the historic final were witnessed across the length and breadth of the country in vivid colour, something our hockey world champion heroes of 1975 missed out on.

Indian cricket thus stole a march over hockey in both the hearts and minds of its countrymen and women and would never look back again.

(The writer’s 18th book, ‘What If…? Indian Cricket’s Counter-Factual History’ is to be released this month)