Winner: West Indies (captain - Clive Lloyd)
Runner-up: Australia
Teams: England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, East Africa.
India' performance: Failed to make it beyond the league stage.
It spoke volumes of the success and popularity of one-day games that just three years after the first limited-overs international game, a World Cup tournament was born.
India were placed in Group A alongwith England, New Zealand and East Africa - one of the two non-Test playing countries in the tournament, the other being Sri Lanka.
The first match of the tournament was played between India and England at Lord's on June 7, 1975. England, led by Mike Denness - who later became famous as a match-referee when he handed down controversial punishments to six Indian cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar in South Africa in 2000, batted first and ran up a huge total of 334 for four in 60 overs with Denis Amiss making a strokeful 137. India laboured to reach 132 for three in their quota of overs with Sunil Gavaskar making a painfully slow 36 not out.
{{/usCountry}}The first match of the tournament was played between India and England at Lord's on June 7, 1975. England, led by Mike Denness - who later became famous as a match-referee when he handed down controversial punishments to six Indian cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar in South Africa in 2000, batted first and ran up a huge total of 334 for four in 60 overs with Denis Amiss making a strokeful 137. India laboured to reach 132 for three in their quota of overs with Sunil Gavaskar making a painfully slow 36 not out.
{{/usCountry}}India had no difficulty in crushing minnows East Africa by ten wickets in the second match which is best remembered for Bishen Singh Bedi's amazing bowling figures of 12-8-6-1, still the most economical return at a World Cup.
In their last league match, India were defeated by New Zealand by four wickets -- Glenn Turner's unbeaten 114 carrying the Kiwis through to the last four stage.
Australia defeated England and West Indies beat New Zealand in the two semi-finals to set up the title clash at Lord's on June 21, 1975. In the final, West Indies recovered from the early losses to post 291 for six. Captain Clive Lloyd struck a brilliant 102. Australia were all out for 274 in 58.4 overs to give West Indies a 17-run win.