When Kenya stunned West Indies 25 years ago in Pune

Mighty vs Minnow faceoffs are not every journalistrsquos dream assignment But I looked forward to the February 29 West Indies vs Kenya 1996 Wills World Cup clash even if it meant travelling to Pune by road not many hours after reporting on the India vs Australia game at Mumbairsquos Wankhede StadiumI had followed the Kenyans ever since they landed in Mumbai to tune up for their big opportunity on the world stageThey played two games against The Netherlands at the Cricket Club of India losing the first and winning the secondThe start of their World Cup was as expected not sizzling India Australia and Zimbabwe beat them before they took on the West Indies who were led by Richie RichardsonWest Indiesrsquo 73run defeat turned the cricketing world upside down and this could well be the mother of upsets in World Cup matches in which babes were pitted against former championsSteve Tikolo who topscored for Kenya with 29It must be emphasised that Kenya had not figured in oneday cricket before their opening World Cup game against India at CuttackHere are 25 aspects of Kenyarsquos upset win in Pune and their players1 Richie Richardson won the toss and sent the Kenyans in Their fourpronged pace attack included Curtly Ambrose Courtney Walsh Ian Bishop and Cameron Cuffy2 Dipak Chudasama who opened the Kenya innings with Tariq Iqbal is a dentist by profession He slammed two fours in the first over bowled by Ambrose and was out the next over ndash caught by Brian Lara off Walsh for 83 Steve Tikolo topscored with 29 which included three fours and one six But Mr Extras totaled 37 an indicator of how inaccurate the West Indians were4 Maurice Odumbe who was putting on a fine partnership with Tikolo stepped on to his off stump while playing a shot off Bishop out hit wicket for 65 Jimmy Adams had a hand in five dismissals behind the stumps not bad for someone who was playing his first World Cup game taking over the big gloves from Courtney Browne6 West Indies were set a 167run target and the first runs on the board came up with four leg byes which came off Richie Richardsonrsquos pad on the last ball of the second over7Tariq Iqbal was nightmarish behind the stumps The chunky wicketkeeper could just drop his head in despair at times in the first half of the innings8Brian Lara who came in at the fall of Richardsonrsquos wicket started off with a imperious square drive but provided Iqbal his best moment of the day when he snicked one off Rajab Ali Tariq fumbled with it a bit but caught it finally to put a huge nail in West Indiesrsquo coffin9 Keith Arthurtonrsquos poor show at the World Cup continued when Hitesh Modi threw down the stumps before the lefthander made his ground attempting a single He had scored just one in the previous game against Zimbabwe A duck in Pune was followed up with another duck against Australia One run against South Africa was before the duck against the Australians in the semifinal at Mohali So his sequence of scores during the tournament readhellip1 0 0 1 010 Odumbe marshaled his troops well and led by example by sending back Shivnarine Chanderpaul Adams and veteran Roger Harper When Kenya were one wicket away from victory he told me that he prayed to the almighty for that one last wicket11 Rajab who claimed three wickets in the game revealed that he had watched several videos of Lara in the company of team coach Hanumant Singh to ldquofind ways to induce him into making mistakesrdquo12 Rajabrsquos uncle Zulfiqar Ali too played World Cup cricket ndash for East Africa in the 1975 edition held in England13 Odumbersquos words to the team after West Indies lost their seventh wicket ldquoItrsquos not over until the last ball Letrsquos strangle them letrsquos choke themrdquo14 The match featuring the Kenyans attracted a lot of East African students studying in Symbiosis Pune15 The match was witnessed by some of the greats of the game MAK Pataudi was the match referee while fast bowling stalwarts Michael Holding commentator and Andy Roberts coach were around too Australiarsquos aggressive former opening batsman Keith Stackpole was part of the commentary team as well16 Odumbe told the story about how he had gone to watch the West Indies vs Glamorgan game during their 1991 tour of England He approached Lara to pose for a photograph but the request was turned on In Pune the great West Indian spent close to half an hour talking to Odumbe17 The West Indies were not the most popular team going around They with the possible exception of Jimmy Adams did not oblige many autograph seekers in Pune18 The late Hanumant was overjoyed without going overboard He praised his side but emphasised that the tournament was far from over and there was a need for more such efforts19 The Kenyan teamrsquos manager was Harilal Shah who had led East Africa in the 1975 World Cup The win only vindicated his pretournament view that of his side being well prepared for World Cup challenges20 Balvinder Singh Sandhu the 1983 World Cupper helped the Kenyans too Like the others in the team Tikolo was grateful to Sandhu ldquoHe has always been there for us helping us along the way He taught me how to use my feet while facing the spinnersrdquo Tikolo told me21 The Kenyans did not celebrate with champagne in the Nehru Stadium dressing room Only tears flowedhelliptears of joy22 The crowd couldnrsquot believe what they had just seen They were all delighted Even the ones who had brought in lsquoLara Kya Mararsquo banners23 In his postmatch conversations with the Kenyan players Lara revealed to them that there were problems in his team He said to Hitesh Modi that he saw him often in the hotel lobby the previous evening but his teammates just kept to themselves in their rooms24 Reams of newsprint were used up praising the Kenyans for their Pune triumph MiDDAY along with the victory stories had a Page 1 comment piece which was headlined lsquoShed a tear for West Indies cricketrsquo25 Richie Richardson who began his career when the West Indies were in their pomp brought the curtains down on his career after the tournament However it shouldnrsquot be forgotten that they reached the semifinals losing to the Australians who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at Mohali