1992 World Cup can be described as the start of the modern day slam-bang one-day cricket. This was South Africa`s first World Cup after their re-introduction into international cricket. A total of 9 teams took part in the tournament with all sides having to play each other. The teams were not divided into groups for the first time.

Mohammed Azharuddin led India. Kapil Dev was also part of the squad along with Sachin Tendulkar, who has since gone on to become one of the greatest ever. The tournament was quite a disastrous one for India. Their lost their opener to England, the second match against Sri Lanka was rained out and for the second consecutive World Cup, India lost to Australia by one run in the next match. They managed a win against Pakistan and Zimbabwe but a loss to West Indies meant they were in big trouble of being knocked out. Losses to New Zealand and South Africa put paid to India`s hopes as they ended the World Cup with only 2 wins in 8 matches. Their poor performance saw they at No 7 in the final standings with only minnows Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe below them.

Captain Mohammed Azharuddin was India`s best batsman of the tournament with 332 runs. Sachin Tendulkar, playing in his first World Cup, gave a glimpse of his talent with 3 fifties. But, in the end, they failed to click as a team. The Indian cricket team included the following players: Mohammed Azharuddin (Captain), Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Vinod Kambli, Kiran More, Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath, Venkatapathy Raju, Subroto Banerjee and Praveen Amre.