Cricket World Cup 1st XI: 6) It's a riot

Riot police lead the Sri Lankan team off the pitch after the abandonment of the semifinal in the Cricket World Cup between India and Sri Lanka played at Eden Gardens in Calcutta. Photo / Getty Images

With four weeks to go before the start of the Cricket World Cup, the Herald lists the stories that have defined the tournament.

No 6: It's a riot

At its best, Kolkata's Eden Gardens is a seething hotbed of cricketing passion.

At its worst, Eden Gardens is a seething hotbed of cricketing passion that spills over.

Such was the case on March 13, 1996, when India met Sri Lanka in the first semifinal.

It was inconceivable to the vast majority of the 100,000 in attendance that India would lose to the Teardrop Islanders, a country that had only recently emerged from minnow status.

Against most pundits' better judgment, Mohammad Azharuddin chose to chase, a decision that appeared to be justified when both Sri Lanka's openers were caught at third man in the first over.

However, Aravinda de Silva batted brilliantly and the hosts were set a tricky 252 to win.

Sachin Tendulkar had India ticking along nicely but his dismissal for 65 when the total was at 98 set in train a catastrophic collapse of seven wickets for 22 runs.

Enraged, sections of the crowd set fire to their seats. Match referee Clive Lloyd took the players from the field before attempting a restart 15 minutes later. More disruption ensued and the game was called off.

Vinod Kambli, one of the unbeaten Indian batsmen, was distraught, but nobody had any qualms about the match being awarded to Sri Lanka (who went on to beat Australia in the final).

As a postscript, Azharuddin's house required an armed guard and, in 2011, Kambli aired a number of explosive allegations, including that the team had decided to bat first had they won the toss. The claims were denied by Azharuddin, who is serving a life ban from the BCCI for his role in fixing.

Kambli, a child prodigy who went to the same school as Tendulkar and once shared in a 664-run partnership with the batting savant, played a few more ODIs for India, but his career petered out after the World Cup disaster.