15 minutes of fame

Mohandas Menon

When the West Indies won the Prudential World Cup beating Australia at Lord's on June 21, 1975, they became cricket's first "world champions".

They held this title for the next eight years and six days, until their loss to under-dogs India on June 25, 1983. Since then, the once mighty Windies have not regained the title. The closest it came was in the 1996 World Cup, when it lost narrowly to Australia in the semi-final.

India created the greatest upset in sporting history to became the new "world champions" in June, 1983. They held the crown for four years and 134 days, until the semi-final loss to England in Bombay on November 5, 1987.

Then, for a short period of three days from 5-11-87 to 8-11-87, no team had the tag "world champions", since the defending champion (India) was knocked out in the semi-final.

However, with Australia winning the Reliance World Cup beating England at Calcutta on 8-11-1987, a new "world champion" emerged and they held the title for the next four years and 131 days - just three days less than the former champions, India.

When Australia failed to qualify for the semi-final of the fifth edition of the World Cup played at home, for almost a week from 19-3-1992 to 25-3-1992, international cricket did not have a world-champion.

Pakistan, the new champions crowned that year on March 25, however held the title for just three years and 350 days, till their loss to arch-rivals India at Bangalore in the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup.

It took almost seven days, from 9-3-996 to 17-3-1996, for a new world title holder to emerge. Sri Lanka became the fifth champion when they beat Australia at Lahore on March 17.

Unless the Lankans retain the title at Lord's on 20-6-1999, they will have the shortest reign as World Champions -- lasting for just 3 years and 96 days !

Winners      From          To       Period Title held for 

West Indies 21-06-1975 25-06-1983   8 years and 6 days

India       25-06-1983 05-11-1987   4 years and 134 days

None        05-11-1987 08-11-1987   3 days

Australia   08-11-1987 18-03-1992   4 years and 131 days

None        18-03-1992 25-03-1992   7 days

Pakistan    25-03-1992 09-03-1996   3 years and 350 days

None        09-03-1996 17-03-1996   7 days

Sri Lanka   17-03-1996 20-06-1996+  3 year and 96 days

(+Assuming Sri Lanka does not retain its title, but will at least reach the final).