The final

Seemingly the biggest difference currently between the 1992 and 2022 finals is the colour of the England kit, their T20 kit is red rather than the iconic light blue of thirty years ago. It was the first World Cup which was played in coloured kit at night… it’ll never catch on.

Beyond the kit, aesthetically at least, the finals are currently pretty similar occasions. The 1992 match was played under lights at the MCG, with England the favourites, largely thanks to Ian Botham’s heroics with the balls and a young Niel Fairbrother’s contribution with the bat. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales’ performance in the semi-final at the Adelaide Oval along with England’s white-ball dominance over the last five years puts their nose in front in the present day. But as their World Cup origin story in ’92 tells us, under no circumstances should you write off Pakistan.

There are some key differences. Khan was 39 when he lifted the trophy, and Babar Azam is 28. The match doesn’t have the narrative of the last time a cricketing great will be seen in action. But, if Pakistan do win the trophy its significance, although different, has the potential to be just as great. Their first World Cup trophy in over a decade for a young group including some modern-day greats who thoroughly entertained as ever, thwarting England’s quest for a world title after four consecutive knock-out appearances.

If England win, they will hold both World Cup titles at the same time, bringing closure to their white-ball revolution.

Pakistan’s tournament trajectory

The spookiest thing about the similarities between the two tournaments has to be Pakistan’s tournament story arc. Beaten in their first match at the MCG, although in 1992 it was by the West Indies courtesy of a 175-run partnership between Brian Lara and Desmond Haynes which only ended when Lara retired hurt after being hit on the foot by a Wasim Akram yorker.

Once again in this year’s tournament, India got the better of Pakistan in their group-stage meeting. Whilst this year it was down to another sublime chase from Virat Kohli, in 1992 another India legend, an 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar held firm for India batting first this time. After Tendulkar’s serenely calm innings saw India post a defendable target of 216 (216 was defendable in 50 overs 30 years ago, madness), Pakistan collapsed, going from 127-4 to 173 all out. It’s worth noting that both Pakistan’s captains were out for ducks in their respective India encounters.

1992 Pakistan hold a slightly worse group stage record than 2022 Pakistan, having lost three group matches compared to two, but both relied on other matches going their way to qualify. Netherlands’ win over South Africa allowed Pakistan to take their destiny back into their own hands, requiring them to beat Bangladesh to reach the semi-final, whereas they had to watch and hope that Australia would beat the West Indies in 1992. David Boon’s century saw that they did and meant the West Indies didn’t score the required points to reach the semi-finals and knock Pakistan out of the tournament.

In both tournaments, Pakistan were the lowest points-scoring qualifier, having won their final three group-stage games. The 2022 semi-final against New Zealand at the SCG was also a repeat fixture, although in 1992 it took place in New Zealand at Eden Park, with the tournament being split across two countries. New Zealand had also lost just one game in the run-up to the tournament in 1992. Babar and Mohammad Rizwan echoed Inzamam Ul Haq and Javed Miandad in their 2022 semi-final destruction, both fixtures won with around an over to spare.

Australia’s failing title defence

Once again Australia entered the tournament as defending champions having won the title in the UAE in 2021. Once again they were knocked out before the semi-final on home soil. Allan Border’s side had beaten England at Eden Gardens in 1987 but lost out in the following edition. In another ridiculous coincidence, they also lost their first game against New Zealand in 1992, Martin Crowe and Devon Conway putting on masterclasses in each fixture. When they lost to South Africa and then England, their chances of qualification were effectively over, sealed with a third consecutive loss to Pakistan.

South Africa’s rain misfortune

After their reintroduction to international cricket, 1992 was South Africa’s first Cricket World Cup, the beginning of their still unfulfilled quest for a World Cup trophy. In their first match of the tournament in 2022, rain meant Quinton de Kock’s brutal innings was rendered pointless as the match was called off with South Africa 29 runs or two overs short of a certain victory.

A similar, although even more unjust scenario in 1992 dumped them out of the tournament in the semi-final. In the infamous incident against England, South Africa needed 22 off 13 to win just as the rain came. Upon resumption, they needed an incredulous 22 off one after a change to the rain rules for the tournament. That error was the defining reason for South Africa’s exit in 1992. In 2022 it was rather more in their own hands, their final match loss to the Netherlands the much more significant factor than rain against Zimbabwe.

Other weird but not as significant coincidences

Several other weird coincidences in both tournaments include it being nine years since India’s last victory in a major tournament, having won the Champions Trophy in 2013 and the 1983 World Cup, both times in England.

England again suffered a hiccough in the group stage in 1992 by losing to a smaller cricketing nation. Ireland and Zimbabwe share the honours, with the latter bowling England out for just 125 30 years ago.

Finally, rain caused consistent problems across both tournaments. Seven games have so far been affected seven games in 2022, with four no-results. Nine results were impacted in 1992, with two washouts and targets reduced on seven occasions. With the possibility of rain at the MCG on Sunday and ten overs for both sides needed for a result, the parallels between the two tournaments are scarily ridiculous. Will the result be the same?

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