Led by Mohammad Azharuddin, India won a nerve-wracking semi-final before beating the West Indies in the final to lift the Hero Cup. Winning the toss, India scored 225 for 7 in the stipulated 50 overs before skittling out the Caribbeans for 123, thanks to some fine bowling performance by Man of the Match Anil Kumble, who took 6 for 12.

1964 (Rabindra Sarobar Stadium): Milkha Singh defeated for the first time

`FLYING SIKH' Milkha Singh went down for the first time in the National Games. Milkha, the most high-profile Indian athlete since 1958, was dominating domestic competitions over seven years. He specialised in the 200-metre and the 400-metre races with the latter being his favourite and had a cabinet full of Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medals when he came here for the 1964 National Games. But, in the finals of the 400 metres, he met his match in Makkhan Singh of Services who beat him to second place. Milkha had lost for the first time on Indian soil.

1966 (South Club): Brazil bettered in Davis Cup Inter-Zone Final

IT WAS IN THE December cold of 1966 that India met Brazil in the Inter-Zone Final of Davis Cup and the action was hot. It was a crucial match for India since they had never reached the Challenge Round before. The pendulum swung from the very first day with Brazil's No.1, Thomas Koch, beating Jaidip Mukerjea in straight sets before Indian mastero Ramanathan Krishnan evened things with a victory over Edson Mandarino. In the crucial doubles the next day, Krishnan and Mukerjea put it across Koch and Mandarino in a gruelling five-setter. Mandarino levelled the tie at 2-2 the next morning when he tamed Mukerjea and it had all came down to the final rubber. When play ended prematurely on the third day due to poor light, Koch was leading Krishnan by two sets to one. The Brazilian continued the good work the next day and was soon leading 5-1, 30-15 in the fourth set. But, with just two points away from elimination, Krishnan turned around and played some of the finest tennis of his career. With superb backhand passing shots and stop volleys, he not only won five games in a row to win the set but went on to win the next set as well. The final scoreline read 3-6, 6-4, 10-12, 7-5, 6-2. India were through!

1970 (Eden Gardens): East Bengal shocks Pas Club in the IFA Shield final

EAST BENGAL 11, Pas Club (Iran) 0! The magical scoreline was celebrated by a packed Eden Gardens delirious with joy; it did not just bring the coveted IFA Shild to the red-and-gold cupboard but had also ensure the first triumph of an Indian club over a foreign side. It was a hard-fought match dominated by red-and-gold defenders Sudhir Karmakar, Nayeem, Santo Mitra and goalkeeper P. Thangaraj. Karmakar, in particular, had an outstanding match as he completely bottled up Iran international Asghar Sarafi. The Iranians did get the ball into the East Bengal net once but the goal was disallowed for a foul. The winning goal was scored by Parimal Dey and it came 20 seconds before the final whistle when the crowd was already resigned to a replay. Kajal Mukherjee found Swapan Sengupta, who ran down the right flank and sent in a cross that Dey, who had come in as substitute for Habib only a couple of minutes, kicked home.

1974 (Eden Gardens): Pataudi and Chandra script sensational victory over Lloyd's West Indies

WEST INDIES, chasing 310 for victory in the Eden Gardens Test, were cruising when Indian skipper `Tiger' Pataudi lobbed the ball again to B.S. Chandrasekhar much to the displeasure of the packed terraces. But then the drama unfolded! Electing to bat, India had managed just 233 but did well to restrict the Caribbeans to 240, built around a 100 from opener Roy Federicks. Gundappa Viswanath then produced a fantastic 139 as the hosts scored 316. West Indies was going great guns with Lloyd and Alvin Kallicharan on the fifth morning before `Chandra' butted in and Bishan Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna joined the party. Quite incredulously, India had won by a comfortable 85 runs!

1981 (Mohun Bagan ground): India tames Pakistan in the second Test

INSPIRED BY Merwyn Fernandes and Mohammad Shahid, India put in a fine performance to overcome Pakistan 4- 3 before packed stands. Shahid, Rajinder Singh and Gurmail Singh (2) scored for India and Manzoor Sr (2) and Akhtar Rasool got the goals for the visitors. Manzoor Jr was adjudged Man of the Match.

No Taking Sides

February 1975 (Netaji Indoor Stadium)

A World Championship at our doorsteps

   ABRAND new indoor stadium, striking both in its size and modern facilities, came up next to the Eden Gardens. There was a championship to match it of course. The 33rd World Table Tennis Championships created a tremendous stir in the city, what with the world's best players on view. For a fortnight, crowds thronged to the magnificent amphitheatre and `chops' and `top-spins' made their way to addas. Although China swept the team events by winning both the Swaythling Cup and Corbillon Cup, Istvan Joyner of Hungary made the men's singles title his own by beating Stellan Bengston of Sweden in the final while the ladies crown went to South Korea.