Allan Border’s Australia finished their group stage assignments with five wins from six outings and looked favourites to end up as the table toppers. India still had one game to go against New Zealand and with four wins and one loss, the hosts needed a big win to better Australia in the net run-rate and clinch the group winners’ slot. Match Scorecard India were desperate to make it happen for finishing second in the group, it would mean they would have to face arch-rivals Pakistan in Lahore in the semi-final and understandably, Indians wanted to avoid it and eyed a semi-final at home. When Kapil Dev played the innings of his life It was October 31 and the final group-stage game of the tournament. New Zealand were already out of the contention and playing for pride. Their captain Jeff Crowe won the toss in the Group A game and elected to bat. The Kiwis had a good start but their middle-order could not keep up the momentum and from 84 for one, they slipped to 182 for 5. CWC 1987 – Chetan Sharma took the first ever World Cup hattrick in India’s match v New Zealand #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/2ZEPbUYo1N — ICC…