New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) India lost all but one match in the maiden edition of the World Cup while opener Sunil Gavaskar's extremely slow unbeaten 36 against England in the opening match remains the talking point till date.

India, which lost two and won one match and failed to qualify for the semi-finals, lost the encounter to England by 202 runs at Lord's, London, June 7.

A fine 137 by Dennis Amiss helped England post a mammoth 334 for four wickets in 60 overs. It was also the highest total ever achieved in the shorter version of the game at the time. To rub salt into India's wounds, fast bowler Chris Old helped himself to an unbeaten 51 off a mere 30 balls.

It was an impossible task for India and they surrendered without a fight. Gavaskar allegedly "refused" to chase the England total and carried his bat through the innings as India managed just 132 for three wickets in 60 overs.

Describing that innings in the now-defunct The Cricketer International magazine, former England captain Tony Lewis wrote: "Team manager G.S. Ramchand made a press statement afterwards that Gavaskar had considered the England score unobtainable and had taken practice.

"Whatever the motives were, he had no right to force them on the sponsors who have put 100,000 pounds into cricket this summer, or on the 16,274 spectators who paid 19,000 pounds to watch."

SCOREBOARD

India vs. England, Match No. 1, World Cup, Lord's, London, June 7, 1975

England:

John Jameson c Venkataraghavan b Amarnath 21
Dennis Amiss b Lal 137
Keith Fletcher b Ali 68
Tony Greig lbw Ali
Mike Denness not out 37
Chris Old not out 51
Extras: (lb 12, w 2, nb 2) 16
Total: (for 4 wickets in 60 overs) 334

Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Jameson), 2-230 (Fletcher), 3-237 (Greig), 4-245 (Amiss)

Bowling:

Madan Lal 12-1-64-1
Mohinder Amarnath 12-2-60-1
Abid Ali 12-0-58-2
Karsan Ghavri 11-1-83-0
Srinivasraghavan Venkataraghavan 12-0-41-0
Eknath Solkar 1-0-12-0

India:
Sunil Gavaskar not out 36
Eknath Solkar c Lever b Arnold 8
Anshuman Gaekwad c Knott b Lever 22
Gundappa Viswanath c Fletcher b Old 37
Brijesh Patel not out 16
Extras: (lb 3, w 1, nb 9) 13
Total: (for three wickets in 60 overs) 132

Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Solkar), 2-50 (Gaekwad), 3-108 (Viswanath)

Bowling:
John Snow 12-2-24-0
Geoff Arnold 10-2-20-1
Chris Old 12-4-26-1
Tony Greig 9-1-26-0
Barry Wood 5-2-4-0
Peter Lever 10-0-16-1
John Jameson 2-1-3-0

Result: England won by 202 runs
Man of the Match: Dennis Amiss (England)
Umpires: D.J. Constant and J.G. Langridge (both England)