Pool A : Pakistan, West Germany, Spain, Argentina, Poland, New Zealand
Pool B : Netherlands, Australia, India, England, USSR, Malaysia

India's Match Results :

• The World Cup had come to India finally. The teams stayed at five star hotels in South Mumbai along the Queens Necklace (Marine Drive), practised on the lush green Bombay Gymkhana grounds and played in the Wankhede Stadium adjacent to the Bombay Hockey Association. To accomodate the huge crowds, the matches had to be held in a cricket stadium. This would be the largest crowds for the World Cup, till Lahore easily shattered the record in the 1990 World Cup finals.
  
  
• The 1982 World Cup in Mumbai was the last to be played on grass. This was also the first tournament where the experimental rules (hit in, pass back, no bully-off, no long corner, no sticks) became mandatory.
  
  
• The home team opened their campaign in style, beating Malaysia 6-2. Holland humbled India 4-3, despite India having taken a two goal lead. The home crowd jeered at the Indian team for being complacent after taking a two goal lead. The Indian team came out of their shells to thrash USSR 7-2 and England 4-2 to remain in contention.
  
  
• A good crowd turned out to see the crucial pool match between India and Australia. A draw would have been sufficient to put India through to the semi-finals. India took the lead in the 37th minute through Ravinder Pal Singh. The Australians then fought back through goals by Craig Davies (penalty corner) and Peter Haselhurst to put them in the lead. The last flicker of hope died for India when Rajinder Singh's penalty corner conversion for India was disallowed in the dying moments of the game. In an all too familiar story, India lost to Australia 1-2 to get eliminated from the World Cup.
  
  
• It again fell upon Pakistan to stand up to the European challenge. Four years back, in Buenos Aires, Pakistan had defeated Germany in the semi-finals and Holland in the final to win the World Cup. The Pakistanis turned in another virtuoso performance in Mumbai, defeating Holland 4-2 in the semi-finals and defeating Germany 3-1 in the final to win their third World Cup. Pakistan would go on to win the 1982 Asian Games hockey gold, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics gold to achieve the Classic Triple of Hockey yet again - regional, World and Olympic champions.
  
  
• Pakistan won all seven of their matches by margins of at least by two goals, and averaged over 5 goals per match. They set a new World Cup record, beating New Zealand 12-3. This was the second consecutive World Cup that the Pakistani team emerged undefeated in the tournament. By simultaneously holding the Junior World Cup and Senior World Cup hockey titles, Pakistan hockey was at its pinnacle.
  
  
• The gap between Pakistan and India had become very wide by now. In the games that mattered, India lost 3-4 to Holland and 1-2 to Australia. In contrast, Pakistan beat Germany 5-3, (pool match), Australia 4-2 (semi-finals) and Germany 3-1 (final). Having overcome both the European and Australian challenges, Pakistan was the undisputed champion of the hockey world.
  
  
• This remains the only instance of a country winning back to back World Cup titles. Pakistan won in 1978 (Buenos Aires), and successfully defended their title in Mumbai (1982).
  
  
• India was left to fight for the crumbs in the classification matches. India beat New Zealand 3-2 and USSR 5-1 to end up 5th in the World Cup. The only small consolation was the fact that Rajinder Singh emerged the top-scorer of the World Cup, with twelve goals.
  
  
• In 1982, two important hockey events were held in India - the World Cup and the Asian Games. Pakistan emerged triumphant on both occasions on Indian soil. To this day, Pakistan has a better record than India on Indian soil in Indo-Pak encounters, whether it is the World Cup or the Asia Cup, Champions Trophy or the Indo-Pak series.

Final Standings :

Indian Team :

Surjeet Singh (captain), Mir Ranjan Negi, Ashok Dewan, Rajinder Singh, Vineet Kumar, M. M. Somayya, Ravinder Pal Singh, Onkar Singh, Gurmail Singh, Maharaj Kumar Kaushik, Merwyn Fernandes, Narinder Singh Sodhi, Mohammad Shaheed, Syed Ali, Zafar Iqbal, Charanjeet Kumar

Coach: Harmeek Singh; Manager: Jhamanlal Sharma