Pool A : Australia, Netherlands, USSR, India, Argentina, France
Pool B : West Germany, Pakistan, England, Spain, Canada, Ireland

India's Match Results :

• For the first time ever, India had to qualify for the World Cup. Eight time Olympic champions India had to go through a qualifying tournament in New Jersey, in the Inter-Continental Cup in 1989, where they emerged among the top 4 to qualify for the 1990 World Cup.
  
  
• Indian coach M. P. Ganesh said before the World Cup, "My  team can beat the best in the world, and we are fully prepared for the World Cup." It proved a hollow, baseless and ridiculous claim. In a repeat of the 1986 World Cup, India had yet another disastrous World Cup. At least in London in 1986, India won one game out of 5 in its pool matches. In Lahore, India did not win a single match in its pool.
  
  
• India started with a 1-1 draw with USSR, and then lost to Argentina 3-5 after leading 2-0. In their next match, France added salt to India's wound, upsetting India 2-1. Christian Viala's goal in the 66th minute won the game for France thus sending India out of the World Cup. India improved slightly when they went down fighting to Holland 3-5 in their next match. Jagbir Singh, Balwinder Singh and Dhanraj Pillai scored 3 goals in a span of 4 minutes in this losing effort. India completed their league engagements, losing yet again, this time to Australia 2-3.
  
  
• In the classification matches, India ended up 10th. Captain Pargat Singh's solo effort against Canada ensured that India would not finish 12th as in the previous World Cup. India ended up winning just one match in this entire tournament.
  
  
• While India was losing match after match, Pakistan and Holland marched relentlessly to the finals. Pakistan disposed off Australia 2-1 in one semi-final, while Holland beat Germany 3-2 in extra-time to advance to the finals. In the 1990 World Cup finals, watched by a record crowd of 60,000 fans, Holland beat Pakistan 3-1 helped by 2 goals by the Dutch penalty corner supremo Floris Jan-Bovelander. This was Holland's second world title, after their victory in Amsterdam in 1973.
  
  
• Pakistan had to be content with Shahbaaz Ahmed getting the 'Player of the Tournament.' Penalty corner specialist Igancio Escude of Spain, who scored a hat-trick against England, was the top goal scorer with 10 goals in the tournament
  
  
• How far had the World Cup progressed by 1990? When Floris Jan-Bovelander scored the first goal of his hat-trick against USSR, it was the 1000th goal of the World Cup competition. Bovelander would be the key player in Holland's road to the title. He was the latest in the long line of world-class penalty corner specialists that Holland has produced over the years.

Final Standings :

Indian Team :

Pargat Singh (captain), Ashish Ballal, Mark Patterson, Ashok Kumar, B. K. Subramani, Vivek Singh, Sujeet Kumar, Ajit Lakra, Hardeep Singh, R. P. Singh, Jude Felix, Jagbir Singh, Balwinder Singh, Thoiba Singh, Edgar Mascarenhas, Dhanraj Pillai

Coaches : M. P. Ganesh, M. K. Kaushik; Manager: Kumresh Sen