New Delhi, April 27 -- It was 50 years ago that India won-some argue-its most valuable hockey trophy, in the Kuala Lumpur World Cup. That underappreciated title-overshadowed by the more glamorous Olympic Games, and weakened by the diminishing importance of the sport itself-recently got a little bit of the limelight through a book.

On 15 March 1975, India beat Pakistan in the final at KL for its first and last World Cup trophy. It was the last time the two teams met in the final of a major tournament, the last time India reached the semi-final of this marque event. It was India's penultimate appearance in the final of a global competition (the 1980 Moscow Olympics being the last). As India's prowess as a hockey power declined following th...