India at the Cricket World Cup
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India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
is one of the full members of the
International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...
(ICC), the governing body of cricket. The Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial event hosted by the ICC in the ODI format since 1975. There have been thirteen editions of the tournmanet and India has participated in every edition. India have won it twice in
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and 2011 while also finishing as runners-up in 2003 and
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.


Overall record

''Red box indicates that the tournament was hosted or co-hosted by India''


By opponent


India at the 1975 World Cup

;Squad * Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan () *
Bishen Singh Bedi Bishan Singh Bedi (; born 25 September 1946) is a former Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a tota ...
*
Anshuman Gaekwad Anshuman Dattajirao Gaekwad (born 23 September 1952) is a former Indian cricketer and two-time Indian national cricket coach. He played in 40 Test matches and 15 One Day Internationals. His father Datta Gaekwad also played Test Cricket for I ...
*
Brijesh Patel Brijesh Patel (born 24 November 1952) is the incumbent chairman of Indian Premier League and former cricketer who played for the Indian national cricket team as a right-handed batsman from 1974 until 1979. Biography Patel grew up in Ba ...
*
Eknath Solkar Eknath Dhondu 'Ekky' Solkar (18 March 1948 – 26 June 2005) was an Indian all-round cricketer who played 27 Tests and seven One Day Internationals for his country. He was born in Bombay, and died of heart attack in the same city at the age o ...
*
Farokh Engineer Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 46 Test matches for India, played first-class cricket for Bombay in India from 1959 to 1975 and for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England from 1968 ...
() * Gundappa Vishwanath *
Karsan Ghavri Karsan Devjibhai Ghavri (born 28 February 1951) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 39 Test matches and 19 One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1981. He played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups. Ghavri started his career playing Ranji Tr ...
*
Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
*
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
*
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
*
Syed Abid Ali Syed Abid Ali (born 9 September 1941) is a former all-rounder Indian cricketer. He was a lower order batsman and a medium pace bowler. He played an important role in Indian cricket in the 1960s and 70s. Early life Abid Ali attended the St. ...
;Results ;Summary The 1975 Cricket World Cup was held in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in June 1975 and was the inaugural tournament. The format consisted of a group stage, in which each team played the other three teams in its group of four with India placed in Group B with
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and East Africa. The Indian team was led by
Srinivas Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ( (informally Venkat, born 21 April 1945) is an Indian former cricketer. He captained the Indian cricket team at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups, and later became an umpire on the elite International Cric ...
and was relatively inexperienced at ODI cricket, having played their first match only a year earlier during the tour of England in 1974. India's first match was against England at Lord's where India scored 132/3 in 60 overs while chasing a score of 334, losing by 202 runs. India won the next match against East Africa at
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
by ten wickets, while chasing a modest target of 121 runs with medium pacer
Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
taking three wickets and Gavaskar top-scoring with 65 from 86 balls. India's last match in the group stage was against New Zealand at Old Trafford in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. Batting first, India scored 230, with
Syed Abid Ali Syed Abid Ali (born 9 September 1941) is a former all-rounder Indian cricketer. He was a lower order batsman and a medium pace bowler. He played an important role in Indian cricket in the 1960s and 70s. Early life Abid Ali attended the St. ...
top scoring with 70 from 98 balls but however, New Zealand chased the target losing just six wickets with opener
Glenn Turner Glenn Maitland Turner (born 26 May 1947) played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's best and most prolific batsmen. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel. Early life Glenn Turner was born in Dun ...
scoring his second century of the tournament (114 not out from 177 balls). India finished third in the group and failed to qualify for the next round as only the top two teams progressed to the semifinals.


India at the 1979 World Cup

* NR means No result. The second edition of the Cricket World Cup was held in 1979 once again in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and with the same tournament format as in 1975. Like in 1975, India were not having much experience in playing ODI cricket and were still neglecting the limited-overs format of the game, so they were not considered favourites to win the Cup. Still, India were expected to put up a decent show as the team for the World Cup had world-class batsmen in
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
, Gundappa Vishwanath and
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
, two members of the
Indian spin quartet The Indian spin quartet is the collective name given to the Indian cricket spin bowlers of the 1960s and 1970s: Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a l ...
in captain Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan and
Bishen Singh Bedi Bishan Singh Bedi (; born 25 September 1946) is a former Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a tota ...
and decent
all rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
s in
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
and a rising talent in
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
, though regular
wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the batsman out and run out ...
Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India. Internationa ...
was surprisingly dropped. India were grouped along with the defending champions, the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, who were now the best team in international cricket,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and non-Test playing nation Sri Lanka in Group B in the Group stage. India opened their campaign with a massive loss against the West Indies at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
. The West Indian fast bowling attack led by
Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Dea ...
(4/33) and Andy Roberts (2/32) never allowed the Indian batsmen to settle down, and with only Vishwanath (75 from 134 balls, 7 fours) showing resistance, India were bowled all out for 190 in the 54th over. In reply, West Indian opener
Gordon Greenidge Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (born 1 May 1951) is a Barbadian, former first-class cricketer, who represented the West Indies in Test and One-day Cricket for 17 years. Greenidge is regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most destructive o ...
scored an unbeaten century as the Caribbeans effortlessly chased down the target with the loss of just a single wicket. India were knocked out of the tournament in their next match against New Zealand at Headingley in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
, which was another one-sided match. A combined effort from the New Zealand bowling attack saw India crash to 182 all out, with the only significant contribution coming from Gavaskar (55 from 144 balls, 5 fours). Kiwi opener Bruce Edgar then scored an unbeaten 84 in the chase as New Zealand won without any hassle. India played for pride in their last match of the tournament against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and were expected to win against the minnows. But they lost this match too. Chasing 239 to win, none of the Indian batsmen could manage even a half-century against the Sri Lankan bowling attack comprising Tony Opatha (3/31),
Stanley de Silva Deva Lokesh Stanley de Silva (17 November 1956 – 12 April 1980) was a Sri Lankan cricketer. A member of Sri Lanka's tour of England and Ireland in 1979, he played two One Day Internationals in the 1979 Cricket World Cup. Early career Stanle ...
(2/36) and
Somachandra de Silva Dandeniyage Somachandra de Silva also known as D. S. de Silva (born 11 June 1942) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played Test and One Day International cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the first ODI cap for Sri Lanka, second test cap ...
(3/29). India were bowled all-out for just 191, finishing their World Cup campaign winless and last in their group. It was a nightmarish campaign for India, with no wins and none of the players contributing. The fact that India as a team were not able to score even 200 runs in a single match, that only Vishwanath crossed three-figures in terms of the total number of individual runs scored (106) with only him and Gavaskar scoring a half-century each, and that only Amarnath, with 4 wickets, and Kapil, with 2 wickets, took wickets in all the 3 matches, showed how horrible and pathetic the Indian performance was in the World Cup. This dismal performance generated an uproar in India. The tournament marked the end of the road for the now struggling Indian spin quartet, with its two members in the World Cup side, Bedi and Venkataraghavan, bowling really poorly and not even taking a single wicket. Following the World Cup and the subsequent series against England, Bedi retired from international cricket, while Venkataraghavan was sacked as captain and also dropped from the team. None of the 4 members of the spin quartet ever played in a World Cup again. The Indian Squad that took part in the 1979 World Cup comprised * Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (captain) *
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
(vice-captain) *
Anshuman Gaekwad Anshuman Dattajirao Gaekwad (born 23 September 1952) is a former Indian cricketer and two-time Indian national cricket coach. He played in 40 Test matches and 15 One Day Internationals. His father Datta Gaekwad also played Test Cricket for I ...
* Bharath Reddy (reserve wicketkeeper) *
Bishen Singh Bedi Bishan Singh Bedi (; born 25 September 1946) is a former Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a tota ...
*
Brijesh Patel Brijesh Patel (born 24 November 1952) is the incumbent chairman of Indian Premier League and former cricketer who played for the Indian national cricket team as a right-handed batsman from 1974 until 1979. Biography Patel grew up in Ba ...
*
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
* Gundappa Vishwanath *
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
*
Karsan Ghavri Karsan Devjibhai Ghavri (born 28 February 1951) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 39 Test matches and 19 One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1981. He played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups. Ghavri started his career playing Ranji Tr ...
*
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
* Surinder Khanna (wicketkeeper) * Yashpal Sharma *India's record: 0−3 (Group B, 4th place) *West Indies's record: 4−0 and 1 washout (champions)


India at the 1983 World Cup in/h1>

* NR means No result. Going by India's past record in one-day internationals and in the World Cup, they were not expected to even progress beyond the Group stage of the 1983 Cricket World Cup which was yet again held in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, despite having the likes of
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
,
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
,
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
, Yashpal Sharma and
Sandeep Patil Sandeep Patil ( ; born 18 August 1956) is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who guided the underdogs to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting midd ...
in batting and a decent set of
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
s in captain
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
, who was now one of the best all-rounders in world cricket,
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
,
Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
,
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
and
Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is an Indian former international cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent List of presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He wa ...
. This time, the tournament format was slightly different from the previous editions. Teams were still divided among 2 groups of 4, but now each team in a group played each other twice. India were placed in Group B in the Group stage, which was considered to be the tougher of the 2 groups as it included 2 stronger opponents in the defending champions, the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, whose dominance in world cricket at the time was at its peak, and Australia. World Cup debutants
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
were also in the group. The fact that the West Indies and Australia were in India's group only worsened India's prospects of putting a decent showing this time around. India's first match in the tournament was against the West Indies at Old Trafford in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. The West Indians were expected to steamroll India, but India caused a massive upset, winning the game by 34 runs in a match spread over 2 days. Middle-order batsman Sharma withstood the West Indian pace attack to score a fine half-century (89 from 120 balls, 9 fours) as India scored 262/8. Then, a disciplined performance from the Indian bowlers led by all-rounders Binny (3/48) and Shastri (3/26) ensured that the West Indian batsmen could not settle down after their starts, as a result of which the West Indies were bowled all out for 228. India followed this victory with another win against Zimbabwe at Leicester. In a one-sided match, India, bowling first, restricted Zimbabwe to 155 with Madan Lal taking 3/27, following which a half-century by Patil (50 from 54 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) ensured that India chased down the paltry total easily. However, despite the good start, 2 consecutive defeats against Australia at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...
in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
and the West Indies at
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
followed, and with other results going Australia's and the West Indies' way, India were once again staring at another early exit from the World Cup.
Trevor Chappell Trevor Martin Chappell (born 12 October 1952) is a former Australian cricketer, a member of the South Australian Chappell family which excelled at cricket. He played 3 tests and 20 One Day Internationals for Australia. He won the Sheffield Shi ...
scored 110 to ensure that Australia scored a mammoth 320/9, with India dishing out a listless bowling performance. Only Kapil bowled well, taking a 5-wicket haul (5/43). Australian medium-pacer
Ken MacLeay Kenneth Hervey MacLeay (born 2 April 1959) is a former English-born Australian cricketer. He was an all-rounder who played 16 One Day Internationals for Australia between 1983 and 1987. MacLeay played in the 1983 Cricket World Cup in England ...
took 6/39 as India were bowled all out for just 158, losing by 162 runs, with none of the Indian batsmen contributing. Against the West Indies, India, chasing 283 to win, never really got going despite Amarnath's patient knock (80 from 139 balls). A combined effort from the West Indian pace attack saw India crash to 216 all out, losing by 66 runs. To add to India's woes, Vengsarkar was ruled out for the rest of the tournament after a
Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...
bouncer injured his jaw. To reach the semifinals now, India had to beat Zimbabwe and Australia by huge margins, a daunting prospect. Should India lose even one of the matches, they would be knocked out of the tournament. India began their match against Zimbabwe at
Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
on 18 June 1983 disastrously. The Zimbabwean bowling attack, led by Peter Rawson (3/47) and Kevin Curran (3/65), destroyed the Indian top order, reducing them to 17/5. A massive upset by the Zimbabweans and another early exit for India was now very much on the cards, until Kapil arrived. Kapil completely changed the course of the match with a breathtaking innings (175 not out from 138 balls, 16 fours, 6 sixes). With the support of the tailenders, he ransacked the Zimbabwean bowling as he played his most famous innings, which was also the highest individual score in ODI cricket at the time and the first ever ODI century scored by an Indian batsman. As a result of his astounding knock, India finished the innings at 266/8. Then, a good performance with the ball from Madan Lal (3/42) saw Zimbabwe being bowled all out for 235, despite Curran's 73, to set up a famous win. Unfortunately, this match was not telecasted live due to a strike by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...

staff on that day. But India's woes weren't over yet; they needed to beat Australia comprehensively to have any hope of reaching the semifinals. India's must-win match against the Aussies took place at
Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...
, two days after the famous victory against Zimbabwe. Despite
Rodney Hogg Rodney Malcolm Hogg (born 5 March 1951) is a former Victorian, South Australian and Australian cricketer. He was a fast bowler. Hogg played in 38 Test matches and 71 One Day Internationals between 1978 and 1985. In Tests he took 123 wickets ...
(3/40) and
Jeff Thomson Jeffrey Robert Thomson (born 16 August 1950) is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket; he bowled a delivery with a speed of 160.6 km/h against the West Indies in Perth ...
(3/51) taking 3 wickets each, a combined effort from the Indian batsmen saw India reach 247 all out. Australia, chasing 248 to win, were rocked by the innocuous but penetrative medium-pace of Madan Lal (4/20) and Binny (4/29) and crashed to 129 all out, losing the match by a whopping 118 runs. With another win under their belt, India finished second in their group and qualified for the semifinals for the first time ever in the Cricket World Cup. India's semifinal match was against hosts
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
at Manchester. Despite England being the favourites, India produced yet another upset. England won the toss and batted first. Despite an opening stand of 69, the English batsmen mistimed many balls and used the bat's edge frequently, as the restrictive Indian bowling led England to 213 all out. English opener
Graeme Fowler Graeme "Foxy" Fowler (born 20 April 1957) is an English former professional cricketer and cricket coach, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England, and later for Durham. He appeared in 21 Test matches and 26 One Day Internationa ...
top scored with 33. Kapil Dev was the pick of the Indian bowlers (3/35), with Amarnath (2/27) and Binny (2/43) also being among the wickets. In reply, Sharma (61 from 115 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) and Sandeep Patil (51 not out from 32 balls, 8 fours) made half-centuries, with Amarnath (46 from 92 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) too contributing, as India reached their target comfortably, winning by 6 wickets in a classic victory over the hosts. Amarnath picked up the
Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
award for his all-round performance. This win brought India to the World Cup final for the very first time, which was to be played against the West Indies on 25 June 1983 at Lord's in London. A third consecutive tournament victory for the West Indies was widely predicted by most pundits and fans. In the final, India lost the toss and were made to bat first on a seaming wicket against the mighty West Indian pace attack. Only Srikkanth (38 from 57 balls, 7 fours and 1 six) and Amarnath (26 from 80 balls, 3 fours) put up any significant resistance as the West Indian fast bowling attack comprising Marshall (2/24), Andy Roberts (3/32), Joel Garner (1/24) and
Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Dea ...
(2/26) ripped through the Indian batting, ably supported by part-timer
Larry Gomes Hilary Angelo Gomes (born 13 July 1953) is a Trinidad and Tobago and West Indian former cricketer. Cricket career Gomes toured England with the West Indian youth team in 1970 and made his first-class debut as a left-handed batsman for Trinidad ...
(2/49). Only surprising resistance by the tail allowed India to reach 183 all out in the 55th over. It seemed to be all over for India, as the West Indies had a power-packed batting line-up comprising openers
Gordon Greenidge Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (born 1 May 1951) is a Barbadian, former first-class cricketer, who represented the West Indies in Test and One-day Cricket for 17 years. Greenidge is regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most destructive o ...
and
Desmond Haynes Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting and scored 7,487 runs in 116 Te ...
, followed by
Vivian Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...
and captain
Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team ...
which was capable of destroying any bowling attack and were widely expected to make mincemeat out of the "mediocre" Indian bowling attack. Despite the early loss of Greenidge, Haynes and Richards steadied the innings and the West Indies was soon cruising to another World Cup win at 57/2. At this stage, Kapil ran a great distance (18-20 yards) to take the wicket of Richards off Madan Lal's bowling. This proved to be the turning point of the match, as the Indian bowling then exploited the weather and pitch conditions perfectly to blow away the rest of the West Indian batting. Amarnath (3/12) and Madan Lal (3/31) took three wickets each, as the West Indies crashed to 140 all out in the 53rd over, setting up a famous tournament victory for India which was one of the biggest upsets not only in cricket, but in sport in general. India's win ended the title defence of the West Indies, who never reached the final of the Cricket World Cup again. Amarnath was awarded a second consecutive Man of the Match award for another all-round effort. Apart from the win, there were statistically many other achievements for India in the 1983 World Cup. Binny and Madan Lal, with 18 and 17 wickets respectively, were the tournament's top two bowlers. While Kapil, with 303 runs, was India's best batsman and one of the top 10 batsmen in terms of total individual runs, he also took the most catches in the tournament, with 7, and was India's only centurion. Kapil's 175 not out against Zimbabwe was the first ODI century scored by an Indian batsman and remained the highest individual score in ODI cricket until Vivian Richards broke that record the following year. It also remained the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in ODI cricket until
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
broke that record in 1999.
Wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the batsman out and run out ...
Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India. Internationa ...
, with 14 dismissals, finished just below West Indian wicketkeeper
Jeff Dujon Peter Jeffrey Leroy Dujon (born 28 May 1956) is a retired West Indian cricketer and current commentator. He was the wicket-keeper for the West Indies cricket team of the 1980s, an athletic presence behind the stumps as well as a competent mid ...
in the most dismissals taken by a wicketkeeper in the tournament. India's 1983 World Cup victory was a major turning point for Indian as well as world cricket. The win boosted the popularity of cricket in India, which was until then restricted to the urban areas. It also increased the popularity of one-day cricket in India as well as in general. India began to take ODI cricket seriously after the World Cup win and soon emerged as one of the best teams in ODI cricket. Indian corporates too started to take an interest in cricket and began to sponsor many international tournaments, marking the start of the rise of India as the leading financial power in cricket. The Indian Squad that won the 1983 World Cup comprised *
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
(captain) *
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
* Balwinder Singh Sandhu *
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
*
Kirti Azad Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad (; born 2 January 1959) is an Indian politician and former cricketer and who played seven Test matches and 25 One Day International for the India national cricket team between 1980 and 1986. Azad was born in Darb ...
*
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
*
Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
*
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
(vice captain) *
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
*
Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is an Indian former international cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent List of presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He wa ...
*
Sandeep Patil Sandeep Patil ( ; born 18 August 1956) is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who guided the underdogs to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting midd ...
* Sunil Valson *
Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India. Internationa ...
(wicketkeeper) * Yashpal Sharma (reserve wicketkeeper) *India's record: 6−2 (champions)


India at the 1987 World Cup

* NR means No result. The World Cup moved out of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
for the first time in 1987, with India and
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
co-hosting this edition of the World Cup. India were billed pre-tournament favourites and were widely expected to defend their title successfully in familiar conditions. India's team for the World Cup did not have some important members of the World Cup-winning squad of 1983, notably
Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...
,
Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India. Internationa ...
,
Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
, Yashpal Sharma and
Sandeep Patil Sandeep Patil ( ; born 18 August 1956) is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who guided the underdogs to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting midd ...
, but
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
once again led the side, which included world-class batsmen in veteran
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
, who was to retire from all forms of cricket after the tournament,
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
,
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
,
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
,
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
and Kapil. The bowling too was decent enough, with Kapil leading the attack, supported by Shastri, Maninder Singh,
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
,
Chetan Sharma Chetan Sharma (born 3 January 1966) is a former Indian cricketer and politician who played Tests and ODIs as a fast bowler for Indian cricket team. On 24 December 2020, he was elected as Chairman of the selection committee of Indian cricket tea ...
and
Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is an Indian former international cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent List of presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He wa ...
. The 1983 World Cup format was again used for the tournament, but the matches were reduced to 50-overs-a-side, keeping in mind the shorter days in the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. In the Group stage, India were placed alongside Australia,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and then- associates
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
in Group A, which was considered to be the easier of the 2 groups. Future cricketers - famous cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
along with fellow cricketer
Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...
served as ball-boys in the tournament. India played the very first match of the tournament against Australia at Madras, which was arguably the most eventful match of the tournament. Australia won the match by just 1 run, after piling up 270/6 in their first innings, helped by opener
Geoff Marsh Geoffrey Robert Marsh (born 31 December 1958) is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman. As the coach of Australia he was in charge w ...
's 110. India began their innings brightly and were cruising to an easy victory at 207/2, thanks to half-centuries from Srikkanth (70 from 83 balls, 7 fours) and debutant
Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
(73 from 79 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes), until Sidhu fell. This was followed by a spectacular middle-order collapse that made India lose their last 8 wickets for just 62 runs. India were all out for 269 with one ball remaining in the match, which was a heartbreaking loss for the defending champions. Their next match against New Zealand at
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
was also dramatic, with Sidhu (75 from 71 balls, 4 fours and 4 sixes) once again rescuing India after India had fallen to 21/3, and along with Kapil (72 not out from 58 balls, 4 fours and 1 six), destroyed the New Zealand bowling attack to take India to 252/7. India eventually pulled off a 16-run victory thanks to some economical bowling from Shastri (2/45) and part-timer Azharuddin (1/11), India thus registering its first win in the tournament. India dominated the rest of the Group stage with 2 one-sided victories against Zimbabwe at
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
and Ahmedabad, followed by wins against Australia and New Zealand at
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
and
Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...
respectively. India dished out a clinical performance against the Aussies, with 4 Indian batsmen: Gavaskar (61 from 72 balls, 7 fours), Sidhu (51 from 70 balls, 2 fours), Vengsarkar (63 from 60 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes) and Azharuddin (54 not out from 45 balls, 5 fours and 1 six): scoring half-centuries as India posted an imposing 289/6. Maninder (3/34) and Azharuddin (3/19) then contributed with the ball as Australia crashed to 233 all out in the 49th over. India's last match in the Group stage against New Zealand was noted as the match in which Gavaskar scored his first and only ODI century (103 not out from 88 balls, 10 fours and 3 sixes). Supported by Srikkanth (75 from 58 balls, 9 fours and 3 sixes), Gavaskar toyed with the New Zealand bowling attack with an attacking innings uncharacteristic of his typical dour and rock-like approach as India chased down New Zealand's modest score of 221/9 with the loss of only Srikkanth's wicket and 18 overs to spare. Gavaskar and Srikkanth added 136 runs for the 2nd wicket. Also notable in this match was Chetan Sharma's
hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
, the first ever both by an Indian bowler and in the World Cup. His hat-trick involved the wickets of Ken Rutherford, wicketkeeper
Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1 ...
and tailender
Ewen Chatfield Ewen John Chatfield (born 3 July 1950) is a former New Zealand cricketer. A medium-pace bowler, though Chatfield played 43 Tests and 114 One Day Internationals for his country, he is also remembered for having been hit in the head by a ball w ...
. Sharma finished with figures of 3/51. With 5 wins and 1 loss from 6 matches, India topped their group and qualified for the semifinals, where they were to play
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
at Bombay. The semifinal, which took place on 5 November 1987, saw India winning the toss and choosing to field first. England dominated the match from the start, with opener
Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, h ...
scoring an impressive 115 and ably supported by captain
Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...
, who contributed with 56, the duo sharing a partnership of 117 for the 3rd wicket. England posted a strong score of 254/6, with only Maninder (3/54) and Kapil (2/38) bowling well for India. India faltered in the chase, with only Azharuddin (64 from 74 balls, 7 fours) making any significant contribution for India. The Indian batsmen completely faltered against
off-spinner Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which sp ...
Eddie Hemmings (4/52) and
fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...
Neil Foster Neil Alan Foster (born 6 May 1962) is an English former professional cricketer, who played 29 Test matches and 48 One Day Internationals for England from 1983 to 1993. Domestically Foster played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1980 to 1993, ...
(3/47) as India were bowled all out for 219 in the 46th over. It was a heartbreaking loss for India, ending their title defence. This was Gavaskar's last ever cricket match. Though India were unable to defend their title successfully, there were a lot of positives for India. Firstly, Gavaskar, in his final tournament, scored 300 runs, the highest for India, and was one of the top ten batsmen in terms of runs scored and the only centurion for India. Secondly, the partnership of 136 between Gavaskar and Srikkanth against New Zealand at Nagpur was the highest partnership for any wicket in the tournament. Thirdly, left-arm spinner Maninder Singh was the best bowler for India with 14 wickets and was the best spinner of the tournament, coming at 4th place among the tournament's highest wicket takers, with only fast bowlers
Craig McDermott Craig John McDermott (born 14 April 1965) is a former Australian cricketer. Between 1984 and 1996 he played 71 Tests for Australia, taking 291 wickets. Following the end of his playing career, he was the bowling coach for the Australian team fo ...
,
Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
and Patrick Patterson above him. Finally,
wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the batsman out and run out ...
Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...
, with 11 dismissals, effected the most dismissals in the tournament, while Kapil, with 6 catches, took the most catches. The Indian Squad that made the semifinals of the 1987 World Cup comprised *
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
(captain) *
Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Ind ...
(vice-captain) *
Chandrakant Pandit Chandrakant Sitaram Pandit (born 30 September 1961) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. He was a Wicket Keeper Batsman for Indian national cricket team. He made his test debut against E ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Chetan Sharma Chetan Sharma (born 3 January 1966) is a former Indian cricketer and politician who played Tests and ODIs as a fast bowler for Indian cricket team. On 24 December 2020, he was elected as Chairman of the selection committee of Indian cricket tea ...
*
Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
*
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (born 31 December 1965), popularly known as "''Siva''" and LS, is a former Indian cricketer and current cricket commentator. During his playing career, he was a right arm leg-spinner. Sivaramakrishnan began his comment ...
* Maninder Singh *
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
*
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
*
Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
*
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
*
Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is an Indian former international cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent List of presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, president of Board of Control for Cricket in India. He wa ...
*
Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...
*India's record: 5−2 (semifinalists) *Australia's record: 7−1 (champions)


India at the 1992 World Cup

* NR means No result. India were not expected to perform well in the 1992 World Cup co-hosted by Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, despite playing a Test series (and also the World Series Cup involving both Australia and the West Indies) in Australia just prior to the World Cup. The Indian team for the World Cup had a good batting line up consisting of captain
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
, destructive opener
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
,
all rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
s
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
and
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
, Sanjay Manjrekar and a rising talent in
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
. The bowling wasn't too strong though. Kapil led the bowling line up, which also included Shastri,
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
and
Venkatapathy Raju Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...
. A new format was introduced for the 1992 World Cup, with the group format being scrapped in favour of a round-robin format, where each team would play all the other 8 teams in the tournament once, with the top 4 teams at the end of the Round-Robin stage progressing to the semifinals. It was also the first Cricket World Cup played with coloured jerseys and which had day-night matches. India's first match in the tournament was against
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
at
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
. Chasing 237, India never really got going despite a 63-run opening stand shared by Shastri (57 from 112 balls, 2 fours) and Srikkanth (39 from 50 balls, 7 fours) and a good knock from Tendulkar (35 from 44 balls, 5 fours). India crashed to 227 all out, losing by nine runs, with Dermot Reeve (3/38) taking the most wickets for England. Three of India's batsmen: Shastri,
Pravin Amre Pravin Kalyan Amre (; born 14 August 1968) is an Indian cricketer who represented the Indian cricket team between 1991 and 1999. He played 11 Test matches and 37 One Day Internationals (ODIs). Domestic career At the domestic level, Amre played ...
and
Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...
: were run out. Shastri's slow innings was particularly criticised and was considered as a reason for India's loss. India's next match against Sri Lanka at
Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...
was abandoned due to rain after just 2 balls and a run scored by Srikkanth, giving India its first points in the tournament. India then played co-hosts and defending champions Australia at
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
. The match was a thriller. Australia scored 237/9 in its 50 overs, with Dean Jones scoring 90. Kapil and Prabhakar were the pick of the bowlers with identical figures of 3/41. Due to rain, India's target was revised to 235 and the overs reduced to 47. Azharuddin led India's reply with a near-century (93 from 102 balls, 10 fours), but the rest of India's batsmen were unable to cross 50 and with Prabhakar (1 from 1 ball) and Raju (0 from 1 ball) run out in successive balls, India crashed to 234 all out in the second-last ball of the innings, ensuring that Australia scraped to victory by 1 run. India's next match was against arch-rivals
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
at Sydney. It was the first time ever in the history of the Cricket World Cup that India and Pakistan played each other and therefore, the match was highly anticipated. India won the toss and batted first, posting a modest 216/7 in a match reduced to 49 overs due to rain, with the top contributors being Tendulkar (54 not out from 62 balls, 3 fours) and rookie opener
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
(46 from 77 balls, 2 fours). Pakistan's
leg-spinner Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...
Mushtaq Ahmed was the pick of Pakistan's bowlers, taking 3/59, while fast bowler
Aaqib Javed Aaqib Javed (Urdu: ; born 5 August 1972) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. He was a right-handed fast-medium pace bowler with the ability to swing the ball both ways. He played 22 Tests and 163 One Day Internationals for P ...
was economical, taking 2/28 in his 8 overs. In Pakistan's reply, only opener Aamer Sohail, who scored 62, could cross 50 runs with Kapil (2/30), Prabhakar (2/22) and rookie
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
(2/37) taking 2 wickets each, as Pakistan crashed to 173 all out in the 49th over, losing by 43 runs, earning India its first win in the tournament, a famous victory which would begin an all-win record over the arch-rivals in subsequent Cricket World Cups (both 50-over and 20-over). The match also had its share of drama which is a regular feature in Indo-Pak cricket matches, with
Javed Miandad Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo desc ...
imitating Indian wicketkeeper
Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...
's appealing behind the stumps. Tendulkar won his first
Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
award in a World Cup for his allround performance (54* and 1/37, picking up the prized wicket of Aamer Sohail). However, India's time was running out and they had to play really well from then on to have any chance of reaching the semifinals. India then moved on to New Zealand for the second half of the tournament. Their first match in New Zealand was against minnows
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
at
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
. India won the rain-curtailed match as expected, with Tendulkar (81 from 77 balls, 8 fours and 1 six) playing an aggressive knock as India posted 203/7. Zimbabwe, chasing 159 in 19 overs after a rain delay, could only score 104/1 in the 19 overs, Tendulkar taking the lone wicket. Tendulkar received his second Man of the Match award in the Cricket World Cup for his contribution in the match. But now India needed to win their last three matches comprehensively and also depend on other results to reach the semifinals. India next played the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
at
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
. The West Indies were slowly declining at the time with the retirements of several key players, yet were still a dangerous opponent. India lost the match. Only Azharuddin (61 from 84 balls, 4 fours) showed any sort of resistance against the pace attack of
Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...
(2/24) and
Anderson Cummins Anderson Cleophas Cummins (born 7 May 1966) is an Barbadian former international cricketer who represented both the West Indies and Canada. He was primarily a fast-medium bowler. In English county cricket he had a two-year spell as an oversea ...
(4/33) as India were bowled all out for 197. The West Indies comfortably reached their target of 195 (with the score and number of overs being reduced by rain again) with 6 overs to spare. India crashed out of the tournament with this loss, with their last two matches against co-hosts
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
and World Cup debutants
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
back in Australia at
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
reduced to
dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...
s. India lost both the one-sided matches. Only Tendulkar (84 from 107 balls, 6 fours) and Azharuddin (55 from 98 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) made any significant contribution in India's score of 230/6, which New Zealand easily chased down. Against South Africa, in a match reduced to 30 overs due to rain, the only person who contributed for India was Azharuddin (79 from 77 balls, 6 fours). India scored 180/6, which South Africa chased down without much effort. With only 2 wins and 1 abandoned match, India finished 7th in the Round-Robin stage, just above Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. It was the first time since 1979 that India could not qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup. Ironically, Pakistan, one of the only 2 teams which India defeated, would go on to win the World Cup. There were not much positives India could take from the tournament. No Indian batsman was able to score a century and no Indian bowler could take more than 3 wickets in an innings. India's highest scorer in the tournament was Azharuddin, who scored 332 runs. Tendulkar followed with a total score of 283 runs. Among the bowlers, Prabhakar was the best for India, taking 12 wickets. The tournament marked the end of Srikkanth's international career, as he was dropped after the World Cup and retired from all forms of cricket the following year. The Indian Squad that took part in the 1992 World Cup comprised *
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
(captain) *
Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...
(vice-captain) *
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
*
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
*
Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...
*
Kiran More Kiran Shankar More (born 4 September 1962) is an Indian former cricketer and wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team from 1984 to 1993. He also took up the position Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI till Dilip Vengsarkar took ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...
*
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
*
Pravin Amre Pravin Kalyan Amre (; born 14 August 1968) is an Indian cricketer who represented the Indian cricket team between 1991 and 1999. He played 11 Test matches and 37 One Day Internationals (ODIs). Domestic career At the domestic level, Amre played ...
*
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
* Sanjay Manjrekar (reserve wicketkeeper) *
Subroto Banerjee Subroto Tara Banerjee (born 13 February 1969) is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test and 6 ODIs from 1991 to 1992. He is the current senior National cricket team selector. He was a member of the Indian cricket team that played in ...
*
Venkatapathy Raju Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...
*
Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...
*India's record: 2−5 and 1 abandoned match (Round-Robin, 7th place) *Pakistan's record: 6−3 and 1 abandoned match (champions)


India at the 1996 World Cup

* NR means No result. India were the co-hosts of the
1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World C ...
along with
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
and Sri Lanka and were expected to perform well at home. Their batting was their strongest point, with
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
, captain
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
,
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
,
Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
,
Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...
and Sanjay Manjrekar together forming the strongest batting line-up in the tournament. While the bowling was a bit suspect, the team had a decent set of bowlers who were good at home conditions in
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
,
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
,
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
and
Venkatapathy Raju Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...
. The group format was reintroduced for the tournament, with teams divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each, with the top 4 teams from each group entering the quarterfinals, where a team from one group in the Group stage would play a single match against a team which qualified from the other group. In the Group stage, India were placed in Group A with co-hosts Sri Lanka, Australia, the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
,
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and World Cup debutants
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
. India started their World cup campaign well by defeating Kenya at
Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literally ...
, first restricting them to 199/6 with Kumble taking 3/28 and then chasing it down easily to win by 7 wickets due to Tendulkar's century (127 not out from 138 balls, 15 fours, 1 six). India's next match against the West Indies at
Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
went much the same way: after bowling the West Indies side out for 173 with Kumble capturing 3/35 and Prabhakar 3/39, Tendulkar (70 runs, 91 balls, 8 fours) led the way to another victory. India then faced tournament favourites Australia at
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
, and the tourists batted first after winning the toss.
Mark Waugh Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debu ...
's 126 and Australian captain Mark Taylor's 59 set the foundation with a 103 run opening stand. Australia suffered five run-outs, four in the last ten overs whilst chasing quick runs, with medium-pacer
Venkatesh Prasad Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...
and Raju taking two wickets each. India's chase started poorly, with Jadeja and
Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...
dismissed by
Damien Fleming Damien William Fleming (born 24 April 1970) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for the Australian national cricket team and domestic cricket for Victoria. He played in 20 Tests and 88 ODIs from 1994 to 2001 and ...
with only seven runs scored. Tendulkar (90 from 84 balls, 14 fours, 1 six) counter-attacked ferociously, and India were well ahead of the required run rate at 143/3 when Tendulkar charged a wide from Mark Waugh and was stumped for 90. From there onward, the run chase began to falter, with only Manjrekar managing a half century (62 from 91 balls, 7 fours), resulting in a 16-run loss, dismissed for 242 in the 48th over. India next faced Sri Lanka at
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
. Tendulkar hit another run-a-ball century (137 from 137 balls, 8 fours, 5 sixes) and Azharuddin made 72 from 80 balls in a 175 run partnership as India compiled 271/3. However, the opening pair of
Romesh Kaluwitharana Deshabandu Romesh Shantha Kaluwitharana ( si, රොමේෂ් ශාන්ත කලුවිතාරණ; born 24 November 1969) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who represented the Sri Lanka national cricket team from 1990 to 2004. He was ...
and
Sanath Jayasuriya Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...
launched Sri Lanka to 42 after just three overs. Jayasuriya managed to score 79 from 77 balls, leaving the score at 4/141. With the run-rate under control, Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga (46 not out from 63 balls) and
Hashan Tillakaratne Deshabandu Hashan Prasantha Tillakaratne (born 14 July 1967) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former Test captain for Sri Lanka. He was a key member for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka. He is currently a politician and ...
(70 not out from 98 balls) made a 131 run partnership to steer them to a six wicket win with eight balls remaining. Kumble led the bowling with 2/39 whilst Prabhakar was punished for 47 runs in four overs. India ended the group stage with a win against Zimbabwe at Kanpur, who won the toss and sent the Indians in to bat. After slumping to 32/3, opener Sidhu (80 from 116 balls, 5 fours) and Kambli (106 from 110 balls, 11 fours) put on 142 runs before Jadeja finished off the innings with 44 not out from 27 balls, with India scoring 247/5. The Zimbabweans lost wickets at regular intervals and fell 40 runs short, with Raju taking 3/30 and Kumble, Srinath and Jadeja two each. With this win, India finished third in their group and qualified for the quarterfinals, setting up a match against arch-rivals and defending champions
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
at
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
. The match was widely anticipated and had a huge leadup. Pakistani captain
Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several crit ...
withdrew due to injury. India elected to bat after winning the toss, with Sidhu (93 from 115 balls, 11 fours) and Tendulkar (31 off 59 balls, 3 fours) reaching 90 before Tendulkar was dismissed by Pakistan fast bowler Ata-ur-Rehman. Although wickets fell regularly, with all Pakistani bowlers barring part-timer Salim Malik among the wickets, the Indians continued to score quickly, with Jadeja making a rapid 45 from 25 balls in the final overs, including 40 from
Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the great ...
' last two overs. India scored 287/8 in their 50 overs. Prasad and Kumble then took three wickets each to restrict Pakistan to 248/9, despite their strong start due to a quick 55 from Pakistan's stand-in-captain and opener Aamer Sohail, to complete a memorable victory and qualify for the semifinals, making it 2 wins in 2 World Cup matches against the arch-rivals. This resulted in widespread disappointment in Pakistan, leading to a government inquiry, crowd demonstrations outside players' homes and the suicide of one distraught fan. In the semifinals at the
Eden Gardens The Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 66,000. Eden Gardens is often re ...
in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
on 13 March 1996, India played Sri Lanka in a match which became notorious for the extremely poor crowd behaviour. India won the toss and chose to field first. Both the openers Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya were dismissed in Srinath's first over, uppercutting wide balls down to third man. Srinath then removed veteran Asanka Gurusinha to leave the score at 35/3. However half centuries from
Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva ( si, අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. de Silva helped Sri Lanka to win the ...
and
Roshan Mahanama Deshabandu Roshan Siriwardene Mahanama ( si, රොෂාන් මහානාම; born 31 May 1966) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former ICC match referee. He was a key member for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka. H ...
helped Sri Lanka reach a formidable total of 251/8. India made a solid start, with
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
(65 from 88 balls, 9 fours) scoring a half-century and taking India to 98/1. However, the pitch began to crumble and take more spin, and when Tendulkar was stumped, the remaining Indian batsmen were unable to cope with the four pronged spin-attack of Jayasuriya,
Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan ( si, මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන්, ta, முத்தையா முரளிதரன், also spelt Muralidaran; born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional ...
and part timers de Silva and Kumar Dharmasena, who altogether took 6 wickets as India lost 7 wickets for 22 runs to slump to 120/8 in the 35th over, with still 132 runs to win. At this point, sections of the crowd began setting fire to the stands and throwing missiles onto the field. Play was stopped as the crowd's anger began to develop into a dangerous riot. The umpires and match referee
Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team ...
decided to award the game to Sri Lanka because India had no chance of winning from their current position in the match even if the match were to resume, knocking them out of the World Cup. India's campaign was highlighted by the consistency of Tendulkar, who managed 50 plus scores in all but two matches. With 523 runs at an average of 87.16, Tendulkar was the leading run scorer in the tournament, with two of his six dismissals due to run outs rather than batting errors. His 137 against Sri Lanka was the 4th highest score in the tournament and his partnership of 175 with Azharuddin the 4th highest partnership in the tournament. No other Indian batsmen aggregated 250 runs. India were also bolstered by the performances of leg-spinner Kumble, who was the leading wicket taker in the tournament with 15 wickets at 18.73 apiece and also made the most catches (eight). Raju, Prasad and Srinath were tied in 10th spot with eight wickets each. Veteran all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar retired from international cricket in the middle of the tournament after being dropped for poor performance. The Indian Squad that made the semifinals of the 1996 World Cup comprised *
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
(captain) *
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
(vice-captain) *
Aashish Kapoor Aashish Rakesh Kapoor (; born 25 March 1971) is a former Indian cricketer who played in four Test matches and 17 One Day Internationals from 1994 to 2000. A right-arm off spinner and right-handed lower-order batsman, he was a member of the 19 ...
*
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
*
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
*
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
*
Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...
*
Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...
*
Nayan Mongia Nayan may refer to: * Nayanthara (born 1984), Indian actress * Nayan Desai (born 1946), Indian poet * Nayan Mongia (born 1969), Indian cricketer * Nayan Ghosh (born 1956), Indian musician * Nayan Doshi (born 1978), British cricketer * Nayan Shah, ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Salil Ankola Salil Ashok Ankola (; born 1 March 1968) is a former international cricketer who played one Test match and 20 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1989 to 1997 for India. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he played first-class cricket for Mumbai, r ...
* Sanjay Manjrekar (reserve wicketkeeper) *
Venkatapathy Raju Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...
*
Venkatesh Prasad Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...
*
Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...
*India's record: 4−3 (semifinalists) *Sri Lanka's record: 8−0 with 2 matches won by walkovers (champions)


India at the 1999 World Cup

* NR means No result. The 1999 Cricket World Cup in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
was one in which India were not expected to perform too well. Despite having the likes of
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
,
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
, Rahul Dravid,
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
and captain
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
in batting and
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
,
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
and
Venkatesh Prasad Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...
in bowling, they weren't having too much of a good run, losing to arch-rivals
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
in the finals of 2 consecutive triangular tournaments at home and at
Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...
. The format used for the tournament was slightly different from the 1996 format. Teams were divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each, with the top 3 teams in each group progressing to the Super Six stage, where a team belonging to one group in the Group stage would play once against all 3 teams belonging to the other group. India were placed in Group A in the Group stage along with hosts
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, defending champions Sri Lanka,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
,
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and minnows
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
. India began their campaign with a close loss to South Africa at
Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...
in the final overs of the match. Although South Africa won by 4 wickets, the match was not without drama as South Africa had to score had approximately a run a ball in the last 10 overs. The match featured a good performance from Ganguly (97 from 142 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) and Dravid (54 from 75 balls, 5 fours). None of the bowlers backed up the batting performance however, with Srinath the leading wicket-taker despite being very expensive, taking 2 wickets and conceding 69 runs. South Africa scored runs more quickly than India did, with
Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...
(96 from 128 balls) leading the way. India next played Zimbabwe at Leicester, without the services of Tendulkar, as the star batsman had returned to India due to his father's death. The match was a thriller, with India losing in the end by 3 runs. The tailenders embarrassed supporters as India, chasing 252, went from 246/7 to 249 all out with 3 overs left, with Zimbabwean fast bowler
Henry Olonga Henry Khaaba Olonga (born 3 July 1976) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket for Zimbabwe. In domestic first-class cricket in Zimbabwe, Olonga played for Matabeleland, Mashonaland and Manicalan ...
taking 3/22. India made up for their early losses with a very convincing win over Kenya at
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
by 94 runs four days later. India scored a massive 329/2 through centuries from Tendulkar (140 not out from 101 balls, 16 fours, 3 sixes), who had rejoined the team, and Dravid (104 not out from 109 balls, 10 fours). The pair scored 237 in 29 overs at a run rate of 8.17 before medium pacer
Debashish Mohanty Debasish (or Debasis) Sarbeswar Mohanty (born 20 July 1976) is a former Indian cricketer who played in two Test matches and 45 One Day Internationals between 1997 and 2001. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who coupled pace to his natural ...
wiped up the Kenyan batsmen with a 4-wicket haul (4/56). Tendulkar, declared Man of the Match, later dedicated his ton to his late father. India followed this victory with a record win against Sri Lanka at
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
by 157 runs. Ganguly (183 from 158 balls, 17 fours, 7 sixes) and Dravid (145 from 129 balls, 17 fours, 1 six) picked up two centuries at over a run a ball to get India to a mammoth total of 373/6, sharing a partnership of 318 runs in 44.9 overs. Sri Lanka were then rattled due to Robin Singh's 5/31, crashing to 216 all out. India then went on to seal a place in the Super Six stage with a win against hosts England at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
by 63 runs; in a match extended by a day due to rain, once again Ganguly (40 from 59 balls, 6 fours) and Dravid (53 from 82 balls, 6 fours) starred with the bat to score 232/8, while a strong team effort with the ball, led by Ganguly's 3/27, got England all out for just 169. Despite India finishing second in Group A, they began the Super Six stage with no points due to the controversial Byzantine points system which gave a team 2 points at the start of the Super Six stage for beating a team in the Group stage which had also qualified for the Super Six stage (India did not win against fellow qualifiers South Africa and Zimbabwe). India's first match in the Super Six stage was against Australia at
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, which they lost badly by 77 runs, with only Jadeja (100 not out from 138 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) and Robin Singh (75 from 94 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) putting up any resistance.
Mark Waugh Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debu ...
's 83 and Glenn McGrath's 3/34 took the match away from India. Due to this loss, India, in order to reach the semifinals, now not only had to beat Pakistan and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, they also had to depend on other results. India beat Pakistan in their next match at Old Trafford in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
by 47 runs, maintaining their all-win record over their arch-rivals in the World Cup. Dravid (61 from 89 balls, 4 fours) and Azharuddin (59 from 77 balls, 3 fours, 1 six), led the way as India posted a total of 227/6 in their 50 overs. Prasad then ripped through the Pakistani batting line-up, taking 5/27 as Pakistan were bowled all out for 180. The match was even more significant than usual as the two nations were at war with each other (see
1999 Kargil Conflict The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referred ...
). Unfortunately, despite the win against Pakistan, India were soon eliminated from the tournament due to other results and their handicap in terms of points in the Super Six stage. India's last match in the Super Six stage against New Zealand at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...
in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
was also the team's last match in the tournament. The match, reduced to a
dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...
since New Zealand had already qualified for the semifinals, was a thriller, with India losing in the end by 5 wickets as New Zealand achieved the target of 252 with just 8 balls to spare, despite a strong performance from Jadeja (76 from 103 balls, 6 fours, 2 six). Despite having a mediocre tournament, there were many plus-points for India. The tournament marked the start of the domination of the ''Big 3'' of Indian batting viz. Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly, all of whom showed remarkable consistency. Dravid, who until the start of the World Cup was criticised for not being good enough for one-day cricket, was involved in two mammoth partnerships and was the leading run-scorer of the entire tournament with 461 runs at an average of 65.85. The top 3 highest scores of the tournament were from Indians, which were Ganguly's 183, Dravid's 145 and Tendulkar's 140 not out. However, following the World Cup, Azharuddin, who had an indifferent tournament, was sacked as captain and was dropped from the team too. The Indian Squad that took part in the 1999 World Cup comprised *
Mohammed Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the mem ...
(captain) *
Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...
(vice-captain) *
Ajit Agarkar Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (born 4 December 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and a commentator. He has represented India in more than 200 international matches in all three formats of the game. He is the third highest wicket-taker for India i ...
*
Amay Khurasiya Amay Khurasiya (born 18 May 1972) is a former Indian cricketer. He played as a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm bowler. Career Khurasiya, a left-handed batsman, has the rare distinction of clearing the Civil Services Examination ...
*
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
*
Debashish Mohanty Debasish (or Debasis) Sarbeswar Mohanty (born 20 July 1976) is a former Indian cricketer who played in two Test matches and 45 One Day Internationals between 1997 and 2001. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who coupled pace to his natural ...
*
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
*
Nayan Mongia Nayan may refer to: * Nayanthara (born 1984), Indian actress * Nayan Desai (born 1946), Indian poet * Nayan Mongia (born 1969), Indian cricketer * Nayan Ghosh (born 1956), Indian musician * Nayan Doshi (born 1978), British cricketer * Nayan Shah, ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Nikhil Chopra Nikhil Chopra (born 19 August 1973) is a retired Indian cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two ba ...
* Rahul Dravid (reserve wicketkeeper) * Robin Singh *
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
*
Sadagoppan Ramesh Sadagoppan Ramesh (சடகோபன் ரமேஷ்) (born 13 October 1975) is a former Indian cricketer and actor who appeared in Tamil movies. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. In September 1999, he became t ...
*
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
*
Venkatesh Prasad Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad (; born 5 August 1969), is a former Indian cricketer, Cricket Coach , Commentator who played Tests and ODIs. He made his debut in 1994. Primarily a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Prasad was noted for his bowling ...
*India's record: 4−4 (Super Six, 6th place) *Australia's record: 7−2 and 1 tie (champions)


India at the 2003 World Cup

* NR means No result. Like in the previous World Cup, India began their 2003 Cricket World Cup campaign in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
and
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
on a string of poor performances, having just come off a disastrous tour of New Zealand. The 1999 World Cup format was retained for the tournament. The Indian team was somewhat stronger than the team representing them in the 1999 World Cup, but still contained the batting trio of
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
, Rahul Dravid and
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
and the pace-spin duo of
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
and
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
, now accompanied by rising talents
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
,
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
,
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
,
Mohammed Kaif Mohammad Kaif () (born 1 December 1980) is a former Indian cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the India national under-19 cricke ...
and
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
. In the Group stage, India were placed in Group A, accompanied by co-hosts
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
, defending champions Australia, arch-rivals
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and minnows
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
and
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, who were playing their first World Cup. India had a horrid beginning to the tournament. Their first match was against minnows Holland at
Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...
, who tumbled the Indian batsmen out for just 204 (all out, 48.5 overs, 206 minutes), with only Tendulkar (52 from 72 balls, 7 fours) putting up resistance, although veterans Srinath and Kumble reverted the damage with 4 wickets each and India ended up winning by 68 runs, the unconvincing victory setting the stage for immense criticism. India's next match was against Australia at Centurion. The Indian team, batting first, was steadily making progress at 41/1 when disaster struck. Sehwag's wicket triggered a middle order collapse that left India struggling at 50/5 having lost 4 wickets for 9 runs. Tendulkar and Harbhajan offered some resistance but the damage was done as India were out for 125 (all out, 41.4 overs, 176 minutes). Australia scored the target in 22.2 overs, only losing one wicket. The Indian team's mediocre performance in the first two matches triggered uproar in India. Player effigies were said to be burnt on streets and the
Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...
was under immense pressure to reshuffle the team at the end of the World Cup. This reaction at home may have triggered the Indian team's performance for the remainder of the World Cup. India then travelled to Zimbabwe to play their third match against the co-hosts at
Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
, lacking confidence. Tendulkar (81 from 91 balls, 10 fours) took India to 255 (7 wickets, 50 overs) and 3 wickets from Ganguly set the stage for a strong 83 run win by the Indians. This was followed by a 181 run thrashing handed out to minnows Namibia, back in South Africa at Pietermaritzburg. Tendulkar (152 from 151 balls, 18 fours) and Ganguly (112 from 119 balls, 6 fours, 4 sixes) both scored centuries, contributing to a second-wicket partnership of 244 runs in 39.5 overs to take India to 311 (2 wickets, 50 overs, 207 minutes). Namibia were then all out for 130 (all out, 42.3 overs, 163 minutes) thanks to 4 wickets from part-timer Yuvraj. The Man of the match was Tendulkar in both matches. India finished off their engagements in Group A with an 82 run victory over England at
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
and a 6 wicket victory over Pakistan at Centurion. Paceman
Ashish Nehra Ashish Nehra (; born 29 April 1979) is a cricket coach and former cricketer who played in all formats of the game. Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017, with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealan ...
achieved 6/23 against England to help India defend 250 as England were all out for 168. The Indian batting was bolstered by half-centuries from Dravid (62 from 72 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) and Tendulkar (50 from 52 balls, 8 fours and 1 six), and an attacking cameo from Yuvraj (42 from 38 balls, 4 fours and 1 six). The match against Pakistan, the most anticipated match of the tournament, lived up to its billing and was a thriller. It was (and still is) noted for being a match in which Tendulkar played one of his best-ever ODI innings. Chasing 274, Tendulkar (98 from 75 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) pulled off a near century, only to get out after suffering from cramps, to guide India to an unlikely victory, maintaining India's unbeaten record over Pakistan in World Cups. Tendulkar was once again awarded the Man of the Match. With 5 victories and 1 loss from 6 matches, India finished second in Group A and qualified for the Super Six stage. India were untroubled in the Super Six stage and continued their streak of strong performances with three wins out of three matches, earning them a berth in the semifinals. The wins were comfortable; beating
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
at
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
by 6 wickets through a century from Ganguly (107 from 120 balls, 11 fours, 2 sixes); beating Sri Lanka at
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
by 183 runs thanks to Tendulkar (97 from 120 balls, 7 fours and 1 six), Sehwag (66 from 76 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) and veteran Srinath's 4/35; and winning against
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at Centurion by 7 wickets, due to Zaheer's 4/42 which bundled out the Black Caps for 146, followed by patient knocks from Kaif (68 not out off 129 balls, 8 fours) and Dravid (53 not out off 89 balls, 7 fours) in the chase. In the semifinals, India played the surprise package of the tournament, Kenya, at Durban. The match was not dramatic. Tendulkar (83 from 101 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) and Ganguly (111 from 114 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) took India to 270/4 in their 50 overs, from where a combined bowling effort from India's bowlers got Kenya all out for 179. This brought India into the finals for the first time since 1983, where they faced a strong Australia, who had dominated the tournament from the start with an all-win record. The final, played on 23 March 2003 at the
Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium (Imperial Wanderers due to sponsorship reasons and affectionately known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere) is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South ...
in Johannesburg, saw Ganguly electing to field first after winning the toss, in the hope that his pacers would exploit a damp pitch. However, the plan backfired completely on India as the Australians dominated from the very start, with the openers
Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-ke ...
and Matthew Hayden sharing a partnership of 105 runs for the 1st wicket, which was achieved in only 14 overs. Australian captain Ricky Ponting and
Damien Martyn Damien Richard Martyn (born 21 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player from 1999 to 20 ...
then scored 140 not out and 88 not out respectively, taking Australia to an Australian record of 359/2, a record that would not be beaten until 2006. Chasing a mammoth 360 to win, India never stood a chance after Tendulkar (4 from 5 balls, 1 four) lost his wicket early. Sehwag (82 from 81 balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes) and Dravid (47 from 57 balls, 2 fours) then steadied the innings, sharing a partnership of 88 runs which brought India to a decent 147/3 in the 24th over. With India scoring at 5.96 runs an over, it seemed that they would end up creating a miracle by winning the match, but the remaining Indian batsmen struggled against the Aussie pace attack of Glenn McGrath and
Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. In each of his first two ...
and fell to cheap shots while trying to accelerate the scoring rate. India lost their last 7 wickets for only 87 runs and crashed to 234 all out in the 40th over, losing the match by 125 runs. Though they finished the tournament as the runner up, there were a huge amount of bright sides for India. Firstly, Tendulkar was awarded the ''Man of the Tournament'' award for being the leading run scorer with 673 runs. Ganguly ended up as the second leading run scorer in the tournament, but 208 runs behind Tendulkar. Tendulkar's 152 against Namibia was the second highest score of the tournament and he achieved an average of 61.18. Secondly, there were upsides in the bowling department as well with Zaheer 4th on the wicket takers list. Finally, India as a team had achieved a streak of 9 wins and 2 losses from 11 matches, with both losses coming against the tournament winners Australia. However, the 2003 World Cup was the last cricket tournament for Srinath, who retired eight months later due to injury-related issues. The Indian Squad that finished as the runner up of the 2003 World Cup comprised *
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
(captain) * Rahul Dravid (vice-captain and wicketkeeper) *
Ajit Agarkar Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (born 4 December 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and a commentator. He has represented India in more than 200 international matches in all three formats of the game. He is the third highest wicket-taker for India i ...
*
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
*
Ashish Nehra Ashish Nehra (; born 29 April 1979) is a cricket coach and former cricketer who played in all formats of the game. Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017, with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealan ...
*
Dinesh Mongia Dinesh Mongia (born 17 April 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and politician. Mongia has appeared in limited over internationals for India. Domestic career Mongia in domestic cricket career scored 8,100 runs at an average of just under 50 a ...
*
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
*
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
*
Mohammad Kaif Mohammad Kaif () (born 1 December 1980) is a former Indian cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He made it to the national team on the strength of his performances at the Under-19 level, where he captained the India national under-19 cricket ...
*
Parthiv Patel Parthiv Ajay Patel (born 9 March 1985) is a former Indian professional cricketer, wicketkeeper-batsman, and was a member of the Indian national cricket team. He is a left-handed batsman and played for Gujarat in domestic cricket. Having lost a f ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
* Sanjay Bangar *
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
*
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
*
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
*India's record: 9−2 (Runner up) *Australia's record: 11−0 (champions)


India at the 2007 World Cup

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
went to the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
following 2 convincing home series wins against the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and Sri Lanka. The format of the 2007 tournament had teams divided into groups of four, with the top two teams from each group moving on to a Super Eight stage, where each qualifying team would play each other once in a round-robin format. In the group stage, India were placed in Group B, along with
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, Sri Lanka and World Cup debutants
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
. All of India's Group matches were played at the
Queen's Park Oval The Queen's Park Oval is a sports stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, used mostly for cricket matches. It opened in 1896. Privately owned by the Queen's Park Cricket Club, it is currently the second largest capacity cricket ground in ...
in Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
. In their opening match, India unexpectedly lost to Bangladesh, by 5 wickets. Against Bermuda in their next match, India won by 257 runs after scoring 413/5, the highest team total in a World Cup game. India lost their final group match against Sri Lanka by 69 runs, and were ultimately eliminated from the tournament after Bangladesh defeated Bermuda in the final match of the group; it was the first time India had failed to progress from the first round since 1992. Following the tournament, coach
Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminen ...
resigned amid reports that none of the senior players were happy with him and his coaching methods. Rahul Dravid retained the captaincy.
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
announced his retirement from ODI cricket. There were several attacks on players homes and protests by infuriated fans, especially in
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
and
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
. The Indian Squad that took part in the 2007 World Cup comprised * Rahul Dravid (captain) *
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
(vice-captain) *
Ajit Agarkar Ajit Bhalchandra Agarkar (born 4 December 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and a commentator. He has represented India in more than 200 international matches in all three formats of the game. He is the third highest wicket-taker for India i ...
*
Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
*
Dinesh Karthik Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian professional cricketer and commentator who nationally plays for the Indian Cricket Team and currently in Indian Premier League playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is also the ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
*
Irfan Pathan Irfan Pathan (; born 27 October 1984) is a former Indian cricketer turned Commentator, Cricket Analyst, Actor and Dancer. He was a bowling all rounder and a member of the Indian cricket team that won the inaugural 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup a ...
*
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Munaf Patel Munaf Patel (born 12 July 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who played all formats of the game. He has also played for the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and Gujarat, Mumbai cricket team and Maharashtra cricket team in domestic arena. In Novem ...
*
Robin Uthappa Robin Venu Uthappa (; born 11 November 1985) is a former Indian cricketer, who last played for Kerala in domestic cricket & Chennai Super Kings in IPL. Robin has represented team India in ODIs and T20Is. Uthappa made his One Day International ...
* Shanthakumaran Sreesanth *
Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
*
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
*
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
*
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
*India's record: 1−2 (Group B, 3rd place) *Australia's record: 12−0 (champions)


India at the 2011 World Cup in/h1>

* T - Tied. As one of the host nations for the 2011 World Cup, India were expected to perform well in familiar conditions, and were considered pre-tournament favourites by the media and press. Like in 2007, India came into the World Cup on a string of strong performances, with back-to-back series wins against Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at home, followed by a moderately successful tour of South Africa. The Indian team were generally considered to be the strongest batting side in the tournament, comprising the openers
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
and veteran
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
, playing in his 6th consecutive World Cup, followed by
Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, t ...
and
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
, with
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
, skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
,
Yusuf Pathan Yusuf Pathan (born 17 November 1982) is an Indian former cricketer. Pathan made his debut in first-class cricket in 2001/02. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. His younger brother, Irfan Pathan was also an Indian c ...
and
Suresh Raina Suresh Raina (; born 27 November 1986) is an Indian former international cricketer. He occasionally served as stand-in captain for Indian men's national cricket team during the absence of the main captain. He played for Uttar Pradesh (UP) in ...
completing the star-studded batting line-up. While the bowling attack was considered more suspect, three veterans in pacers
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
and
Ashish Nehra Ashish Nehra (; born 29 April 1979) is a cricket coach and former cricketer who played in all formats of the game. Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017, with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealan ...
and offspinner
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
were joined by
Munaf Patel Munaf Patel (born 12 July 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who played all formats of the game. He has also played for the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and Gujarat, Mumbai cricket team and Maharashtra cricket team in domestic arena. In Novem ...
,
Piyush Chawla Piyush Chawla (; born 24 December 1988) is an Indian cricketer who has played for the India national cricket team. He has also played for the India under-19 team and the Central Zone. He is seen as a leg-spinning all-rounder in domestic cricke ...
,
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
, and Shantakumaran Sreesanth. The 1996 World Cup format was used for the tournament, following widespread criticism, particularly from the
BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...
, over the 2007 format. India were placed in Group B in the Group stage alongside co-hosts
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and associates
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. India's 2011 World Cup campaign started with an 87-run win against Bangladesh at
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
. With centuries from Sehwag (175 from 140 balls, 14 fours, 5 sixes) and Kohli (100 not out from 83 balls, 8 fours, 2 sixes) India scored 4/370. Fast bowler Munaf (4-48) took 4 wickets during the Bangladesh reply, including that of opener
Tamim Iqbal Tamim Iqbal Khan (Bengali: তামিম ইকবাল খান; born 20 March 1989), more popularly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is the nephew of former Bangladesh skipper Akram Khan, the current chief selector of ...
(70 from 86 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) as Bangladesh scored 9/283 in 50 overs to fall short. India next played England at
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
, which was a thriller. On a batting-friendly track at the
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (formerly known as the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium) is a cricket stadium located in Bangalore, Karnataka. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this five-dec ...
, India chose to bat first. Tendulkar (120 from 115 balls, 10 fours, 5 sixes) lashed his way through the English attack, ably supported by Gambhir (51 from 61 balls, 5 fours) and Yuvraj (58 from 50 balls, 9 fours). After the 45th over, India were 305/3 and were looking to pass 350 during the batting Powerplay. Instead, English bowler
Tim Bresnan Timothy Thomas Bresnan (born 28 February 1985) is an English former first-class cricketer, who last played for Warwickshire. He was a fast-medium bowler who had ability with the bat. Bresnan won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2002 and 2003. I ...
(5-48) engineered a collapse with four quick wickets in 16 deliveries, as India slumped to a still-formidable total of 338 all out. England started their run chase by blasting 77 runs off the first 10 overs. Skipper
Andrew Strauss Sir Andrew John Strauss (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). He played county cricket for Middlesex, and captained the Englan ...
(158 from 145 balls, 18 fours, 1 six) decimated the Indian bowling attack with unparalleled ferocity, and was supported by
Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...
(69 from 71 balls, 4 fours, 1 six). At 2/280 in the 43rd over, England was cruising to an extraordinary victory. However, Zaheer responded by taking the wickets of Strauss, Bell, and
Paul Collingwood Paul David Collingwood (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club and was the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 winn ...
in 11 deliveries, as England were reduced to 289/6. Tailenders Bresnan,
Graeme Swann Graeme Peter Swann (born 24 March 1979) is an English former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm off-spinner, and also ...
, and Ajmal Shahzad each hit massive sixes in the final few overs to regain some momentum, and Swann scored 13 runs off the final over to salvage a tie with India (338/8 in 50 overs). It was only the fourth tied match in World Cup history. In their third group match, India defeated minnows Ireland, again at Bangalore, by 5 wickets. After winning the toss and choosing to field, India's bowling attack proved superior to the Irish batting lineup. Yuvraj (5-31) was the best bowler for India, taking five successive wickets – including the top scorer for Ireland,
William Porterfield William Thomas Stuart Porterfield (born 6 September 1984) is an Irish former cricketer and a former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he played for Ir ...
(75 from 104 balls, 6 fours, 1 six). Ireland was eventually bowled for 207 all out. During their reply, India slumped to 100/4, as the batting lineup struggled to cope with the tight and accurate Irish bowling. Once again however, Yuvraj (50 not out from 75 balls, 3 fours) helped the Indian side with an unbeaten half-century, and guided India to a five-wicket victory. India followed this victory with a win over Holland at
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
. After choosing to bat first, Holland was restricted to 189 all out, with Zaheer (3-20) and Yuvraj (2-43) doing most of the damage. Despite Sehwag's blistering start, India's run-chase started out poorly, as they slumped to 4/99. And, once again, it was Yuvraj (51 not out from 73 balls, 7 fours) who guided India to victory in a crucial 5th-wicket stand with Dhoni (19 not out off 40 balls, 2 fours). India next played South Africa at
Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...
in what was one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament. India started well, riding on the power hitting of Sehwag (73 from 66 balls, 12 fours), as well as brilliant knocks from Tendulkar (111 from 101 balls, 8 fours, 3 sixes) and Gambhir (69 from 75 balls, 7 fours). However, India, from a very strong position of 267/2 in the 40th over, lost their last 8 wickets for just 29 runs in a massive collapse, slumping to 296 all out, with South African fast bowler
Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...
ripping through the Indian batting line up, generating figures of 5–50 in his 9.4 overs.
Hashim Amla Hashim Mahomed Amla OIS (born 31 March 1983) is a South African former international cricketer who played for South Africa in all three formats of the game. Amla holds the record for being the fastest ever to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 ...
(61 from 72 balls, 5 fours) and
Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...
(69 from 88 balls, 4 fours) top-scored in reply, as South Africa chased down the total with only 3 wickets and 2 deliveries to spare.
AB de Villiers Abraham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984) is a former South African international cricketer. AB de Villiers was named as the ICC ODI Player of the Year three times during his 15-year international career and was one of the five W ...
(52 from 39 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) scored a quick half-century to keep South Africa ahead of the required run rate. It was India's first and only loss in their World Cup campaign. India's final group match was against the West Indies at
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. India chose to bat first. Yuvraj (113 from 123 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes) and Kohli (59 from 76 balls, 5 fours) batted well but received little support from the rest of the lineup, as India were all out for 268. With
Devon Smith Devon Sheldon Smith (born 21 October 1981 in Hermitage, Grenada) is a cricketer who features as a opening or top order left-handed batsman. Smith has played for the West Indies and the Windward Islands in regional tournaments. Smith also ho ...
(81 from 97 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) leading the way, the West Indies reached 154/2 in the 30th over before losing their last 8 wickets for 34 runs due to Zaheer's 3-26, allowing India to coast to an 80-run victory. With this victory, India reached the quarterfinals and finished second in Group B. In the quarterfinals, India faced defending champions Australia at Ahmedabad. Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. Captain Ricky Ponting (104 from 118 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) and wicketkeeper
Brad Haddin Bradley James Haddin (born 23 October 1977), is a former Australian cricketer, vice-captain and coach who represented Australia in all three forms of international cricket. He played domestically for New South Wales as a right-handed batsman ...
(53 from 62 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) scored fluently, but Ashwin, Zaheer and Yuvraj took wickets at regular intervals to restrict Australia to 260/6 in 50 overs. Tendulkar (53 from 68 balls, 7 fours) Gambhir (50 from 64 balls, 2 fours) and Yuvraj (57 not out from 65 balls, 8 fours) all scored half-centuries in reply, as India chased down the target with 5 wickets and 14 deliveries to spare. With this win, Australia's title defence ended and India entered the semifinals. India played arch-rival
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
in the
semifinal A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
at Mohali. India won the toss and chose to bat first. Despite Sehwag's customary fast start (38 from 25 balls, 9 fours), the Indian batsmen had trouble coping with the Pakistani bowling attack. Pakistani fast bowler
Wahab Riaz Wahab Riaz (Urdu, pa, ; born 28 June 1985) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman. He frequently bowls at speeds of around 90 mph (144.8 km/h) and has reached . His all round performance in ...
(5-46) took a 5-wicket haul for Pakistan and Tendulkar (85 from 115 balls, 11 fours) top-scored for India despite being dropped four times in the field. With India slumping at 187/5 in the 37th over, Suresh Raina (36 not out from 39 balls, 3 fours) shored up the tail as India reached 260/9 in 50 overs. All five Indian bowlers (Zaheer, Munaf, Nehra, Harbhajan and Yuvraj) took two wickets in the Pakistani reply, as Pakistan fell behind the run rate and were bowled all out for 231 with 1 delivery remaining.
Misbah-ul-Haq ; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan in all formats and is former head coach and former chief selector of the Pakistan national team. A late bloomer, Misbah was a midd ...
(56 from 76 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) top scored for Pakistan, but his slow start allowed the required run-rate to balloon beyond Pakistan's reach. The win ensured that India maintained their all-win record over their arch-rivals in the World Cup and set up a final with Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
on 2 April 2011. This match was attended by the Prime Ministers of both nations, and Cricket diplomacy was exercised. On a batting-friendly pitch, Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first. Zaheer (2-60), using the new ball, bowled three maiden overs and took the wicket of
Upul Tharanga Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga ( si, උපුල් තරංග), is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, and a former limited over captain who played for all formats of the game. He ...
to leave Sri Lanka at 31/1 after 10 overs – their lowest 10-over score in the tournament. However,
Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...
(103 not out from 88 balls, 13 fours) rebuilt the Sri Lankan innings with a superb century, helped by captain
Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...
(48 from 67 balls, 5 fours).
Nuwan Kulasekara Kulasekara Mudiyanselage Dinesh Nuwan Kulasekara ( si, නුවන් කුලසේකර; born 22 July 1982) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played all formats of the game. Considered as one of the best swing bowlers in world cricket, H ...
(32 from 30 balls, 1 four, 1 six) and
Thisara Perera Narangoda Liyanaarachchige Thisara Chirantha Perera ( si, තිසර පෙරේරා; born 3 April 1989), popularly as Thisara Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats for the national team. He also cap ...
(22 from 9 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) plundered 91 runs from the last 10 overs, lifting Sri Lanka to a formidable total of 274/6 after 50 overs. India's run chase began badly, as Sehwag and Sachin were bowled cheaply by
Lasith Malinga Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
(2-42) to leave India at 31/2 at the 7th over. However, Gambhir (97 from 122 balls, 9 fours) rebuilt the Indian innings with an 83-run partnership for the third wicket with Kohli (35 from 49 balls, 4 fours). After Kohli was caught and bowled to leave India at 114/3, Gambhir and Dhoni (91 not out from 79 balls, 8 fours, 2 sixes) scored 109 runs for the fourth wicket, in a vicious attack on the tiring Sri Lankan bowlers. After Gambhir was bowled by Perera, Yuvraj and Dhoni ensured that India would successfully chase Sri Lanka's score, with Dhoni blasting a massive six off the final delivery. India won the match by six wickets. With the win, India secured their second World Cup, the first since 1983. It was also the first time that the World Cup was won by the host nation in their own backyard (Sri Lanka, though co-hosts of the 1996 World Cup, played the final at
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
in
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
). Dhoni was named
Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
for his blistering innings of 91. Apart from the win, there were other achievements for India in the tournament. Tendulkar scored 482 runs, and was the second-highest run scorer in the tournament after Sri Lankan opener
Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan ( si, තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of th ...
, who scored 500 runs. Zaheer took 21 wickets, and was the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup along with Pakistan's Shahid Afridi. Yuvraj, who scored 362 runs and took 15 wickets, was named ''Man of the Tournament'' for his all-round performance. The Indian Squad that won the 2011 World Cup comprised *
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
(captain and wicketkeeper) *
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
(vice-captain) *
Ashish Nehra Ashish Nehra (; born 29 April 1979) is a cricket coach and former cricketer who played in all formats of the game. Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017, with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealan ...
*
Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, t ...
*
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
*
Munaf Patel Munaf Patel (born 12 July 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who played all formats of the game. He has also played for the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and Gujarat, Mumbai cricket team and Maharashtra cricket team in domestic arena. In Novem ...
*
Piyush Chawla Piyush Chawla (; born 24 December 1988) is an Indian cricketer who has played for the India national cricket team. He has also played for the India under-19 team and the Central Zone. He is seen as a leg-spinning all-rounder in domestic cricke ...
*
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
*
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
* Shanthakumaran Sreesanth *
Suresh Raina Suresh Raina (; born 27 November 1986) is an Indian former international cricketer. He occasionally served as stand-in captain for Indian men's national cricket team during the absence of the main captain. He played for Uttar Pradesh (UP) in ...
*
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
*
Yusuf Pathan Yusuf Pathan (born 17 November 1982) is an Indian former cricketer. Pathan made his debut in first-class cricket in 2001/02. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. His younger brother, Irfan Pathan was also an Indian c ...
*
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
*
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
* India's record: 7-1 and 1 tie (champions)


India at the 2015 World Cup

As the defending champions, India went into the 2015 World Cup co-hosted by Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
with high expectations and were billed pre-tournament favourites. Unlike in 2007 and 2011, this time India went into the World Cup on the back of poor results, with a mediocre Australian tour preceding the event. Despite this, it was expected that India would still do well in the World Cup due to their familiarity with the Australian conditions, having already spent more than 2 months there. The Indian team for the 2015 World Cup comprised only 4 members from the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, which included captain and
wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the batsman out and run out ...
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
,
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
, who was now the vice-captain of the side and one of the best batsmen in ODI cricket,
Suresh Raina Suresh Raina (; born 27 November 1986) is an Indian former international cricketer. He occasionally served as stand-in captain for Indian men's national cricket team during the absence of the main captain. He played for Uttar Pradesh (UP) in ...
and
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
. For the first time since the 1992 World Cup, the Indian World Cup squad was without
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...
, who had retired from all forms of cricket in 2013, while the other stars of the 2011 World Cup such as
Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...
,
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
,
Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, t ...
,
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...
and
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
were dropped due to poor form. Despite the absence of these key performers, the Indian World Cup squad was still a strong side, with a power-packed batting lineup comprising Kohli, Dhoni, Raina, destructive openers
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
and
Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-cla ...
and the stylish middle-order bat
Ajinkya Rahane Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane (born 6 June 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of Indian team in all formats, who has played for Indian cricket team in all formats as a batsman. He currently captains Mumbai in Ranji trophy. R ...
, and a strong bowling attack comprising pacers
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
,
Umesh Yadav Umeshkumar Tilak Yadav (born 25 October 1987) is an Indian cricketer who currently plays for Vidarbha cricket team, Indian national team, Middlesex and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. A right-arm fast bowler, Yadav has p ...
,
Mohit Sharma Mohit Mahipal Sharma (born 18 September 1988) is an Indian international cricketer. He also plays for Haryana. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. Domestic and IPL career Following his work with pace bowling coach Ian Pont, Sharma picked up ...
and
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh (born 5 February 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who is playing for the Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. He is ...
, supplemented by the
spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...
s Ashwin and
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
. In the Group stage, India were placed in Group B with arch-rivals
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, minnows
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and associates
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and the
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
. India's 2015 World Cup campaign began with a highly anticipated match against Pakistan at
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. Batting first, India lost Rohit (15 from 20 balls, 2 fours) early, but a century from Kohli (107 from 126 balls, 8 fours) along with half-centuries from Raina (74 from 56 balls, 5 fours and 3 sixes) and Dhawan (73 from 76 balls, 7 fours and 1 six) looked to steer India to a big total. However, excellent death bowling by the Pakistani bowlers, with fast bowler
Sohail Khan ) Lambda Velorum (λ Velorum, abbreviated Lambda Vel, λ Vel), officially named Suhail , is a star in the southern constellation of Vela. With a mean apparent visual magnitude of 2.21, this is the third-brightest star in the constellati ...
(5-55) taking a 5-wicket haul, restricted India to exactly 300/7, with India losing 5 wickets for just 27 runs. Pakistan's reply, however, had little effect. Barring captain
Misbah-ul-Haq ; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan in all formats and is former head coach and former chief selector of the Pakistan national team. A late bloomer, Misbah was a midd ...
, who scored 76, the Pakistani batting crumbled against the Indian pace attack, with Shami taking 4/35, and crashed to 224 all out. India won the match by 76 runs, their biggest win against Pakistan in the World Cup by margin of runs, and as a result, once again maintained their all-win record over their arch-rivals in the World Cup. India next played South Africa at
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, which was another highly anticipated match, in front of a packed crowd comprising mostly Indian supporters. Once again India batted first. Though India lost Rohit early for a duck, they recovered from the early setback thanks to a brilliant century from Dhawan (137 from 146 balls, 16 fours and 2 sixes) and a classy half-century from Rahane (79 from 60 balls, 7 fours and 3 sixes). However, the lower middle-order then crumbled due to good death bowling from the South African pace attack, with India losing 5 wickets for just 31 runs to finish their innings at 307/7. In the chase, despite losing the openers
Hashim Amla Hashim Mahomed Amla OIS (born 31 March 1983) is a South African former international cricketer who played for South Africa in all three formats of the game. Amla holds the record for being the fastest ever to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 ...
and
Quinton de Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...
early, South Africa were going steady at 108/3, with
Faf du Plessis Francois "Faf" du Plessis ( ; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and is among the best all-forma ...
scoring a half-century. But the Indian bowlers led by Ashwin (3/41) then struck back as the Proteas lost their last 7 wickets for 69 runs to be bowled all out for 177, India winning by 130 runs. It was the first time that India defeated South Africa in the World Cup, having lost to them in 3 previous Cup encounters in 1992, 1999 and 2011 and was the heaviest defeat for South Africa in the Cricket World Cup. India ended their Australian leg of the Group stage with back-to-back victories against the UAE and the West Indies at
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
. Ashwin once again starred with the ball in the match against the UAE with his 4/25 as the minnows crashed to 102 all out, which was the lowest score ever registered by a team against India in the World Cup, following which an attacking half-century from Rohit (57 not out from 55 balls, 10 fours and 1 six) ensured that India won the match by 9 wickets, a facile victory which was achieved even before the floodlights could be turned on at the
WACA Ground The WACA (formally the WACA Ground) is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association. The WACA has been referred to as Wester ...
. The match against the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
was a low-scoring thriller. Bowling first on a typical fast and bouncy Perth wicket, India restricted the West Indies to 182 all out, with Shami taking 3/35. In reply, the Indian top-order were unable to successfully negotiate the West Indian fast bowling attack of
Kemar Roach Kemar Andre Jamal Roach (born 30 June 1988) is a Barbadian international cricketer who plays for the West Indies. He played in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka and has represented the West Indies in Test and One Day International c ...
,
Jerome Taylor Jerome Everton Taylor (born 22 June 1984) is a Jamaican cricketer who has played as a fast bowler for the West Indies. Taylor eventually picked up 100 wickets for the Windies in both tests and odis. During 2017 he reversed an initial decision t ...
and
Andre Russell Andre Dwayne Russell (born 29 April 1988) is a Jamaican who has played international cricket for West Indies and for Jamaica in domestic cricket as an all-rounder. He currently plays in various T20 leagues around the globe. Russell was part of ...
and were soon struggling at 107/5, before Dhoni (45 not out from 56 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) took India to victory by 4 wickets. The win against the Caribbeans ensured India's passage into the quarterfinals. India travelled to New Zealand to play their remaining Group matches. Their first match in New Zealand in this World Cup was against Ireland at
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
. Batting first on a perfect batting track, the Irish captain
William Porterfield William Thomas Stuart Porterfield (born 6 September 1984) is an Irish former cricketer and a former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he played for Ir ...
and middle-order batsman Niall O'Brien gave a massive scare to India as they scored half-centuries to propel Ireland to a formidable 206/3 in the 39th over, with the probability of them achieving a 300+ score high. However, Shami (3/41) and Ashwin (2/38) then triggered a collapse, with the Irish losing their last 7 wickets for just 53 runs to collapse to 259 all out. In reply, India were untroubled by the Irish bowling, with a blistering century from Dhawan (100 from 85 balls, 11 fours and 5 sixes), his second in the tournament, along with a half-century from Rohit (64 from 66 balls, 3 fours and 3 sixes) reducing the match to a no-contest as India scaled down the required target with 13 overs and 8 wickets to spare. India topped Group B with 1 match remaining due to the win. India's last match in the Group stage was against Zimbabwe at
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, a
dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...
since India had already topped Group B and Zimbabwe were no longer in contention for the quarterfinals with just a single win in this World Cup until this match. However, the match proved to be a thriller. Bowling first, the Indian pace attack struck early to leave Zimbabwe tottering at 33/3. But Zimbabwean skipper
Brendan Taylor Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game. Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Z ...
, who was playing his last match for Zimbabwe, scored a belligerent 138, toying with the spinners. With the support of Sean Williams, who scored 50, and then
Craig Ervine Craig Richard Ervine (born 19 August 1985) is a Zimbabwean international cricketer who captains Zimbabwe in limited overs cricket, limited overs matches. Ervine is a left-handed Batting (cricket), batter. He was born in Harare and has played Te ...
, Taylor brought Zimbabwe to a solid position of 235/5 in the 42nd over after which he departed. A 300+ score was imminent at the time, but good death bowling from the Indian fast bowlers comprising Yadav (3/43) as well as Shami and Mohit, who both took identical figures of 3/48, saw Zimbabwe lose their last 5 wickets for 52 runs to be bowled all out for 287. India's reply began shakily, with a 2-wicket maiden over from
Tinashe Panyangara Tinashe Panyangara (born 21 October 1985 in Marondera) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. Panyangara first came to prominence during the under-19s World Cup in Bangladesh in 2003-04 in which he bowled 6 for 31 in ...
accounting for both openers Rohit (16 from 21 balls, 2 fours) and Dhawan (4 from 20 balls, 1 four) early in the innings. Due to good bowling and fielding from the Zimbabweans, the defending champions were soon struggling at 92/4 in the 23rd over and an upset win by Zimbabwe seemed likely. But Raina (110 not out from 104 balls, 9 fours and 4 sixes) scored a breathtaking century under pressure. Though he began his innings scratchily, struggling against the short ball, he soon developed confidence and hammered the Zimbabwean bowling with the support of Dhoni (85 not out from 76 balls, 8 fours and 2 sixes), who secured yet another victory in the World Cup for India in his trademark style by hitting a sixer with just 6 runs to win in the 49th over. India finished the Group stage with an all-win record. India returned to Australia to play the knockout matches. In the quarterfinals, India played
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
at Melbourne, which they won comfortably by 109 runs. India, batting first, scored 302/6, thanks to an attacking century from Rohit (137 from 126 balls, 14 fours and 3 sixes), who dominated the Bangladeshi bowling with support from Raina (65 from 57 balls, 7 fours and 1 six). The duo shared a partnership of 122 runs for the 4th wicket. Then the Indian pacers, led by Yadav (4/31) and Shami (2/37), never allowed the Bangladeshi batsmen to settle down as they were bowled all out for 193. The match became controversial due to an erroneous umpiring decision involving Rohit. During the 40th over, Rohit, who was batting on 90, pulled a
full toss A full toss is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes any delivery that reaches the batsman without bouncing on the pitch first. A full toss which reaches the batsman above the waist is called a beamer. This is not a valid d ...
bowled by Bangladeshi bowler
Rubel Hossain Mohammad Rubel Hossain ( bn, মোহাম্মদ রুবেল হোসেন; born 01 Jan 1990) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He made his international debut for Bangladesh in January 2009 aged 19. He has the highest bowling average of ...
and was caught at square-leg. However, the umpire
Aleem Dar Aleem Dar PP ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 6 June 1968) is a Pakistani cricket umpire and former cricketer. He is a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. He won the David Shepherd Trophy three years in a row from 2009 to 2011, after being nomin ...
thought that the ball was above waist height and declared it a
no-ball In cricket, a no-ball is a type of illegal delivery to a batter (the other type being a wide). It is also a type of extra, being the run awarded to the batting team as a consequence of the illegal delivery. For most cricket games, especially ...
, meaning that Rohit was not out. Replays showed that the ball was waist height, and therefore a legal delivery. This decision led to an uproar in Bangladesh, with irate Bangladeshi fans burning effigies of Dar in protest. Even the ICC President
Mustafa Kamal Mustafa Kamal, Mostafa Kamal or variations may refer to: *Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President. * Mustafa Kemal Kurdaş (1920–20 ...
, who hails from Bangladesh, and the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh The Prime Minister of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধানমন্ত্রী, translit=Bangladesher Prodhanmontri), officially Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজা ...
Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since January 2 ...
opposed the controversial decision. Nevertheless, this incident did not remove the shine from India's clinical victory, which brought them to the semifinals, where they played co-hosts Australia at Sydney. India lost the toss and were made to bowl first on a perfect batting pitch. Australia recovered from the early loss of opener
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...
due to a brilliant century from vice-captain
Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...
. Supported by a half-century from opener Aaron Finch, the duo put on 182 runs for the 2nd wicket. However, after that the Australian innings wobbled due to good bowling from Yadav (4/72), who achieved a second consecutive 4-wicket haul and provided the important breakthroughs, but due to a late blitz by fast bowler
Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Guy Johnson (born 2 November 1981) is a former Australian cricketer, who played all forms of the game for his national side. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He made his Test debut for Australia in November 2007 ...
, who scored 27 not out from just 14 balls, the Australians finished their innings at 328/7. A score of 329, though a huge one, was considered gettable taking into account the strength of the Indian batting lineup. The Indians started the chase well with an opening stand of 76 between Rohit (34 from 48 balls, 1 four and 2 sixes) and Dhawan (45 from 41 balls, 6 fours and 1 six). But following the dismissal of Dhawan, the rest of the Indian batsmen succumbed to a combined effort from the Australian pace attack. A slow 70 run stand between Rahane (44 from 68 balls, 2 fours) and Dhoni (65 from 65 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes) for the 5th wicket only delayed the inevitable as India crashed to 233 all out in the 47th over, losing the match by 95 runs and ending their title defence. It was the second time since 1987 that India failed to defend their World Cup title. Although India could not successfully defend their World Cup title, several positives emerged from the tournament from an Indian point of view. For the first time ever in a Cricket World Cup, India finished the Group stage unbeaten, with their only loss in the tournament coming against the eventual champions Australia in the semifinal. They achieved 11 consecutive World Cup match victories starting from 2011 during the tournament, which is just below the Cup record of 25 wins in a row, held by Australia. Barring the semifinal, the Indian team bowled out the opposition in every match, a remarkable feat for a bowling attack traditionally considered to be weaker than the batting. With 412 runs from 8 matches including 2 centuries, opener Dhawan was the fifth highest run scorer of the tournament, while the fast bowlers Yadav and Shami bagged the third and fourth spots respectively among the tournament's leading bowlers with 18 and 17 wickets respectively. Skipper and wicketkeeper Dhoni effected 15 dismissals in the Cup, coming second among the leading wicketkeepers in the tournament. The Indian Squad that made the semifinals of the 2015 World Cup comprised *
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
(captain and wicketkeeper) *
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
(vice-captain) *
Ajinkya Rahane Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane (born 6 June 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of Indian team in all formats, who has played for Indian cricket team in all formats as a batsman. He currently captains Mumbai in Ranji trophy. R ...
*
Ambati Rayudu Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu (born 23 September 1985) is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the Baroda cricket team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy championship. He played 61 limited overs matches for the India national cricket team between ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Axar Patel Axar Rajeshbhai Patel, also spelled as Akshar Patel, (born 20 January 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team in all formats of the game as a bowling All-rounder. He also plays for Gujarat in domestic cr ...
*
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh (born 5 February 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who is playing for the Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. He is ...
*
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
*
Mohit Sharma Mohit Mahipal Sharma (born 18 September 1988) is an Indian international cricketer. He also plays for Haryana. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. Domestic and IPL career Following his work with pace bowling coach Ian Pont, Sharma picked up ...
*
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
*
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
*
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
*
Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-cla ...
* Stuart Binny *
Suresh Raina Suresh Raina (; born 27 November 1986) is an Indian former international cricketer. He occasionally served as stand-in captain for Indian men's national cricket team during the absence of the main captain. He played for Uttar Pradesh (UP) in ...
*
Umesh Yadav Umeshkumar Tilak Yadav (born 25 October 1987) is an Indian cricketer who currently plays for Vidarbha cricket team, Indian national team, Middlesex and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. A right-arm fast bowler, Yadav has p ...
*India's record: 7-1 (semifinalists) *Australia's record: 7-1 and 1 no result (champions)


India at the 2019 World Cup

* ABN - Match Abandoned India were considered one of the favourites to win the
2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
hosted in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. Their record prior to the tournament had been excellent, with highly successful tours of Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, which was followed by a narrow 2–3 loss in an ODI series at home against Australia. The team for this World Cup was considered to be a strong one, with a powerful batting line comprising captain
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
, regular famed openers
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
and
Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-cla ...
along with K. L. Rahul,
Dinesh Karthik Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian professional cricketer and commentator who nationally plays for the Indian Cricket Team and currently in Indian Premier League playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is also the ...
who made his comeback to World Cups after 12 years, and veteran wicketkeeper-batsman
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
, a fast bowling line-up comprising
Jasprit Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah (born 6 December 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game. In the India's domestic cricket, he plays for Gujarat cricket team and Mumbai Ind ...
,
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
and
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh (born 5 February 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who is playing for the Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. He is ...
hailed by experts as the best fast-bowling unit India has ever produced, two brilliant wrist spinners including
Yuzvendra Chahal Yuzvendra Chahal (born 23 July 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team in white ball cricket as a leg spin bowler. He plays for Haryana in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier Le ...
and
slow left-arm wrist-spin Left-arm unorthodox spin, also known as slow left-arm wrist-spin, is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use wrist spin to spin the ball, and make it deviate, or 'turn' from left to right after pitchin ...
bowler
Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav (born 14 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bowls Left-arm Unorthodox spin bowler is and a capable Lower order batter who plays for India and for Uttar Pradesh in domestic crick ...
and quality all-rounders in
Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer. An All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, Pandya has played in all 3 formats for India. He also plays for Baroda cricket team in do ...
,
Kedar Jadhav Kedar Mahadev Jadhav (born 26 March 1985) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Maharashtra and has also played for the Indian national cricket team. He is a batting all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, and occasionall ...
and
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
. The only weakness in the side was the number four batsman slot, with Vijay Shankar controversially selected in place of the regular two-down batsman
Ambati Rayudu Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu (born 23 September 1985) is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the Baroda cricket team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy championship. He played 61 limited overs matches for the India national cricket team between ...
. The round-robin format last used in the 1992 World Cup was used for this tournament, with India playing all the other nine participating teams once. Dinesh and Dhoni were the only members of the squad who played together in the
2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...
, whereas Kohli and Dhoni were the only members who were a part of India's victorious squad in the
2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, ...
. India began their campaign with a win against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
at
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. Batting first, the South Africans struggled against the pace of Bumrah (10-1-35-2), who accounted for both openers
Hashim Amla Hashim Mahomed Amla OIS (born 31 March 1983) is a South African former international cricketer who played for South Africa in all three formats of the game. Amla holds the record for being the fastest ever to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 ...
and
Quinton de Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...
, as well as Chahal's leg spin (10-0-51-4) and were 80/4 at one stage, however an eighth-wicket partnership of 76 runs between Chris Morris and
Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...
ensured that the Proteas finished their innings with a score of 227/9. India chased down the target with ease for the loss of just 4 wickets due to Rohit's century (122 off 144 balls, 13 fours, 2 sixes), ably supported by Rahul (26 off 42 balls, 2 fours) and Dhoni (34 off 46 balls, 2 fours). India next played Australia at
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, which also turned out to be another one-sided game in favour of India. India, batting first after winning the toss, scored 352/5, with Dhawan cracking a brilliant century (117 off 109 balls, 16 fours) with support from Rohit (57 off 70 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and Kohli (82 off 77 balls, 4 fours, 1 six), all of whom made a mockery of the Australian bowling attack. There were also late cameos from Pandya (48 off 27 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes) and Dhoni (27 off 14 balls, 3 fours, 1 six). In response, Australia put up a strong fight, with good contributions from
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...
,
Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...
and wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who scored 56, 69 and 55 respectively, but India's total was beyond their reach as they folded for 316 all out, India thus winning by 36 runs. Unfortunately for India, Dhawan fractured his thumb during his century knock, ruling him out for the rest of the tournament. He was replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman
Rishabh Pant Rishabh Rajendra Pant (born 4 October 1997) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a wicket-keeper batter. Having played all formats for India, he is best known for his consistency to score runs in Test ...
. India's third match against
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...
,
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. The much-awaited India vs
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
clash took place at Old Trafford,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
on 16 June. However, this match turned out to be another no-contest in favour of India. India were made to bat first in a match which was affected by rain. Once Pakistan missed the chance to get Rohit run out in the seventh over, the game was over for Pakistan as Rohit went on to make a brilliant century (140 off 113 balls, 14 fours, 3 sixes), ably supported by Rahul (57 off 78 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) and Kohli (77 off 65 balls, 7 fours), however a good death-bowling performance from
Mohammad Amir Mohammad Amir ( ur, ; born 13 April 1992) is a Pakistani cricketer and bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. He is playing as a left-arm fast-medium bowler and uses his left hand when batting. Amir made his first-class debut in N ...
, who took 3/47, restricted India to 336/5 when at one stage, they were cruising towards a post-350 score. Pakistan's reply, however, had little effect. Barring a 104-run second-wicket stand between Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, the rest of the Pakistan batting crumbled against India's bowling attack, with a combined bowling effort from Pandya (8-0-44-2), who took the wickets of veterans
Mohammad Hafeez Mohammad Hafeez ( Punjabi and ur, ; born 17 October 1980) is a former Pakistani international cricketer. Hafeez was a versatile batsman who could bat anywhere in the top 6 and formed part of the bowling attack. He played as a spin bowling a ...
and Shoaib Malik in consecutive deliveries, Vijay Shankar (5.2-0-22-2) and Kuldeep (9-1-32-2) leaving Pakistan at 166/6 in the 35th over before the rain began to fall. After the rain, Pakistan's target was reduced to 302 which had to be scored within an impossible 5 overs by the
Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method The Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score (number of runs needed to win) for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circums ...
, thus handing India yet another win against their arch-rivals and maintaining their all-win record against them in the World Cup. Pakistan managed to finish their innings at 212/6. India won the match by 89 runs (D/L). Unfortunately for India, Bhuvneshwar sustained a hamstring niggle during the match while bowling, ruling him out until the match against
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. India then played the teams who had qualified for the World Cup through the
qualifying tournament Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and the West Indies, at Southampton and Old Trafford respectively. The match against Afghanistan was a thriller which India managed to win by 11 runs. On a slow pitch, barring Kohli (67 off 63 balls, 5 fours) and Jadhav (52 off 68 balls, 3 fours and 1 six), the rest of the Indian batsmen struggled to make runs against the Afghan bowling attack, with Afghan's spin attack of
Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman ( ps, ; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Austra ...
,
Mujeeb Ur Rahman Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran ( ps, مجیب الرحمن ځدراڼ; born 28 March 2001) is an Afghan cricketer, who plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Two months after his international debut, at the age of 16 years and 325 days, he b ...
and
Mohammad Nabi Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil ( ps, ; born 1 January 1985) is an Afghan cricketer and former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. Nabi is an attacking batting all-rounder, playing as a right-handed batsman and off b ...
, as well as the medium-pace of captain
Gulbadin Naib Gulbadin Naib (; born 16 March 1991) is an Afghan cricketer. Naib plays as an all-rounder, and is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Naib as the team's new One Day Int ...
, never allowing the Indian batsmen to settle down. India limped its way to 224/8 in their 50 overs, which was their lowest total batting first and completing their 50 overs since 2010. In the chase, Afghanistan played sedately, with Naib,
Rahmat Shah Rahmat Shah Zurmatai ( ps, رحمت شاه زرمتی; born 6 July 1993) is an Afghan cricketer who plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman who is an occasional leg break bowler. He made his international ...
and Nabi making significant contributions, with Nabi going on to score 52 off 55 balls. However a strong bowling performance from India, with contributions from Bumrah (10-1-39-2), Shami (9.5-1-40-4) and Chahal (10-0-36-2) and especially Bumrah and Shami's death-over bowling, kept a check on the Afghan run rate. In the final over, the Afghans needed 16 runs to win the match. Once Shami got Nabi out in the third ball of the final over, the match was over for Afghanistan as he got the wickets of tailenders Aftab Alam and Mujeeb in consecutive deliveries to achieve a hat-trick, which was only the second by an Indian bowler in a World Cup since
Chetan Sharma Chetan Sharma (born 3 January 1966) is a former Indian cricketer and politician who played Tests and ODIs as a fast bowler for Indian cricket team. On 24 December 2020, he was elected as Chairman of the selection committee of Indian cricket tea ...
in
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
. Afghanistan was all out for 213 in 49.5 overs. This was also India's 50th win in world cups -third team to achieve the feat after Australia and New Zealand The match against the Caribbeans on the other hand, witnessed a clinical performance from India, with the team winning by a huge margin of 125 runs. Though India, who batted first, lost Rohit (18 off 23 balls, 1 four and 1 six) early, a good knock from Kohli (72 off 82 balls, 8 fours), supplemented from Dhoni (56 off 61 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes), which averted a potential middle-order collapse, and also a cameo from Pandya (46 off 38 balls, 5 fours), brought India to a respectable 268/7 in 50 overs. This was followed by yet another strong performance with the ball, with Shami (6.2-0-16-4) taking 4 wickets again, as the Windies were bowled out for just 143 in the 35th over. India's first loss in the 2019 World Cup came against hosts
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the first of 2 back-to-back matches at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, the other match being against
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. India, who were put to bowl first, bowled poorly for the first time in the tournament, including Shami (10-1-69-5), who was expensive despite taking a 5-wicket haul, as the English batsman, including openers
Jason Roy Jason Jonathan Roy (born 21 July 1990) is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Surre ...
and
Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Sunrisers Hy ...
, who cracked an attacking century, as well as all-rounder Ben Stokes, who scored 79 off just 54 balls, made merry of the Indian bowling attack. England posted 337/7 in their 50 overs. Chasing 338 to win, India lost Rahul early for a duck and from there, they were never able to recover, batting slowly due to a deteriorating pitch. In their first 10 overs, India was only able to score 27 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Despite Rohit's third century of the tournament (102 off 109 balls, 15 fours) along with Kohli's fifth-consecutive half-century (66 off 76 balls, 7 fours), England's total proved to be beyond India's reach and they ended their innings at 306/5, losing by 31 runs. Dhoni (42 off 31 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) in particular was criticised by former players and fans for his inability to accelerate the scoring rate in the end overs. In contrast, the match against Bangladesh which took place two days later was for the most part, a one-sided affair in favour of India, though Bangladesh put up a strong fight. India started in the strongest possible manner, with Rohit (104 off 92 balls, 7 fours, 5 sixes) scoring his fourth century in the tournament. Along with Rahul (77 off 92 balls, 6 fours, 1 six), the duo put up a partnership of 180 runs for the first wicket, which was the highest partnership by India for the first wicket in the World Cup at the time, beating the previous record of 172 by Rohit and Dhawan against
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in 2015. A score of 400 plus seemed likely at one stage, but once Rohit departed, there was a middle-order collapse due to pacer
Mustafizur Rahman Mustafizur Rahman ( Bengali: মুস্তাফিজুর রহমান; born 6 September 1995) is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler. He won the Emerging Player Award in his first T20 World Cup i ...
's 5/59 off his 10 overs. However cameos from Pant (48 off 41 balls, 6 fours and 1 six) and Dhoni (35 off 33 balls, 4 fours) brought India to 314/9 in their 50 overs. In response, Bangladesh fought back, with all-rounder
Shakib Al Hasan Shakib Al Hasan (Bengali: সাকিব আল হাসান; born 24 March 1987) is a Bangladeshi cricketer and current captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team in Tests and T20Is. He plays for Barishal in domestic cricket as an all- ...
scoring 66, but a spirited bowling performance from India, courtesy Bumrah (10-1-55-4) and Pandya (10-1-60-3), who also took Shakib's wicket, brought Bangladesh down to 179/6 in the 34th over. Despite a valiant rearguard action from the Bangladesh lower middle-order, with a 66-run partnership for the seventh wicket between
Mohammad Saifuddin Mohammad Saifuddin ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাইফুদ্দিন; born 1 November 1996) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. In December 2015, he was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his intern ...
, who scored a fighting half-century, and
Sabbir Rahman Mohammad Sabbir Rahman ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাব্বির রহমান; born 22 November 1988) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is from Rajshahi and besides the national team, he plays for Rajshahi Division and the BPL. He is a ...
, Bangladesh folded for 286, India winning by 28 runs. With this win, India qualified for the semifinals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. India ended the round robin stage with an easy 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka at
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
,
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
. Batting first, Sri Lanka were 55/4 in the 12th over with Bumrah (10-2-37-3) doing the initial damage, but a century from
Angelo Mathews Angelo Davis Mathews, (Tamil: அஞ்செலோ மத்தியூஸ்; born 2 June 1987) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain in all formats. Even though he represented Sri Lanka in all three formats, Mathews cur ...
, who was part of a 124-run stand for the fifth wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne, brought Sri Lanka to a respectable 264/7 in 50 overs. India easily chased down the target, with both openers Rohit (103 from 94 balls, 14 fours, 2 sixes) and Rahul (111 from 118 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) putting up a 189-run opening wicket partnership, breaking their own record for India's highest 1st wicket partnership in a Cricket World Cup which was achieved in just their previous match against Bangladesh. Rohit's century was his 5th in the tournament, making him the first ever batsman to hit five centuries in a single Cricket World Cup. With this win, and also South Africa's win over Australia in a match held on the same day, India topped the round robin stage with 7 wins, 1 loss and 1 no-result. In the semifinals, India played with New Zealand at Old Trafford. The match, spread over two days due to rain, was a thriller. On a slow and seaming wicket in overcast conditions, New Zealand, who were batting first, struggled to accelerate for most of their innings, and only half-centuries from
Ross Taylor Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984) is a former international cricketer and former captain of the New Zealand national team. Batting predominantly at number four, when he announced his retirement from international cricket at ...
and Kiwi captain Kane Williamson ensured that the Black Caps reached a score of 239/8 in their 50 overs. For India, Bhuvneshwar (10-1-43-3) was the standout performer among the bowlers. India started their chase very badly, with the top three (Rohit, Rahul and Kohli) going for just 1 run each, courtesy brilliant opening spells from the Kiwi new-ball bowlers Matt Henry and
Trent Boult Trent Alexander Boult (born 22 July 1989) is a New Zealand international cricketer who has played for New Zealand cricket team. He currently plays in various T20 leagues around the globe as a fast bowler. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler an ...
, leaving them in deep trouble at 5/3 in the fourth over. However, a rearguard action from Dhoni (50 from 72 balls, 1 four, 1 six) and Jadeja (77 from 59 balls, 4 fours, 4 sixes), who both shared a partnership of 116 runs for the seventh wicket, which was the highest for India in a Cricket World Cup, brought India from 92/6 to 208/7, giving the Men in Blue a slim chance of winning the match. But once Jadeja and Dhoni, who was playing his final match for India, got out in successive overs, the match was all over for India as they crashed to 221 all out. The Black Caps won the match by 18 runs, and as a result, India crashed out of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the second consecutive Cricket World Cup in which they went out in the semifinal stage. Although India did not make the final for the second consecutive World Cup, there were several positives from a statistical point of view. India ended the tournament with 7 wins, 2 losses and 1 no-result, topping the round-robin stage, with both losses coming against eventual finalists England and New Zealand (the no-result coming against the latter opponent as well). With 648 runs and 5 centuries, including 81 boundaries (67 fours and 14 sixes) and involvement in two record first wicket opening stands of 189 and 180 respectively, Rohit Sharma ended the tournament as the highest scorer and with the most centuries. He was also the first batsman to score the most centuries in a single World Cup. Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah was the highest wicket-taker for India with 18 wickets, placing him in joint fourth place alongside England's Mark Wood. He also took the most maidens (9) in the tournament. Also, Mohammed Shami was one of two bowlers, the other being New Zealand's Trent Boult, to take a hat-trick in the tournament, and only the second Indian bowler to do so after Chetan Sharma in 1987. The 2019 Cricket World Cup would prove to be the last time Mahendra Singh Dhoni played in Indian colours, as he made himself unavailable for team selection following the tournament. Dhoni later announced his retirement from international cricket on 15 August 2020. The Indian Squad that made the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup comprised *
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
(captain) *
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
(vice-captain) *
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh (born 5 February 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who is playing for the Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. He is ...
*
Dinesh Karthik Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian professional cricketer and commentator who nationally plays for the Indian Cricket Team and currently in Indian Premier League playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is also the ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer. An All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, Pandya has played in all 3 formats for India. He also plays for Baroda cricket team in do ...
*
Jasprit Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah (born 6 December 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game. In the India's domestic cricket, he plays for Gujarat cricket team and Mumbai Ind ...
* K. L. Rahul *
Kedar Jadhav Kedar Mahadev Jadhav (born 26 March 1985) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Maharashtra and has also played for the Indian national cricket team. He is a batting all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, and occasionall ...
*
Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav (born 14 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bowls Left-arm Unorthodox spin bowler is and a capable Lower order batter who plays for India and for Uttar Pradesh in domestic crick ...
*
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
(wicketkeeper) *
Mayank Agarwal Mayank Anurag Agarwal (born 16 February 1991)
ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2012-02-01. is an Indian in ...
(replacement for Vijay Shankar) *
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
*
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
*
Rishabh Pant Rishabh Rajendra Pant (born 4 October 1997) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a wicket-keeper batter. Having played all formats for India, he is best known for his consistency to score runs in Test ...
(reserve wicketkeeper, replacement for Shikhar Dhawan) *
Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-cla ...
 * Vijay Shankar *
Yuzvendra Chahal Yuzvendra Chahal (born 23 July 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team in white ball cricket as a leg spin bowler. He plays for Haryana in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier Le ...
* India's record: 7-2 and 1 washout (semifinalists) * England's record: 7-3 and 1 tie (champions)


India at the 2023 World Cup

As the hosts, India were considered favourites to win the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Their record prior to the Cup had been excellent, with a victory in the
2023 Asia Cup The 2023 Asia Cup will be the 16th edition of the Asia Cup, with the matches to be played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) in with hosts to be announced. The tournament will be played by 6 teams, and is scheduled to be held in September 2023 as ...
followed by a 2-1 win against Australia in a 3-match ODI series at home. The team for the Cup consisted of a top-heavy world-class batting line up comprising captain
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
,
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
, K. L. Rahul and a rising star in Shubman Gill, while the middle-order, though a bit shaky, still was quite strong with
Shreyas Iyer Shreyas Santosh Iyer (born 6 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a Right-handed batter. He has played in all formats for the Indian team. Iyer has scored a century in his debut test matc ...
as well as vice-captain and all-rounder
Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer. An All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, Pandya has played in all 3 formats for India. He also plays for Baroda cricket team in do ...
in good form. India also boasted of one of the strongest bowling attack among the teams participating in the Cup, consisting of the pace trio of
Jasprit Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah (born 6 December 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game. In the India's domestic cricket, he plays for Gujarat cricket team and Mumbai Ind ...
,
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
and
Mohammed Siraj Mohammed Siraj (born 13 March 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team as a Right-arm fast medium bowler. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Hyderabad in dom ...
, with the spinners
Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav (born 14 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bowls Left-arm Unorthodox spin bowler is and a capable Lower order batter who plays for India and for Uttar Pradesh in domestic crick ...
,
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
and
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
, in a surprise return to ODI cricket as a last-minute replacement for the injured
Axar Patel Axar Rajeshbhai Patel, also spelled as Akshar Patel, (born 20 January 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team in all formats of the game as a bowling All-rounder. He also plays for Gujarat in domestic cr ...
, complementing them. Kohli and Ashwin are the only remaining members of the Indian squad which took part and won the Cricket World Cup last held in India, back in 2011. The round-robin format, used in both 1992 as well as the previous edition, was retained for this tournament. India began their campaign with a win over Australia at
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. Australia, winning the toss and batting first on a dry wicket, crumbled against India's spin attack, with Jadeja (3/28) and Kuldeep (2/42), along with pacer Bumrah (2/35), doing the bulk of the damage, and were bowled all out for 199. India were troubled early on in the chase, with
Ishan Kishan Ishan Kishan (born 18 July 1998) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team as a wicket-keeper batsman. He made his international debut in March 2021 against England. He plays for Mumbai Indians in the ...
, Rohit and Iyer falling for consecutive ducks to leave India reeling at 2/3, thanks to pacer
Josh Hazlewood Josh Reginald Hazlewood (born 8 January 1991) is an Australian international cricketer. He is a tall pace bowler known for his accuracy and has been compared to former Australian paceman Glenn McGrath. Hazlewood currently ranks no.2 in ODI, no.1 ...
's opening spell. However, Rahul (97 not out off 115 balls, 8 fours and 2 sixes) and Kohli (85 off 116 balls, 6 fours) rebuilt with a 165-run stand for the fourth wicket, the highest fourth wicket partnership by India in a Cricket World Cup, which eventually led to a six-wicket victory for India. With this, Australia lost their opening World Cup match for the first time since 1992. India next played
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
at
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
, which they won easily. Bumrah's 4/39 restricted the Afghans to 272/8, despite half-centuries from skipper
Hashmatullah Shahidi Hashmatullah Shahidi ( ps, حشمت الله شاهدي; born 4 November 1994) is an Afghan cricketer and currently the captain of Afghanistan national cricket team in One Day International and Test cricket. He made his One Day International (OD ...
and
Azmatullah Omarzai Azmatullah Omarzai (Pashto عظمت الله عمرزی born 24 March 2000) is an Afghan cricketer from Nurgal District of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. Azmatullah started playing cricket when he was 14 years old. He made his interna ...
, both sharing a partnership of 121 runs for the fourth wicket. The target was easily chased down for the loss of just 2 wickets courtesy Rohit's whirlwind century (131 off 84 balls, 16 fours and 5 sixes), who shared an opening partnership of 156 runs with Kishan (47 off 47 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes), followed by an unbeaten half-century from Kohli (55 not out off 56 balls, 6 fours). India's next match was against arch-rivals
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
in a highly anticipated match at Ahmedabad. The match, despite the high expectations, turned out to be a no-contest in favour of India. A combined bowling effort from India caused Pakistan to crash to 191 all out, losing their last eight wickets for 36 runs. Only captain Babar Azam, who scored a half-century, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, who was unlucky to miss out on a half-century with his 49, contributed for Pakistan. In the chase, Rohit once again led the way with a blazing half-century (86 off 63 balls, 6 fours and 6 sixes), along with Iyer (53 not out off 62 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes), as India easily chased down Pakistan's total for a seven-wicket victory. With this win, India maintained its unbeaten record over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup. This was followed by a clinical seven-wicket victory over
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
at
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
. Bangladesh, batting first, began strongly, with openers Tanzid Hasan and
Litton Das Litton Kumer Das (Bengali: লিটন কুমার দাস; born 16 February 1994) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a test wicket-keeper. He made his international debut for Bangladesh in June 2015. He has score ...
scoring half-centuries to reach 93/0 in the fifteenth over. However, Jadeja (2/38), along with Bumrah (2/41) and Siraj (2/60), then strangulated the Bangladeshi run-rate with wickets at regular intervals, but a rearguard action from veterans
Mushfiqur Rahim Mushfiqur Rahim ( bn, মুশফিকুর রহিম; born 9 May 1987) is a Bangladeshi cricketer and the former captain and vice-captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keepe ...
and
Mahmudullah Mohammad Mahmudullah ( bn, মোহাম্মদ মাহমুদুল্লাহ; born 4 February 1986), also known as Riyad, is a Bangladeshi cricketer and former captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team in T20I. He has played ...
ensured the Tigers finished at a respectable 256/8. In reply, India were untroubled by the Bangladeshi bowling, with Kohli (103 not out off 97 balls, 6 fours and 4 sixes), scoring a classy century, putting him just one short of Tendulkar's world record of 49 ODI centuries, to take India home. Rohit (48 off 40 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes) and Gill (53 off 55 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes) too contributed earlier in the chase. Unfortunately for India, Pandya suffered a ligament tear in his ankle while bowling during this match and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the Cup. He was replaced by fast bowler
Prasidh Krishna Muralikrishna Prasidh Krishna (born 19 February 1996) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He is a right-arm medium fast bowler who regularly bowls a ...
while Rahul took over as vice-captain.World Cup: Hardik Pandya ruled out, Prasidh Krishna named replacement
/ref>KL Rahul appointed as Indian team vice-captain with Hardik Pandya out of Cricket World Cup
/ref> In their next match at
Dharamshala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855. The ...
, India overcame a tough fight from
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in a match between the then-unbeaten teams in the tournament to register a narrow four-wicket victory. Bowling first on a sluggish wicket, India started well, restricting the Black Caps to 30/2 in the tenth over, with the in-form opener
Devon Conway Devon Philip Conway (born 8 July 1991) is a South African born New Zealand cricketer who plays for the New Zealand cricket team. In March 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that Conway would be eligible to play for New Zealan ...
dismissed for a duck. But New Zealand fought back with a brilliant 130 from Daryl Mitchell, his second century of the tournament, and along with the Indian-origin allrounder
Rachin Ravindra Rachin Ravindra (born 18 November 1999) is a New Zealand international cricketer. He made his international debut for the New Zealand cricket team in September 2021. In December 2023, Rachin was signed by the Chennai Super Kings in the player ...
, who scored 75, attacked the Indian spinners Kuldeep and Jadeja and put up a partnership of 159 runs for the third wicket. Following Ravindra's dismissal however, the rest of the New Zealand batting crumbled with only Mitchell showing resistance, thanks to a five-wicket haul from Shami (5/54), who was playing his first match of the tournament, and lost their last 5 wickets for 30 runs to be bowled all out for 273. In response, despite a disciplined bowling performance from the Kiwis, India prevailed in the end courtesy Kohli's half-century (95 from 104 balls, 8 fours and 2 sixes). India broke their 20-year record of losing to New Zealand across ICC tournaments with this win. India then travelled to
Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
for their match against the defending champions
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, which they won by 100 runs. Batting first for the first time in the tournament after England won the toss and decided to field first, India struggled to get going on a slow wicket and managed only 229/9, with the bulk of the scoring done by Rohit (87 from 101 balls, 10 fours and 3 sixes), Suryakumar Yadav (49 from 47 balls, 4 fours and 1 six) and KL Rahul (39 from 58 balls, 3 fours). However, the bowlers turned the match around for India as none of the English batsmen could get going, collapsing to the pace of Shami (4/22) and Bumrah (3/32), as well as the spin of Kuldeep (2/24), and the defending champions crashed to 129 all out. Due to this victory, India broke another 20 year record in its favour; this was the first time in 20 years that India had defeated England in the World Cup. India became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup, as well as seal the round robin stage top spot (the third consecutive time that India did so) with massive victories over Sri Lanka and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
respectively. With a 302-run victory, the match against Sri Lanka at
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
was India's largest win in the Cricket World Cup in terms of runs. Gill (92 from 92 balls, 11 fours and 2 sixes) and Kohli (88 from 94 balls, 11 fours) shared a 189-run stand for the second wicket, and while both were dismissed in quick succession by Sri Lankan pacer
Dilshan Madushanka Lokumarakkalage Dilshan Madushanka (born 18 September 2000) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who currently plays Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka. He is a past pupil of Hungama Vijayaba Central College, Hungama. Domestic career He mad ...
, who eventually finished with a five-wicket haul, Iyer (82 from 56 balls, 3 fours and 6 sixes) further consolidated with a whirlwind half-century as the Indians finished at 357/8. Then the Indian pacers, led by Shami (5/18) and Siraj (3/16), destroyed the Sri Lankan batting, bowling them all out for just 55. With this match, Shami, with 45 wickets, became India's highest wicket taker across World Cups, going past the record of 44 wickets shared by
Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...
and
Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...
. In the match against the Proteas at
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, Kohli led the way with his 49th ODI hundred on his 35th birthday (101 not out from 121 balls, 10 fours), putting him level with Tendulkar's record. Along with Iyer (77 from 87 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes), he stitched a partnership of 134 runs for the third wicket as India scored 326/5 in 50 overs. In response, the South African batting, which had been dominant for most of the tournament, was brutally wrecked by the Indian bowlers led by Jadeja (5/33) and the Proteas eventually folded for a mere 83 to ensure a 243-run win. India finished the Round Robin stage with an easy 160-run win over
The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
at Bengaluru. The Indian batting dominated, with all the top five batsmen making 50+ scores. While Rohit (61 from 54 balls, 8 fours and 2 sixes), Gill (51 from 32 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes) and Kohli (51 from 56 balls, 5 fours and 1 six) contributed with half-centuries, with Rohit and Gill stitching a 100-run partnership for the first wicket, Iyer (128 not out from 94 balls, 10 fours and 5 sixes) and Rahul (102 from 64 balls, 11 fours and five sixes) went further and hit centuries, with Rahul's being the fifth fastest hundred across World Cups, and the duo broke the Indian Cup record for the fourth wicket partnership of 165 runs achieved earlier in the tournament with a world-record stand of 208. India finished at 410/4, the second highest score posted by India in the Cricket World Cup overall. Though the Dutch fought back quite impressively in the chase, with the Indian-born all-rounder
Teja Nidamanuru Anil Teja Nidamanuru (born 22 August 1994) is an Indian-born cricketer who plays for the Netherlands cricket team. He has also played for Auckland in New Zealand domestic cricket. Personal life Nidamanuru was born in Vijayawada, India. As of 2 ...
scoring a quick half-century, the target of 411 proved to be well beyond their reach and they were bowled all out for 250. As a result, India finished the Round Robin stage with an impressive all-win record, only the second time since 2015. In the semifinals, India played New Zealand at Mumbai, in what was billed as a rematch of the 2019 World Cup semifinal. However, this match went in favour of India as they would go on to win it by 70 runs. In this match, Kohli broke Tendulkar's world record for most ODI hundreds as he scored his 50th ODI ton (117 from 113 balls, 9 fours and 2 sixes), and also shared a partnership of 163 runs for the second wicket with Iyer (105 runs from 70 balls, 4 fours and 8 sixes), who scored his second consecutive hundred. Gill (80 not out from 66 balls, 8 fours and 3 sixes) too contributed earlier before retiring hurt with cramps while on 79, but came back at the end of the innings. India finished their innings at 397/4. In response, the Kiwis fought back, with Mitchell scoring his second consecutive century against India in the World Cup, sharing a partnership of 181 runs for the third wicket with skipper Kane Williamson, who was unlucky to miss out on a hundred with a score of 97. But Shami never allowed any of the other Kiwi batsmen to settle down, taking 7 wickets for 57 runs, which was the best ODI bowling figures by an Indian bowler overall as well as the best bowling performance in a World Cup knockout game, as the Black Caps folded for 327. With this victory, India qualified for the final, the first time since 2011, where they faced Australia. The final, held on 19 November 2023 at Ahmedabad, saw Australia winning the toss and electing to bowl first, taking into consideration a sluggish wicket and the dew factor during the second innings. India messed up badly while batting and were bowled all out for 240, thanks to a combined bowling effort from the Aussies. Only Rahul (66 from 107 balls, 1 four), Kohli (54 from 63 balls, 4 fours) and Rohit (47 from 31 balls, 4 fours and 3 sixes) contributed for India. Rohit was criticised for getting out to a cheap shot while trying to accelerate the scoring, while Rahul's slow innings as well as Suryakumar Yadav's inability to bat with the tailenders too took their share of criticism and were considered as some of the reasons why India could not cross 250. Australia were rocked early on in the chase, with Bumrah (2/43) and Shami (1/47) doing the early damage and snaring the wickets of
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...
,
Mitchell Marsh Mitchell Ross Marsh (born 20 October 1991) is an Australian international cricketer. Marsh has represented Australia in all three forms of cricket, making his debut during the 2011–12 season. Personal life Marsh is the second son of Geoff Ma ...
and
Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...
to leave them in a precarious position at 49/3. But
Travis Head Travis Michael Head (born 29 December 1993) is an Australian international cricketer. He is contracted to South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers for domestic matches. He is a left-handed middle-order batsman and a part-time right arm off-spin ...
turned things around with a brilliant 137 from just 120 balls, counterattacking the Indian spinners. He and
Marnus Labuschagne Marnus Labuschagne ( or ; born 22 June 1994) is a South African born, Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian cricket team in Tests and ODIs as a batter. He plays domestically for Queensland in Australian domestic c ...
, who scored a laborious 59 not out from 118 balls, shared 192 runs for the fourth wicket which took away the match from India. Australia won the match by 6 wickets and achieved their sixth World Cup title, with
Glenn Maxwell Glenn James Maxwell (born 14 October 1988) is an Australian professional cricketer, who represents Australia national cricket team in One Day International and Twenty20 International formats of the game and has played Test cricket for Australi ...
hitting the winning runs. India ended the tournament with a win-loss record of 10–1, with their only loss coming in the final. With 765 runs, three centuries and six half-centuries, Virat Kohli was adjudged as the Player of the Tournament and became the overall highest run-scorer across Cricket World Cups. Skipper Rohit Sharma, with 597 runs, and Shreyas Iyer, with 530 runs, also made it to the top 5 Indian batsmen who scored the most runs in a single Cricket World Cup, with Rohit also becoming the second highest run-scorer in the tournament overall. The bowling too shone, with Mohammed Shami, who played only in the second half of the tournament, becoming the highest wicket-taker of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, with 24 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah, with 20 wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja, who took 16 scalps, also made it to the top ten wicket-takers of this edition. Jadeja further shone in fielding, emerging as one of the top 5 fielders of this edition with 7 catches. Finally, with 17 dismissals, K. L. Rahul emerged as the second best wicketkeeper of the tournament. The Indian Squad that finished as the runner up of the 2023 World Cup comprised *
Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
(captain) *
Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer. An All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, Pandya has played in all 3 formats for India. He also plays for Baroda cricket team in do ...
 (vice-captain, later ruled out of the tournament due to injury) * K. L. Rahul (wicketkeeper, replaced Hardik as vice-captain) *
Axar Patel Axar Rajeshbhai Patel, also spelled as Akshar Patel, (born 20 January 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team in all formats of the game as a bowling All-rounder. He also plays for Gujarat in domestic cr ...
 (ruled out before the tournament began due to injury)Cricket World Cup 2023: R Ashwin replaces Axar Patel in India's 15-member squad
/ref> *
Ishan Kishan Ishan Kishan (born 18 July 1998) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team as a wicket-keeper batsman. He made his international debut in March 2021 against England. He plays for Mumbai Indians in the ...
(reserve wicketkeeper) *
Jasprit Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah (born 6 December 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game. In the India's domestic cricket, he plays for Gujarat cricket team and Mumbai Ind ...
*
Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav (born 14 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bowls Left-arm Unorthodox spin bowler is and a capable Lower order batter who plays for India and for Uttar Pradesh in domestic crick ...
*
Mohammed Shami Mohammed Shami Ahmed (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game as a right-arm fast bowler. He plays domestically for Bengal and in the Indian Premier L ...
*
Mohammed Siraj Mohammed Siraj (born 13 March 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team as a Right-arm fast medium bowler. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Hyderabad in dom ...
*
Prasidh Krishna Muralikrishna Prasidh Krishna (born 19 February 1996) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He is a right-arm medium fast bowler who regularly bowls a ...
(replacement for Hardik Pandya) *
Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...
(replacement for Axar Patel) *
Ravindra Jadeja Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Su ...
*
Shardul Thakur Shardul Narendra Thakur (born 16 October 1991) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right arm medium pace. Domestic career Thakur was initially criticized for his lack of height for ...
*
Shreyas Iyer Shreyas Santosh Iyer (born 6 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a Right-handed batter. He has played in all formats for the Indian team. Iyer has scored a century in his debut test matc ...
* Shubman Gill * Suryakumar Yadav *
Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...
* India's record: 10-1 (Runner up) * Australia's record: 9-2 (Champions)


India at the 2027 World Cup BD/h1>

The ICC confirmed that the 2027 Cricket World Cup will take place in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
,
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
in 2027, with the 2003 format being brought back.


India at the 2031 World Cup BD

The ICC confirmed that the 2031 Cricket World Cup will take place in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
in 2031, with the 2003 format being brought back.


Statistics


Key


Batting Records


Highest innings totals


Lowest completed innings


Highest successful run chase


Highest individual innings

''Check the above article for detailed statistics.''


Highest partnerships


Highest partnership for each wicket


Most runs


Most runs in a single tournament


Bowling records


Best innings figures


Most wickets


See also

* Cricket World Cup *
List of Cricket World Cup records The Cricket World Cup is a One Day International (ODI) competition in men's cricket. Organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament has taken place every four years since it was first held in Cricket World Cup in England. T ...
*
List of India One Day International cricket records One Day International cricket, One Day International (ODI) cricket is played between international cricket teams who are List of International Cricket Council members#Full Members, Full Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well ...
*
List of One Day International cricket records One Day International (ODI) cricket is played between international cricket teams who are Full Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well as the top four Associate members. Unlike Test matches, ODIs consist of one inning pe ...
*
India national cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...
* Republic of India


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:India At The Cricket World Cup India in international cricket History of the Cricket World Cup Indian cricket lists