India’s tryst with ICC trophies remains jinxed as a decade has now passed since the side won an ICC trophy. India Cricket Team haven’t felt what it would feel like to clinch an ICC trophy since MS Dhoni’s men last did it at the Champions Trophy in 2013 and the World Cup in 2011. India lost both the WTC Final and ODI World Cup Final to Australia to end 2023 on a sour note.
So close, yet so far has been India’s story over the last seven years, with the team choking at every mega event possible. To start with, the team was eliminated in the semifinals of the ODI World Cup 2015. In 2019, the Virat Kohli-led side faced an unfortunate defeat at the hands of the Kiwis in the semis yet again.
Just when the World Cup was about to come home, India dashed a billion hopes by losing just one ODI in the entire World Cup 2023 campaign – the finals against Australia. Without any T20 trophy to their name since 2007, India’s drought in the shortest format has existed to date.
Twin heartbreaks top India’s 2023 form
A dominant side in the Test format, India transitioned well from the captaincy of Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma from the inaugural WTC final to the WTC 2023 finals. The result, however, was the same. India lost the WTC 2023 finals to the same team they lost the ODI World Cup 2023 – Australia.
Having lost the WTC Final 2021 to New Zealand, India seemed to be the favourites in 2023. They had just defeated Australia at home and the same side was up against them, albeit at a different venue. And as India did before that, they choked in the one-off final. Australia lifted the WTC Final mace.
Another final, another loss
The Pat Cummins-led side defeated India by 209 runs to become the first side to complete winning all ICC trophies. Scot Boland wreaked havoc on the Indian batters across both innings after Australia cemented a solid lead in the first innings. Thus, the heartbreak suffered by Virat Kohli-led India from the previous WTC final continued and will do so till the next cycle.
No, not at home please!
The next and the most important stop for redemption was the ODI World Cup 2023. Two factors – having won at home in 2011 and unluckily missing out on qualifying for the World Cup 2019 finals – seemed to have fueled Rohit Sharma and co to compete at an elite level. Starting their campaign with a bang against the same team they lost to in the finals, India won 10 games on the trot before losing the most important one – the final.
Australia drowned India in the finals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 19, breaking a billion hearts. What was more heartbreaking for the Indians fans was the fact that this could have might as well been the last ODI World Cup for stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The fact that Kohli has never himself won an ICC trophy despite leading the side for many years after Dhoni is more awful to digest.
While India’s ICC trophy drought is on, all eyes are now on the T20 World Cup 2024, which might be the last chance for India to finally break the jinx before legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retire.
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