India‘s dream of ending an ICC trophy drought suffered a massive setback on Sunday (June 11) at the Oval as Australia clinched their first World Test Championship (WTC) trophy by defeating Rohit Sharma and Co. by 209 runs. And with this, India’s dismal run continues in the ICC events.
The last time India successfully conquered the global cricketing tournament was in 2013 when the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Men in Blue defeated the strong England side in the Champions Trophy Final. Before that, India established their supremacy over the cricketing world as a superpower after clinching the 2011 ODI World Cup and 2007 T20 World Cup. They managed to win all the cricketing trophies across formats within six years.
Since then, India have failed to showcase their robustness in the knockout stages of the ICC tournaments. Despite the continuous changes in the captaincy, India haven’t been able to provide positive results in the international events. India have played eight knockout matches after the 2013 Champions Trophy title trumph, and lost all eight.
The trend clearly suggests that while India have played good cricket and piped other strong nations to book their spot for the knockout stages, they failed to provide the final punch either at the semis or in the final.
Be it the heart-breaking loss at the hands of Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2014 or the gut-wrenching loss in the semi-finals of the ICC ODI World Cup 2019 against New Zealand, India haven’t been able to get their bearings right in international events.
In the 2014 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, India suffered a six-wicket defeat despite cruising to the finals undefeated.
In the next year’s ODI World Cup 2015 in Australia, India couldn’t pass the host in the semi-final and were crashed out of the tournament.
The 2016 T20 World Cup was played under the leadership of the new captain, Virat Kohli. He was the man of the tournament and played a blinder of a knock against West Indies in the semis. But it was not enough against a star-studded West Indies line-up, who went on to become the Champions.
The 2017 Champions Trophy final was the summit clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. After their victory over Pakistan in the league stage, India was considered favourites. But Fakhar Zaman played a match winning knock and dismantled the hope of Indian fans.
India waited another two years for the next ICC tournament. The 2019 ICC World Cup was held in England, and the format was 50 overs. However, the result wasn’t fruitful as top order yet again failed in the semi-final against New Zealand.
The next knockout defeat once again came against the Blackcaps, but this time in the longest format. The WTC was introduced by the ICC to promote Test cricket, and in the end, it was India and New Zealand who could reach the summit clash of 2021. After two years of hard work, India slipped again when it mattered the most and lost to the Kiwis in Southampton.
The 2021 T20 World Cup held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) proved disastrous as Team India suffered a group-stage exit after facing defeats at the hands of Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two matches.
The 2022 T20 World Cup took place in Australia. India played some EXCEPTIONAL cricket in the league stage, including the famous victory over Pakistan on the back of Kohli’s epic knock. But England put a halt on India’s march and eventually became title holder after defeating Pakistan in the final.
India’s latest suffering came against Australia when they couldn’t chase down the 444-run target in the final of the second edition of WTC.