India’s recent failures to win an ICC tournament are well documented. They are yet to win any ICC silverware post their Champions Trophy win in 2013. India has made it to the semis of all ICC events bar one in 2021 but failed to win any. The team in general has been below par on the big day. But at times it has also been the individuals that have let the team down. A few painful knocks in ICC events have cost India dearly.
We look at a few such painful Indian knocks in World Cups:
#6 Sourav Ganguly, 2007
He made a strong comeback into the Indian team in 2006-07. But Sourav Ganguly in all honesty had his best years behind him. India’s opening game against Bangladesh saw him scoring a 129-ball 66 as an opener. He was the only Indian batsman to hit a fifty in the innings but his knock did the side more harm than good.
India limped their way to 191 in 49.3 overs. Bangladesh won the game with 7 wickets and 9 balls to spare. India couldn’t progress to the next round of the ODI World Cup.
#5 Ravindra Jadeja, 2009
India was playing a must-win game against England in the super eights. England had set India a score of 154. India lost their first two wickets cheaply at the score of 24. To everyone’s surprise in walked Ravindra Jadeja at number 4. He failed to provide any momentum to the innings as he scored 25 off 35 balls. It pushed India back massively.
MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan who stitched an unbeaten partnership of 63 in 6 overs were left with too much to do. India was duly knocked out in the super eight stages itself.
#4 Ajinkya Rahane, 2016
It is one knock that doesn’t get as much criticism as other knocks on this list. On a flat Wankhede wicket in the semis against West Indies in the 2016 T20 World Cup, Rahane scored 40 runs off 34 balls. It was his knock that held India back from touching the daunting 200 run-mark.
The West Indies in reply hit their way to the total in the last over. In a game that saw an average run rate of 9.6, Rahane scored at just around 6.6 per over. The Windies outhit India and eventually went on to win the World Cup.
#3 Yuvraj Singh, 2014
It was arguably the most painful sight an Indian fan had witnessed in a T20 World Cup. A multiple World Cup winner, Yuvraj Singh scored the most painstaking 11 runs in T20 World Cup in 2014.
Virat Kohli who was going all guns blazing at the other end watched haplessly as Yuvraj just struggled to put bat to ball. His 11 runs came from 21 balls as India finished with just 129 runs on the board. They wasted a golden chance to become the first side to win the T20 World Cup twice.
#2 MS Dhoni, 2019
It is a knock that still divides Indian fans. India was in a big hole when chasing a tricky score of 240. MS Dhoni batting in at number 7 walked in with the side at 71-5. The former Indian captain once again took the game deep in his often preferred style. But with the pressure mounting, the decision didn’t pay off.
Dhoni worked his way to a 72-ball 50 but much of his innings lacked any intent. He had a fabulous Jadeja batting at the other end but Dhoni did him nothing of note to ease the pressure on Jadeja. India once again went down in a semifinal that they had every chance to win.
#1 Rohit Sharma, 2022
It has to be one of the most ironic moments in Indian cricket. Rohit Sharma is India’s best white-ball opener just behind Sachin Tendulkar. But his knock in the semis of the 2022 T20 World Cup was anything but that. Sharma failed to time the ball for the majority of his innings. He fell for 27 facing 28 balls against a decent bowling lineup.
His partnership with Virat Kohli restricted India from touching 190, a score that would have been just about par. The fact that India’s two best white-ball batsmen failed to push the tempo headlines India’s era of reluctance in the big games.
