2015 ODI World Cup, eliminated in semi-final. 2017 Champions Trophy; lost in final. 2019 ODI World Cup; eliminated in semi-final. Such has been India’s story in ICC one-day tournaments after winning Champions Trophy – their last major global trophy – in 2013.
India’s wretched luck in ICC tourneys has been spread across formats since 2013. More frustratingly, they have been dominant in the bilateral engagements and in multi-nation events before losing sheen in the knockouts.
Since the start of 2015, India have taken part in as many as 44 ODI series (bilateral or multi-nations) and have emerged victorious in 29 of them. Despite such an impressive record, an ICC trophy continues to evade them.
In the 2023 ODI World Cup, the team has been unstoppable. They have won all their nine matches of the league stage to top the points table and enter the semis as the only unbeaten side.
Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts.
Naturally, their current form makes India the firm favourites to win the title but they have a big mountain to climb before that. And that mountain goes by the name of ‘knockouts’ which is the stage where they generally falter in global events.
“(India) look great, don’t they?” Australia legend Michael Hussey told Fox Cricket.
“Their squad looks amazing. They’ve got all the bases covered, really. They’re playing with confidence. They look like they’re loving it at the moment. Obviously they look like the team to beat, no question,” he added.
For Hussey the first question regarding India’s title challenge was whether Rohit Sharma and co would perform under the huge pressure of home crowd.
While they have aced the test so far, the next big challenge is of course, the semis.
“For me, the question mark coming in was, could (India) handle that home pressure, playing in front of their home crowd and delivering,” Hussey said.
“I still want to see them play in the knockout stage, where you lose, you go home. Does that change their mentality at all? It might not at all, and they might breeze through and win the tournament, but they’ve still got to show us that they can do that,” he added.
Hussey says the team has been playing well so far but wonders if their approach will change considering what’s riding on the knockouts.
“Does that (knockouts) put a little bit of doubt in their mind? Does that just make you tense up or go into your shell a little bit more? It’s a different kind of pressure. They’re good enough, don’t get me wrong, but you’ve got to perform on the big stage,” he said.
Comments
0 comment