ICC World Cup Knockouts: Recent Loss, India’s 8th in WC Tournaments

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Updated: March 13, 2020
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The Indian women’s team lost the final of the Women’s World T20 last Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That was their only loss in their superlative World Cup campaign where they looked favorites to win. The loss was India’s eighth (Men & Women combined) in major ICC World Cup knockouts. India won their last major ICC tournament in 2013. They won the ICC Champions Trophy by beating hosts England in a close game. Since then, in every ICC event India has entered as the favorites, but has unfortunately failed to win the most crucial games.

Since the 2013 Champions Trophy win under MS Dhoni, the men’s team has reached 2 more finals (World T20 2014, Champions Trophy 2017) and 3 semi-finals (2015 World Cup, 2016 World T20, 2019 World Cup), losing all three matches. Indian women’s team, on the other hand, have now reached 2 finals (2017 World Cup, 2020 T20 World Cup) and another semi-final appearance in the 2018 edition of the T20 World Cup losing all the matches as well.

Here is a detailed summary of India’s losses in ICC World Cup knockouts since 2013.

2014 World T20 Final

India and Sri Lanka met in the final, in what was a repeat of the 2011 World Cup final. Sri Lanka completed sweet revenge as they beat their counterparts by six wickets. India managed to score 130 at the end of their 20 overs, thanks to Virat Kohli’s 77. Yuvraj Singh failing to get on during the final overs of the Indian innings hurt India’s momentum badly. He scored just 11 off 21 deliveries literally wasting the deliveries. A helpless MS Dhoni watched everything unfold from the dressing room. This was also the farewell series for Lankan greats Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Sangakkara even scored an unbeaten 52 to guide his side to a memorable win. This was the first of eight losses for India in the ICC World Cup knockouts since 2013.

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2015 World Cup Semi-Final

Tournament favorites India and Australia took on each other in the 2015 World Cup semi-final in Sydney. Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. Steve Smith (105) and Aaron Finch (81) led the Aussies with the bat as they scored 328 for 7. Umesh Yadav took four wickets for India.

India wobbled in their chase, losing wickets at regular intervals after losing the first for 76. MS Dhoni scored a run-a-ball 65 but there was no support from the lower order as India fell short by 95 runs and finishing at 233. Australia were rather rampant on India on that particular day.

2016 World T20 Semi-Final

Touted as favorites to win the title at home, India faced a dominant Windies in the semi-final. India scored a competitive 192 after being put into bat first. Virat Kohli scored 89 with contributions from Rohit Sharma (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (40).

However, the Windies muscle power proved too much for the Indian bowlers who travelled the distance on that night. Lendl Simmons (82) and Andre Russell (43) smashed nine sixes between and chased down the score with two balls to spare. Losing the semi-final at home was perhaps India’s biggest loss in ICC World Cup knockouts.

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2017 Champions Trophy Final

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan met at the final of the ICC Champions trophy 2017. While India were again touted as the favorites, no one really counted Pakistan’s chances. However, what transpired in the contest was for everyone to remember. Pakistan scored 338 for 4 on the back of a brilliant century by Fakhar Zaman (114). Azhar Ali (59) and Mohammad Hafeez (57) also came up with important contributions.

In reply, India were bundled out for 158 as none of the batsmen except Hardik Pandya (76) got runs. Virat Kohli, who was playing his first ICC knockout game as captain scored just 5. The likes of MS Dhoni (4), Yuvraj Singh (22) and Rohit Sharma (0) also were dismissed cheaply. This was Pakistan’s first win over India in any ICC event. This semi-final loss was also one of India’s worst in ICC World Cup knockouts.

2017 Women’s World Cup Final

After the men’s team lost the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final in June, the Indian women’s team lost the final of the 2017 Women’s World Cup in July. India faced favorites England in the final. Chasing a modest target of 229, India at 191 for 3 looked like they had the trophy in their grip with Punam Raut leading the way with 86 runs. Looking good to chase down the score, India then lost the momentum completely. They lost seven wickets for just 28 runs to lose the game at the end by nine runs.

2018 Women’s World T20 Semi-Final

India played England once again in a World Cup knockout game and once again they lost. India scored just 112 with none of their top-order batters going onto score big runs. Moreover, the absence of Mithali Raj from the playing XI raised a few questions which went onto take bigger shape after the end of the tournament.

England chased down the score inside 18 overs with Natalie Sciver and Amy Elle Jones scoring fifties. The Heather Knight led-team once again proved their might against India.

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2019 World Cup Semi-Final

Once again a Virat Kohli -led team made the knockouts of an ICC knockout. In a semi-final played over two days, India fell short by just 18 runs. Once again the Indian team were considered favorites after having a memorable league phase. However, amid overhead conditions with the ball swinging a lot, the Indian batsmen fell pray to the swing of Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Virat Kohli scored just three as India failed to counter the moving ball. Chasing a modest total of 240, India were reduced to 24/4 inside the first 10 overs. A defiant 50 by MS Dhoni was not enough to see India home as they lost yet lost in the ICC World Cup knockouts for yet another time.

2020 Women’s T20 World Cup Final

Yet another time a strong Indian team failed to make the big night count. Australia posted a mammoth 184/4 with Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney scoring seventies. The Indian bowlers found no answers to the attacking style of playing from the Aussies.

When it was their turn to chase the score down, they came up with a dismal display. They were finally bowled out for 99 handing Australia an 85-run victory and their fifth T20 title.