The Indian cricket team is one of the most prominent teams in the world of cricket. Whenever they are on the ground, hopes are always high & team India fans always want them to win.
In recent times, the Indian cricket team has given some splendid performances in all three formats. They reached the finals of the World Test Championship, defeated England in the test series & have shown some of the best performances in the T20 pattern.
Still, somehow, things don’t look good for team India in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup tournament. They lost their first match to their arch-rivals Pakistan & after that, they faced a crushing defeat against New Zealand on Sunday. Their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals are not looking good. In the coming week, they will be up against Afghanistan, Scotland & Namibia.
It’s not the first time team India is in such a situation. We have seen them not qualifying for the semi-finals or failing in the knockout stage. In this article, we will refresh our memory of 4 instances where the Indian cricket team failed to get past the knockout stage in ICC tournaments.
4) 2014 ICC World Twenty20
If you recall the performance of the Indian cricket team in 2014 in the T20 format, you will realize that history is repeating itself. The team had all the attributes to win the 2014 ICC World T20 cup. They had depth in their bowling, their batting lineup looked great & had the strongest middle order in the tournament.
They dominated the finals against South Africa but couldn’t win the finals against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka successfully put a full stop to Indian innings for 131 in 20 overs & chased the target in 17.5 overs.
3) 2015 ICC World Cup
After an unsuccessful tour against Australia in 2015, fans had their doubts about team India to defend the title they won in 2011. In the beginning, they produced a great performance against Pakistan & won all the matches in the group stage.
After a solid performance in the quarter-finals, team India faced Australians & Aussies completely changed the course of the tournament of the Indian cricket team. They dominated the whole match, gave a big score of 328 to chase & more than that, India’s batting order completely collapsed.
2) 2016 ICC World Twenty20
It was India that was hosting the T20 world cup in 2016. Team India won the Asia cup just before that & were favorites of everyone. This all changed after the loss in their first match of the tournament against New Zealand.
They won their next matches against Pakistan & Bangladesh, but their performance was not good enough to defeat West Indies in the semi-finals. West Indies eventually won the 2016 T20 World Cup. Just to refresh your memory, this is the same world cup where men in blue won scored a thrilling win against Bangladesh by 1 run.
1) 2017 ICC Champions Trophy
2017 ICC Champions trophy was conducted by England & Wales cricket board in England & Wales. With the help of the DLS method, Men in Blue defeated Pakistan in their opening match. India’s weakness was visible in their second match against Sri Lanka. Their bowling attack completely failed & in turn, Sri Lanka won the game easily. In the final group stage match against South Africa, India made a comeback & made their place solid in the semi-finals.
In the semis, team India faced Bangladesh & completely dominated the match by winning it in just 40.1 overs. They were back to face Pakistan in the finals, & everyone was expecting India to win again. Pakistan’s dominating performance in both batting & bowling stopped India to do so. They scored 339 in 50 overs to which India’s batting lineup completely failed & lost the finals by 180 runs.
