India qualified for the final in the World Cup , winning all ten matches but lost to Australia by 6 wickets in the ODI format in the 2023 edition of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. This time India was the host of the spectacular tournament that took place in ten different cities. Virat Kohli, the Indian run-machine was declared as the player of the tournament while Mohammad Shami was the highest wicket-taker.
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The 2023 World Cup- Highlights
This year’s Cricket World Cup is the thirteenth edition of its kind, organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). India was the host country. This spectacular festival of World Cricket started on 5th October and came to an end on 19th November. Australia took the title of World Champions and won the tournament. India qualified for the final but lost to Australia by 6 wickets. Ten national teams took part in the tournament. They were the teams of India, England, Pakistan, South Africa, Netherlands, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka.
The Indian team comprised of brilliant world-class batters like Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul and youth rising star Shubhman Gill. The team had a strong bowling squad with a flamboyant pace namely Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj. There were spinners of the form of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and R. Ashwin (in a last-minute substitute of Axar Patel). This requires a special mention that among the above players, Virat Kohli and R. Ashwin were also a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad of the Indian team.
India had won all ten-on-ten matches with a smashing performance at the semi-final with New Zealand. This requires a special mention as it is during this match that run machine, Virat Kohli created a record for most centuries in the ODI format beating his idol and master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. In the semi-final round, a destructive bowling attack by Mohammad Shami broke many world records. India became one of the favorite teams and qualified for the final to face the already five-time champions, the mighty Australian team under the captainship of Travis Head. Unfortunately, India lost to Australia.
Journey of India at World Cup
The Indian team has been an active participant in every edition of the World Cup since its inception in 1975, thus becoming the second-most successful team. India has become world champion twice in 1983 under the captainship of the Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev and in 2011 under the captainship of M.S. Dhoni where it became the first team to win the tournament on home soil. India reached the finals twice in the year 2003 under the captainship of Sourav Ganguly and in 2023 under Rohit Sharma.
In the inaugural match of 1975, India could not achieve the desired result despite having many stalwarts in the team. The 1979 tournament was disastrous for India with no wins. India scripted history with the 1983 World Cup tournament by winning for the first time.
India reached the semi-final quite several times in 1987, 1996, 2015 and 2019. 28 years after their maiden win in 1983, India once again won the tournament in 2011 under the captainship of M.S. Dhoni, thus becoming two-time world champions.
Cricket is one of the most unifying sports in India which is under the control of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). There are many formats in which the gentleman’s game is played. The World Cup is a 50-over ODI format which India has won twice. Every four years this tournament is played and national teams aspire to win this international event.
