Indian team despite performing well in the last three ODI World Cup editions, in the past editions especially during the inception of this tournament, have lost some games very badly. Here in this article, we will have a look on five of those games which happened some decades ago and were among the worst loses for the Indian side.
1. India vs England in 1975 World Cup
England team batting first in a 60-over ODI game posted a huge total of 334/4 with the help of a century from Dennis Amiss (137) and others like Keith Fletcher and Chris Old also scored fifties in the inaugural match of 1975 World Cup. Indian team in the run-chase never showed any intent to chase down 335 runs, especially the opening batter Sunil Gavaskar after playing 174-balls managed to score only 36 runs in total. The Indian team without showing any fight scored only 132/3 in 60 overs which meant they ended up losing this game by a big margin of 202 runs.
ENG – 334/4 (60)
Dennis Amiss – 137(47); Syed Abid Ali – 2/58 (12)
Keith Fletcher – 68(107); Mohinder Amarnath – 1/60 (12)
Chris Old – 51*(30); Madan Lal – 1/64 (12)
IND – 132/3 (60)
Gundappa Viswanath – 37(59); Peter Lever – 1/16 (10)
Sunil Gavaskar – 36*(174); Geoff Arnold – 1/20 (10)
Anshuman Gaekwad – 22(46); Chris Old – 1/26 (12)
India lost by 202 runs
Player of the Match: Dennis Amiss
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2. India vs Australia in 1983 World Cup (First meeting)
Indian team despite winning the ODI World Cup title in 1983 faced a small hiccup in group stage of the tournament by losing two consecutive matches to Australia and West Indies after winning the first two games of the tournament. Australia winning the toss opted to bat first and posted a huge total of 320/9 in 60 overs with the help of brilliant century from Trevor Chappell and his knock was well supported by fifties from skipper Kim Hughes and Graham Yallop.
Indian skipper alone fought single-handedly in this game by taking a five-wicket haul and scoring 40 runs with the bat as rest of them failed badly. Eventually, the Men in Blue ended up losing by a huge margin of 162 runs.
AUS – 320/9 (60)
Trevor Chappell – 110(131); Kapil Dev – 5/43 (12)
Graham Yallop – 66*(73); Madan Lal – 2/69 (12)
Kim Hughes – 52(86); Mohinder Amarnath – 1/27 (4)
IND – 158 (37.5)
Kapil Dev – 40(27); Ken MacLeay – 6/39 (11.5)
Kris Srikkanth – 39(63); Tom Hogan – 2/48 (12)
Madan Lal – 27(39); Geoff Lawson – 1/25 (5)
India lost by 162 runs
Player of the Match: Trevor Chappell
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3. India vs Australia in 2003 World Cup (Group Stage)
Australian team used to be the most dominant cricketing force in the world during early and mid 2000s period, hence India faced an uphill task while facing them in group stage of the tournament. India got bundled out for a total of just 125 runs while batting first as they failed to read their pace bowling attack and in reply the Aussies went onto chase this total inside just 22.2 overs with 9 wickets in hand.
IND – 125 (41.4)
Sachin Tendulkar – 36(59); Jason Gillespie – 3/13 (10)
Harbhajan Singh – 28(32); Brett Lee – 3/36 (9)
Anil Kumble – 16*(38); Darren Lehmann – 1/7 (4)
AUS -128/1 (22.2)
Adam Gilchrist – 48(61); Anil Kumble – 1/24 (7)
Matthew Hayden – 45*(49)
Ricky Ponting – 24*(24)
India lost by 9 wickets
Player of the Match : Jason Gillespie
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4. India vs Australia in 2003 World Cup (Finals)
Indian team in 2003 ODI World Cup reached the finals only for the second time after 1983 edition and faced the mighty Aussie challenge in the tournament once again. India winning the toss invited Australia to bat first and they posted a huge total of 359/2 in 50 overs with the help of a stunning century from skipper Ricky Ponting.
India chasing 360 runs were never in the contention to win this game as they kept losing wickets at regular interval and all they managed was to reach only 234 runs in total of 39.2 overs.
AUS – 359/2 (50)
Ricky Ponting – 140*(121); Harbhajan Singh – 2/49 (8)
Damien Martyn – 88*(84)
Adam Gilchrist – 57(48)
IND – 234 (39.2)
Virender Sehwag – 82(81); Glenn McGrath – 3/52 (8.2)
Rahul Dravid – 47(57); Andrew Symonds – 2/7 (2)
Sourav Ganguly – 24(25); Brett Lee – 2/31 (7)
Yuvraj Singh – 24(34); Andy Bichel – 1/57 (10)
India lost by 125 runs
Player of the Match: Ricky Ponting
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5. India vs Bangladesh in 2007 World Cup
Indian team who were considered as favorites to win the World Cup title shockingly lost to a minnow side like Bangladesh by 5 wickets and made an early exit in group stage itself.
IND – 191 (49.3)
Sourav Ganguly – 66(129); Mashrafe Mortaza – 4/38 (9.3)
Yuvraj Singh – 47(58); Mohammad Rafique – 3/35 (10)
Zaheer Khan – 15*(17); Abdur Razzak – 3/38 (10)
Munaf Patel – 15(15)
BAN – 192/5 (48.3)
Mushfiqur Rahim – 56*(107); Virendra Sehwag – 2/17 (5)
Shakib Al Hasan – 53(86); Munaf Patel – 2/39 (8.3)
Tamim Iqbal – 51(53); Zaheer Khan – 1/41 (9)
India lost by 5 wickets
Player of the Match: Mashrafe Mortaza
