World Cup 2023: India's ICC trophy drought continues after loss to Australia
World Cup 2023: India's ICC trophy drought continues after loss to Australia
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India’s trophy drought in ICC events continued after losing the 2023 ODI World Cup final to Australia in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The latest defeat, by 6-wickets, means India have not won an ICC trophy since 2013 Champions Trophy which came under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
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Since then, India have featured in nine knockout matches, including the semi-finals and finals of tournaments, but failed to win a title.
India have lost two consecutive World Test Championship finals, in 2021 and 2023, while exiting the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups during the semi-final stage. Men in Blue also lost the 2017 Champions Trophy.
The story also holds true in the shortest format with the T20 World Cups. The team lost the 2014 edition in the final and were sent packing in the last-four stage in 2016 and 2022.
Before the 2023 edition, Rohit Sharma had said in an interview, “Every year there is an ICC trophy now. If you don’t win it’s an unsuccessful year! People just forget what good work has happened in these 10 months. Rightly, as the Indian cricket team, we are expected to win major trophies. We are one of the top teams in the world. We have to be good at it. It has been disappointing for sure.”
India had entered the 2023 Cricket World Cup final as the only unbeaten side. However, they were no match for Australia in the final. Aussie seamers did the damage early on to restrict India to just 240 runs with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scoring fifties. In reply, Australia started poorly but were then carried home with utter ease by Marnus Labuschagne and centurion Travis Head.
For India this was a great opportunity to replicate the success of the 2011 side which won the tournament in its backyard. India had already broken couple of jinxes during the tournament: by beating New Zealand for the first time in ICC events in two decades and reaching the final undefeated.
