India at the World Cups (since 1983): Favourites for a Reason

India at the World Cups: Favourites for a Reason

From 60 overs to 50 and from day matches to day-night ones, cricket world cups have come a long way since they began in 1975. And so has team India. From being underdogs, the team is now one of the favourites and this is quite evident from the players which the Indian team possesses. On this note let us have a tour of India's outings at the world cups, since 1983. 

1983: The Unexpected Victory

1983 is the year that will be eternally etched in the memory of millions of Indian cricket fans. The 1983 World Cup win is considered to be one of the greatest achievements in the history of Indian cricket. The Indian team, despite having the likes of Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Dilip Vengsarkar were infact not even expected to move beyond the group stage of the highly competitive tournament. After beginning the world cup well, with two consecutive wins against Zimbabwe and West Indies, India were staring at another early exit with two consecutive losses against West Indies and Australia in the next two matches. In the last group-stage, must-win match against Zimbabwe, India began disastrously before Kapil Dev steered the team to a respectable total of 266/8. The 175(138) innings by Kapil Dev, considered to be one of the greatest knocks, proved to be a match-winner as Zimbabwe folded up for 235 handing India a 31-run win. India needed to defeat Australia in the next match in order to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. After being given a target of 248, Indian bowlers put up a clinical performance on the field with Madan Lal and Binny picking up 4 wickets each and eventually led to India winning the match by a whopping 118 runs. The victory saw India finishing second in the group and securing a berth in the semifinals where it was to face hosts England. India produced another upset at the semifinals by defeating England by 6 wickets on their own soil and moving to the finals. After dismissing England for 213 runs, Indian batsmen Sandeep Patil, Sharma and Amarnath did well to win the match by 6 wickets. The finals turned out to be a cracker of a match as the cricketing world was in for a major shock as minnows India defeated favourites and defending champions West Indies. After being bowled out for a paltry 183 in 55 overs, West Indies at one stage were cruising at 55/2. Amarnath and Madan Lal took 3 wickets each to hand West Indies a shocking defeat. The 1983 World Cup turned out to be a major turning point for cricket in India, increasing its popularity and enabling it to move beyond urban areas.

Player	Date of Birth	Batting Style	Bowling Style	First Class team
Kapil Dev (c)	6 January 1959	Right hand	Right arm fast-medium	Haryana
Mohinder Amarnath	24 September 1950	Right hand	Right arm medium	Delhi
Kirti Azad	2 January 1959	Right-hand	Right-arm off-spinner	Delhi
Roger Binny	19 July 1955	Right-hand	Right-arm fast-medium	Karnataka
Sunil Gavaskar	10 July 1949	Right hand	Right arm medium Right arm offbreak	Bombay
Syed Kirmani (wk)	29 December 1949	Right-handed	Wicket-keeper	Karnataka
Madan Lal	20 March 1951	Right-hand	Right-arm medium	Delhi
Sandeep Patil	18 August 1956	Right-hand	Right-arm medium	Bombay
Balwinder Sandhu	3 August 1956	Right-handed	Right arm medium-fast	Bombay
Yashpal Sharma	11 August 1954	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	Punjab
Ravi Shastri	27 May 1962	Right-hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Bombay
Krishnamachari Srikkanth	21 December 1959	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm offbreak	Tamil Nadu
Sunil Valson	2 October 1958	Right-hand	Left-arm medium	Delhi
Dilip Vengsarkar	6 April 1956	Right hand	Right arm medium	Bombay

Source: Wikipedia

Source: bcci.tv

1987: Records tumble till the Semis

After a convincing win in the 1983 World Cup, India were billed as pre-tournament favourites as the 1987 edition was co-hosted by India and Pakistan. After a narrow 1-run defeat handed by Australia due to the collapse of the middle order, a 16-run win against New Zealand boosted India’s confidence. The rest three matches in the group stage were dominated by India, against Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Australia. The match against New Zealand saw a new record with Chetan Sharma picking up the first hat-trick in a world cup, which incidentally the first hat-trick by an Indian in an ODI. In the semifinals, England dominated the match from the start, with Graham Gooch’s 115 taking England to a strong score of 254/6. India faltered in the chase with Azharuddin (64 off 74) the only one with a significant contribution and ended up being bowled out for 219 in the 46^th over. Though India were not able to defend the title successfully, there were a lot of positives in this tournament with wicketkeeper Kiran More effecting the highest number of dismissals (11) while Kapil Dev taking the highest number of catches (6).

Player	Date of Birth	Batting style	Bowling style	First class team
Kapil Dev (c)	6 January 1959	Right hand	Right arm fast-medium	Haryana
Mohammad Azharuddin	8 February 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Hyderabad
Roger Binny	19 July 1955	Right hand	Right arm fast-medium	Karnataka
Sunil Gavaskar	10 July 1949	Right hand	Right arm medium Right arm offbreak	Bombay
Maninder Singh	13 June 1965	Right hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Delhi
Kiran More (wk)	4 September 1962	Right hand	Right arm leg spin Wicket-keeper	Baroda
Chandrakant Pandit	30 September 1961	Right hand	-	Bombay
Manoj Prabhakar	15 April 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium pace	Delhi
Chetan Sharma	3 January 1966	Right hand	Right arm fast-medium	Haryana
Ravi Shastri	27 May 1962	Right hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Bombay
Navjot Singh Sidhu	20 October 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Punjab
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan	31 December 1965	Right hand	Right-arm leg break Right-arm googly	Tamil Nadu
Krishnamachari Srikkanth	21 December 1959	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm offbreak	Tamil Nadu
Dilip Vengsarkar	6 April 1956	Right hand	Right arm medium	Bombay

Source: Wikipedia

Source: ESPN CricInfo

India were not expected to perform well in the 1992 World Cup which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand and being played in a Round Robin format with every team playing matches with the other 8 teams and the top four making it to the playoffs. The reason was India’s weak bowling. India lost the first match, against England by just 9 runs. This was followed by the abandoning of the next match against Sri Lanka due to rain giving India its first point. In the next match against Australia, the co-hosts ended with 237/9 on board. Due to rain, the revised target was 235 in 47 over, which India fell short by just 1 run. India’s first win came against arch-rivals Pakistan which slumped to a 43-run defeat. As expected, India won the next match against Zimbabwe, which was run curtailed. But a loss against West Indies saw India crashing out of the tournament. With a revised target of 195, West Indies finished comfortably, dashing all hopes of India making it to the semifinals. The last two matches were both one-sided defeats for India, against New Zealand and debutants South Africa. Ironically, Pakistan, one of the only 2 teams defeated by team India, went on to win the world cup that year.

Player	Date of birth	Batting style	Bowling style	First-class team
Mohammad Azharuddin (c)	8 February 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Hyderabad
Subroto Banerjee	13 February 1969	Right hand	Right-arm medium-fast	Bengal
Sachin Tendulkar	24 April 1973	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm leg break Right-arm off-break	Bombay
Ajay Jadeja	1 February 1971	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Haryana
Vinod Kambli	18 January 1972	Left hand	Right-arm off-break	Bombay
Kapil Dev	6 June 1959	Right hand	Right-arm fast-medium	Haryana
Ravi Shastri	27 May 1962	Right hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Bombay
Sanjay Manjrekar	12 July 1965	Right hand	Right arm off-spin	Bombay
Kiran More (wk)	4 September 1962	Right hand	Wicket-keeper	Baroda
Manoj Prabhakar	15 April 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium pace	Delhi
Venkatapathy Raju	9 July 1969	Right hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Hyderabad
Krishnamachari Srikkanth	21 December 1959	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm offbreak	Tamil Nadu
Javagal Srinath	31 August 1969	Right hand	Right arm fast	Karnataka
Pravin Amre	14 August 1968	Right hand	Right-arm leg break	Bengal

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Sportskeeda

Source: ESPN CricInfo

1996: The Sri Lankan Semis' shocker

In the next world cup in 1996, India were expected to perform well, with it being a co-host along with Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It seemed to be a strong team at all fronts, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, captain Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Navjot Sidhu strengthening the batting lineup while Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Manoj Prabhakar forming the backbone of the Indian bowling attack. India started well, with winning two consecutive matches, against Kenya and West Indies with both sides setting paltry targets which India chased down easily. India faced defeats at the hands of Australia and Sri Lanka in the next two matches. Meanwhile Sachin Tendulkar, was fast emerging as a mature cricketer with scores of 90 and 137 in these two matches. With a thumping victory against Zimbabwe, thanks to Kambli’s 106 and opener Sidhu’s 80, India finished third in the group and securing a quarterfinal berth. Facing arch-rivals Pakistan in the quarterfinals, the grit and determination of the batsmen saw India setting a formidable target of 288. Despite a great start, Pakistan ended up with 248/9 and lost to India by 39 runs. The semifinals against Sri Lanka were notorious for the extremely poor crowd behavior, resulting in the umpires awarding the match to Sri Lanka as the crowd was getting out of control and seeing that India at 120/8 had no chance of chasing down 252. Tendulkar’s consistency was the biggest positive of the tournament. With 523 runs at an average of over 87, Tendulkar finished as the highest run scorer of the tournament.

Player	Date of birth	Batting style	Bowling style	First-class team
Mohammad Azharuddin (c)	8 February 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Hyderabad
Sachin Tendulkar (vc)	24 April 1973	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm leg break Right-arm off-break	Mumbai
Vinod Kambli	18 January 1972	Left hand	Right-arm off-break	Mumbai
Aashish Kapoor	25 March 1971	Right hand	Right-arm offbreak	Rajasthan
Anil Kumble	17 October 1970	Right hand	Right-arm leg spin	Karnataka
Sanjay Manjrekar	12 July 1965	Right hand	Right arm off-spin	Mumbai
Nayan Mongia (wk)	19 December 1969	Right hand	Wicket-keeper	Baroda
Manoj Prabhakar	15 April 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium pace	Delhi
Venkatesh Prasad	5 August 1969	Right hand	Right-arm medium-fast	Karnataka
Navjot Singh Sidhu	20 October 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Punjab
Javagal Srinath	31 August 1969	Right hand	Right arm fast	Karnataka
Ajay Jadeja	1 February 1971	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Haryana
Salil Ankola	1 March 1968	Right hand	Right-arm fast	Mumbai
Venkatapathy Raju	9 July 1969	Right hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	Hyderabad

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Sportskeeda

Source: ESPNcricinfo

1999: Tumbling in the Super Six

The 1999 World Cup in England had a new Super Six format from top three teams of the two groups qualified further for a round-robin format. India began the tournament on a low, losing out to South Africa despite good performance by Ganguly and Dravid. The next match against Zimbabwe turned out to be a thriller, with India falling short by just 3 runs. The last 3 wickets fell for just 2 runs as India folded for 249 chasing 252. India made up for these losses by convincing victories against Kenya and Sri Lanka. While the match against Kenya saw a humongous total of 329/2 courtesy centuries by Dravid and Tendulkar, the match against Sri Lanka saw India clinch a record victory by a mammoth 157 runs. India finished second and qualified for the Super Six. Australia defeated India in the first match while India won the second one against Pakistan. In the last must-win match against New Zealand, India lost by 5 wickets with 8 balls to spare, ending India’s run at the tournament. Australia went on to win the 1999 edition of the World Cup.

N.	Player	Date of birth	Batting style	Bowling style	First-class team
1	Mohammad Azharuddin (c)	8 February 1963	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Hyderabad
2	Sourav Ganguly	8 July 1972	Left hand	Right-arm medium	Bengal
3	Ajay Jadeja (vc)	1 February 1971	Right hand	Right-arm medium	Haryana
4	Sadagoppan Ramesh	16 October 1975	Left hand	Right-arm offbreak	Tamil Nadu
5	Rahul Dravid	11 January 1973	Right hand	Right arm off spin	Karnataka
6	Robin Singh	14 September 1963	Left hand	Right-arm medium-fast	Tamil Nadu
7	Ajit Agarkar	4 December 1977	Right hand	Right-arm fast-medium	Mumbai
8.	Anil Kumble	17 October 1970	Right hand	Right-arm leg spin	Karnataka
9	Nayan Mongia (wk)	19 December 1969	Right hand	Wicket-keeper	Baroda
10	Sachin Tendulkar	24 April 1973	Right hand	Right-arm medium Right-arm leg break Right-arm off-break	Mumbai
11	Venkatesh Prasad	5 August 1969	Right hand	Right-arm medium-fast	Karnataka
12	Nikhil Chopra	19 August 1973	Right hand	Right-arm offbreak	Uttar Pradesh
13	Debasis Mohanty	20 July 1976	Right hand	Right-arm fast-medium	Odisha
14	Javagal Srinath	31 August 1969	Right hand	Right arm fast	Karnataka
15	Amay Khurasiya	18 May 1972	Left hand	Slow Left arm	Madhya Pradesh

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Sportskeeda

2003: Sachin's Centuries guide India to the Finals

The 2003 World cup, co-hosted by South Africa and Zimbabwe saw India winning the first match against minnows Holland, in a low-scoring encounter. The next match saw India losing the match by 9 wickets to Australia in a one-sided match due to India’s low total which was triggered by the middle-order collapse. India emerged winners in the next two matches against co-hosts Zimbabwe and minnows Namibia. India then finished the group stage on a high, by handing out 82-run and 6-wicket defeats to England and Pakistan respectively. India were largely untroubled in the Super Six stage, with it winning all 3 matches. Beating Kenya by 6 wickets, Sri Lanka by 183 runs and New Zealand by 7 wickets, India were having a dream run in the World Cup. But the finals against Australia came as a major shock as the formidable batting lineup of Australia backed by Hayden, Ponting and Martyn guiding Australia to a record 359/2. India faltered in the chase and bundled up for 234, losing to the same team to which it had lost to, in the group stage. Sachin Tendulkar with a whopping 673 runs , ended up as the ‘Man of the Tournament’ with the record still unbeaten.

No.	Name	Date of birth	Batting	Bowling style	ODIs[6]	Domestic team
24	Sourav Ganguly (c)	8 July 1972	LHB	Right arm medium	218	Bengal
9	Ajit Agarkar	4 December 1977	RHB	Right arm fast medium	110	Mumbai
66	Sanjay Bangar	11 October 1972	RHB	Right arm medium fast	11	Railways
5	Rahul Dravid (wk)	11 January 1973	RHB	Right arm off spin	196	Karnataka
11	Mohammad Kaif	1 December 1980	RHB	Right arm off spin	37	Uttar Pradesh
34	Zaheer Khan	7 October 1978	RHB	Left arm fast medium	56	Baroda
18	Anil Kumble	17 October 1970	RHB	Right arm leg spin	238	Karnataka
28	Dinesh Mongia	17 April 1977	LHB	Slow left arm orthodox	32	Punjab
64	Ashish Nehra	29 April 1979	RHB	Left arm fast medium	30	Delhi
20	Parthiv Patel (wk)	9 March 1985	LHB	WK	13	Gujarat
44	Virender Sehwag	20 October 1978	RHB	Right arm off spin	57	Delhi
3	Harbhajan Singh	3 July 1980	RHB	Right arm off spin	63	Punjab
12	Yuvraj Singh	12 December 1981	LHB	Slow left arm orthodox	59	Punjab
7	Javagal Srinath	31 August 1969	RHB	Right arm fast medium	229	Karnataka
10	Sachin Tendulkar	24 April 1973	RHB	Right arm leg spin	303	Mumbai

Source: Wikipedia

Source: sportskeeda, livemint

2007: An Early Exit

India went into the 2007 World Cup with a decent World Cup squad with three players having more than 10,000 runs (Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly). The format was a new one, in which top 2 teams from each group would proceed to the Top 8 which had a round-robin format. India began the world cup disastrously as Bangladesh chased down the paltry target of 192 easily. The next match saw India setting a record target of 414. In response, Bermuda were bowled out cheaply for 156. The next match ended India’s hopes as Sri Lanka inflicted a 69-run defeat as India crashed out in the group stage itself, for the first time since 1992. 

No.	Player	Date of Birth	ODIs[4]	Batting	Bowling style	First-class team
19	Rahul Dravid (c)	11 January 1973	306	Right	Right arm off break	Karnataka
12	Yuvraj Singh	12 December 1981	163	Left	Slow left arm orthodox	Punjab
68	Ajit Agarkar	4 September 1971	180	Right	Right arm fast medium	Mumbai
7	M.S. Dhoni (wk)	7 July 1981	66	Right	wicket-keeper	Jharkhand
21	Sourav Ganguly	8 July 1972	285	Left	Right arm medium	Bengal
3	Harbhajan Singh	3 July 1980	147	Right	Right arm off break	Punjab
99	Dinesh Karthik	1 June 1985	13	Right	Wicket-keeper	Tamil Nadu
34	Zaheer Khan	7 October 1978	113	Right	Left arm fast medium	Mumbai
37	Anil Kumble	17 October 1970	268	Right	Right arm leg break	Karnataka
13	Munaf Patel	12 July 1983	17	Right	Right arm medium fast	Maharashtra
56	Irfan Pathan	27 October 1984	73	Left	Left arm medium fast	Baroda
2	Virender Sehwag	20 October 1978	160	Right	Right arm off break	Delhi
36	Sreesanth	6 February 1983	27	Right	Right arm fast medium	Kerala
10	Sachin Tendulkar	24 April 1973	381	Right	Right arm leg break	Mumbai
17	Robin Uthappa	11 November 1985	8	Right	Right arm medium	Karnataka

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Arun Chullikkal- Wordpress.com, sportskeeda

2011: History repeats itself, India emerge victorious!

As co-host of the 2011 World Cup, India began as favourites in the tournament. With an 87-run win against Bangladesh, India started its campaign confidently, backed by Sehwag’s 175 and Kohli’s unbeaten 100 which helped India post a formidable total of 370/4. The next match was a thriller with India, at one time looking to post a 350+ total was all out for 338 courtesy Tim Bresnan’s 5/48. However, at 280/2, when England were cruising towards an extraordinary victory, Zaheer took the wickets of Strauss(158), Bell and Collingwood, India were back in the game. Tailenders Bresnan, Swann and Shehzad hit sixes in the last few overs with the match ending in a tie with England finishing 338/8. After defeating Ireland and minnows Holland with the help of Yuvraj’s half centuries, in the next match against South Africa, Tendulkar’s 111 and later a collapse resulted in India setting a target of 297, which South Africa chased down easily. India clinched a 80-run victory against West Indies in the last league match to qualify for the playoffs. In the semifinals, facing arch-rivals Pakistan, India posted 260/9 with Sehwag’s 36(25), Tendulkar’s 85(115) and Raina’s 36(39). Pakistan never took off and were all out for 231 with a ball remaining. The highly anticipated final saw Sri Lanka accelerating and scoring 91 runs in the last 10 overs setting a target of 275, with the help of Sangakkara’s 48 and Jayawardene’s unbeaten 103. Malinga started off superbly, removing Sehwag and Sachin cheaply. After Kohli left for 35, India were stranded at 114/3. Gambhir and Dhoni stitched together a 91 run partnership, with Dhoni blasting a massive six to win the game for India. Yuvraj, who took 15 wickets and scored 362 runs was declared the ‘Man of the Tournament’.

No. Player Date of Birth ODIs[1] Batting Bowling style List A team 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C & wk) 7 July 1981 (aged 29) 177 Right Right-arm medium  Jharkhand Virender Sehwag (vc) 20 October 1978 (aged 32) 228 Right Right-arm offbreak  Delhi 5 Gautam Gambhir 14 October 1981 (aged 29) 105 Left Right-arm legbreak  Delhi 10 Sachin Tendulkar 24 April 1973 (aged 37) 444 Right Right arm leg break  Mumbai 12 Yuvraj Singh 12 December 1981 (aged 29) 265 Left Slow left-arm orthodox  Punjab 48 Suresh Raina 27 November 1986 (aged 24) 110 Left Right-arm offbreak  Uttar Pradesh 18 Virat Kohli 5 November 1988 (aged 22) 45 Right Right-arm medium  Delhi 28 Yusuf Pathan 17 November 1982 (aged 28) 45 Right Right-arm offbreak  Baroda 34 Zaheer Khan 7 October 1978 (aged 32) 182 Right Left-arm fast-medium  baroda 3 Harbhajan Singh 3 July 1980 (aged 30) 217 Right Right-arm offbreak  Punjab 64 Ashish Nehra 29 April 1979 (aged 31) 116 Right Left-arm medium fast  Delhi 13 Munaf Patel 12 July 1983 (aged 27) 71 Right Right-arm medium fast  Baroda 36 S. Sreesanth1 6 February 1983 (aged 28) 51 Right Right-arm medium fast  Kerala 11 Piyush Chawla 24 December 1988 (aged 22) 21 Left Right-arm legbreak  Uttar Pradesh 99 Ravichandran Ashwin 17 September 1986 (aged 24) 7 Right Right-arm offbreak  Tamil Nadu

¹ Sreesanth replaced Praveen Kumar, who was originally selected before pulling out due to injury.

Source: Wikipedia

Source: reuters, CricWizz

2015: A Curious Case of 'so close, yet so far'...

As defending champions, India started off as favourites in the 2015 World cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. India won all the league stage matches. It won by 76 runs against Pakistan while it handed a huge 130-run defeat to the Proteas. India then achieved back to back victories against the UAE and West Indies. After an easy win against Ireland, Zimbabwe gave India a scare as India slumped to 92/4 chasing 288 before Raina’s 110(104) and Dhoni’s 85(76) lifted India to a victory in the last group stage match. India won the quarter finals against Bangladesh comfortably by 109 runs. But a loss against Australia meant India was again out of the world cup in the semifinals. After posting a huge total of 328/7, Australia successfully restricted to 233 to end its unbeaten run so far in the tournament.

No.	Player	Date of Birth	ODIs	Batting	Bowling style	List A or Domestic team	CWC 15[289]	Refs
7	Mahendra Singh Dhoni(c & wk)	7 July 1981 (aged 33)	254	Right	Right-arm medium	Jharkhand	8	[290][291]
18	Virat Kohli (vc)	5 November 1988 (aged 26)	150	Right	Right-arm medium	Delhi	8	[292][293]
99	Ravichandran Ashwin	17 September 1986 (aged 28)	88	Right	Right-arm off break	Tamil Nadu	8	[294][295]
84	Stuart Binny	3 June 1984 (aged 30)	9	Right	Right-arm medium	Karnataka	0	[296][297]
25	Shikhar Dhawan	5 December 1985 (aged 29)	53	Left	Right-arm off break	Delhi	8	[298][299]
8	Ravindra Jadeja	6 December 1988 (aged 26)	111	Left	Slow left-arm orthodox	Saurashtra	8	[300][301]
15	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	5 February 1990 (aged 25)	44	Right	Right-arm medium fast	Uttar Pradesh	1	[302][303]
20	Akshar Patel	20 January 1994 (aged 21)	13	Left	Slow left-arm orthodox	Gujarat	0	[304][305]
27	Ajinkya Rahane	5 June 1988 (aged 26)	46	Right	Right-arm medium	Mumbai	8	[306][307]
3	Suresh Raina	27 November 1986 (aged 28)	207	Left	Right-arm off break	Uttar Pradesh	8	[308][309]
5	Ambati Rayudu (wk)	23 September 1985 (aged 29)	27	Right	Right-arm off break	Baroda	0	[310][311]
11	Mohammed Shami	9 March 1990 (aged 24)	40	Right	Right-arm fast	Bengal	7	[312][313]
1	Ishant Sharma1(withdrawn)	2 September 1988 (aged 26)	76	Right	Right-arm fast-medium	Delhi	0	[314][315]
6	Mohit Sharma1	18 September 1988 (aged 26)	12	Right	Right-arm medium fast	Haryana	8	[316][317]
45	Rohit Sharma	30 April 1987 (aged 27)	127	Right	Right-arm off break	Mumbai	8	[318][319]
19	Umesh Yadav	25 October 1987 (aged 27)	74	Right	Right-arm fast	Vidarbha	8

On 7 February, Ishant Sharma was ruled out of the World Cup, after failing to recover from a knee injury. He was replaced by Mohit Sharma.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources: Sportskeeda, News Nation

2019: A Semis' Debacle

India were again considered favourites in the 2019 World Cup held in England due to their ensuing form. The first match against South Africa turned out to be one-sided when Rohit’s 122 helped India to an easy 6-wicket victory. The second match against Australia too turned out to be a one-sided one with India posting a mammoth 352/5. Though Warner, Smith and Carey chipped in with useful 56, 59 and 55 respectively, Australia eventually folded up for 316, losing by 36 runs. The third match against New Zealand was abandoned due to run, with not even a ball being bowled. India continued its unbeaten form against arch-rivals Pakistan, as they lost by 89 runs (D/L method). The next match against Afghanistan turned out to be a thriller with India scoring its lowest total 224/8. Some good bowling figures by Bumrah, Shankar and Shami resulted in Afghanistan eventually falling short by just 11 runs with captain Nabi (52 off 55) almost steering his team to a victory. India won the next match against West Indies easily by a huge margin of 125 runs. The first loss of the World Cup 2019 for India came against England who posted a formidable 337/7 in 50 overs. In response, India could only manage 306 runs. The next match against Bangladesh turned out to be a single-sided affair though Bangladesh put on a tough fight. Chasing 315, Bangladesh slumped to 179/6 before Saifuddin and Rahman put up some runs valiantly before Bangladesh folded up for 286 and lost by 28 runs. The last match against Sri Lanka ended in an easy victory for India. After slumping to 55/4 in the 12^th over, Mathews along with Thirimanne put up a 124-run stand to help Sri Lanka to a respectable total of 264/7. Swashbuckling centuries from both Rahul and Rohit ensured that India won the match comfortable with 7 wickets in hand. The semifinal against New Zealand turned out to be a thriller, and was spread across 2 days. After an early collapse and a slow start, half centuries by Blackcaps’ captain Williamson and Ross Taylor helped New Zealand to 239/8 ensured they had something decent to defend. India had the worst possible start with the top 3 batsmen falling for a run each and left India reeling at 5/3. Later, a brilliant partnership by Jadeja (77 off 59) and Dhoni (50 off 72) brought hopes alive before they fell in consecutive overs to dash India’s hopes of moving to the finals. The Black Caps won the match by 18 runs, moving to the finals where they face England, who beat Australia in the other semifinal.

S/N	Player	Date of birth (age)	ODIs	Role	Batting	Bowling style	List A or domestic team
15	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	5 February 1990 (aged 29)	105	Bowler	Right	Right-arm medium-fast	Uttar Pradesh
21	Dinesh Karthik	1 June 1985 (aged 33)	91	Wicket-keeper-batsman	Right	—	Tamil Nadu
33	Hardik Pandya	11 October 1993 (aged 25)	45	All-rounder	Right	Right arm medium-fast	Baroda
93	Jasprit Bumrah	6 December 1993 (aged 25)	49	Bowler	Right	Right-arm fast-medium	Gujarat
1	K. L. Rahul	18 April 1992 (aged 27)	14	Batsman	Right	—	Karnataka
81	Kedar Jadhav	26 March 1985 (aged 34)	59	Batsman	Right	Right-arm off spin	Maharashtra
23	Kuldeep Yadav	14 December 1994 (aged 24)	44	Bowler	Left	Left-arm wrist spin	Uttar Pradesh
11	Mohammed Shami	3 September 1990 (aged 28)	63	Bowler	Right	Right-arm fast-medium	Bengal
7	MS Dhoni (wk)	7 July 1981 (aged 37)	341	Wicket-keeper-batsman	Right	Right-arm medium	Jharkhand
8	Ravindra Jadeja	6 December 1988 (aged 30)	151	All-rounder	Left	Left-arm orthodox	Saurashtra
45	Rohit Sharma (vc)	30 April 1987 (aged 32)	206	Batsman	Right	Right-arm off spin	Mumbai
25	Shikhar Dhawan	5 December 1985 (aged 33)	128	Batsman	Left	Right-arm off spin	Delhi
59	Vijay Shankar	26 January 1991 (aged 28)	9	All-rounder	Right	Right-arm medium	Tamil Nadu
18	Virat Kohli (c)	5 November 1988 (aged 30)	227	Batsman	Right	Right-arm medium	Delhi
3	Yuzvendra Chahal	23 July 1990 (aged 28)	41	Bowler	Right	Right-arm leg spin	Haryana

Source: Wikipedia

Sources: Cricbuzz

To sum up India's run at the world cups:

Location/Year	Round	Games	Won	Tied/No result	Lost	Captain
1975	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	S Venkataraghavan
1979	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	S Venkataraghavan
1983	Champions	8	6	0	2	Kapil Dev
1987	Semifinals	7	5	0	2	Kapil Dev
1992	Round-Robin Stage	8	2	1	5	M Azharuddin
1996	Semifinals	7	4	0	3	M Azharuddin
1999	Super Six	8	4	0	4	M Azharuddin
2003	Runner Up	11	9	0	2	Sourav Ganguly
2007	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	Rahul Dravid
2011	Champions	9	7	1	1	MS Dhoni
2015	Semifinals	8	7	0	1	MS Dhoni
2019	Semifinals	10	7	1	2	Virat Kohli
Total	Two time Champions	85	53	3	29

White: Group/Round-Robin Stage

Green: Quarterfinals/Super Six

Light Blue: Semifinals

Silver: Runner Up

Gold: Champions

    © Debabrata Malik

Thanks for patiently reading the whole article. I have deliberately excluded some stats and events because if I had included them all, the article would have been quite bulky. The Indian team has surely evolved over the years (not talking about the jersey alone!). It has come a long way, from underdogs to favourites. It won't be wrong to say that it has a huge untapped potential thanks to its huge population and the widespread popularity of the sport in the country.

Good luck Team India
#BleedBlue

-Debabrata Malik, Team India supporter forever