England beat on Thursday India T20 semi-finals World Cup and ensured that one of the richest boards in the world has lacked ICC silverware since 2013. More than nine years have passed and one thing remains the same: coming so close, yet still – losing in the semifinals. Thursday’s defeat was one of the many knockout defeats Team India suffered. We take a look at past occasions which confirm that India have yet to break out of the semi-final battle.
1987- It was the semi-final of the Reliance World Cup – the first global tournament to be played in developing countries in the global south. Now India suddenly stood up against its colonial masters at the iconic Wankhede Stadium. He won the toss but made an error of decision by fielding first. England posted a respectable score (at the time) over 254/6 in 50 overs. Graham Gooch scored a century (115 off 136 balls), and was backed by Mike Gatting (56 off 62 balls). In reply, India had started well but the batsmen failed to kick. Kris Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar and Navjot Singh Sidhu all got out despite good starts. Only a young Mohammad Azharuddin persevered and scored 64, but that was not enough. England won the match by a margin of 35 runs. Surprisingly, Gooch was the Player of the Match despite a four-for from Eddie Hemmings and three-for-one for Neil Foster.
1996- In a World Cup game in India, Sri Lanka won or were forced to win as the Kolkata crowd went berserk at the iconic Eden Gardens. Sri Lanka had batted first and were reduced to 35/3 at one point. Despite this, he got off the hook and managed to score 251 runs on the board. What happened next was definitely beyond imagination! The pitch turned square and the Lankan spinners ruled the roost. Sanath Jayasuriya registers insane figures of 3/12! Meanwhile, only Sachin Tendulkar Managed to negotiate the offer and scored a half-century (65 out of 88). After he left, the crowd immediately realized the futility of the situation and started throwing water bottles and what not in anger. Match referee Clive Lloyd had to hand over the match to Sri Lanka. India were knocked out in the most unexpected way.
2015-India started the tournament well, beating arch-rivals Pakistan and South Africa. In fact, they beat the UAE, West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe to beat every other team when it mattered the most. Taking on the hosts, India lost the crucial toss in the second semi-final at the prestigious SCG. Australia had fun with the help of Steve Smith’s century (105 off 93 runs). Meanwhile, Aaron Finch played the second feud after scoring 81 runs in 116 balls. Chasing 329 runs, the Indian openers gave him a good start. But once that stand was broken, they were reduced to 178/5 and never looked like a win. captain M S Dhoni Scored 65 runs in one ball, but by then it was too late.
2016-After losing badly to New Zealand in the opener, MS Dhoni’s team made it to the last four on the back of some impressive victories over Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia. Nevertheless, against the West Indies they had a formidable unit that just knew how to play the modern day game better. India had won the toss on the belt of the Wankhede pitch and rode on man in form Virat Kohli (89 runs in 47 balls), he had posted a target of 193. But as the night skies prevailed, the bowlers struggled to catch the ball and the Men in Maroon took full advantage. Except Ashish Nehra, every other bowler had an economy rate north of ten. But the hero was Lendl Simmons who scored 82 off 51, while Andre Russell scored 43 off 20 as West Indies won with two balls to spare.
2019- India barely faced New Zealand in the semi-finals after just one loss in the entire tournament. Apart from this, he also had to deal with rain and damp conditions at Old Trafford where the game took place for two days. New Zealand had batted first and managed to post 239/8 on 9 July on the back of a solid half-century from the experienced Ross Taylor. He scored 74 off 90 and was supported by Kane Williamson who scored 67. As India set out to chase the next day, the target looked tight and the top order blew away. Only Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni protested. While the former scored 77, Dhoni scored 50 before a sharp throw from Martin Guptill found him short of the crease. Eventually, Kohli and his boys fell short of 18 runs.
2022-It is no secret that India probably never played their best cricket in the entire tournament. They were defeated by a very good South African side, struggling to go into the opening powerplays against Bangladesh and the Netherlands. However, they managed to reach the semi-finals by winning. Only Pakistan’s game was such a mistake that India seemed to thrive under pressure. Also this match was a microcosm of his entire tournament. He started slow and managed to score 38 runs in the opening powerplay. Later, by the end of the 18th over, they were on 136/4. Had Hardik Pandya (63 out of 33) not been there, India would not have scored 168 runs in the first place. Meanwhile, England defeated the competition in a run of 63 runs in the opening powerplay. Eventually, they ran out of the game as India showed no fight.
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