1983, 2003, 2011 World Cup finals: How India fared in 3 grand finales

India are set to play their World Cup final on November 19 as they lock horns with five-time champions Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. How did fare in the previous 3 World Cup finals?

The Cricket World Cup started in 1975. India, which saw the game grow from being played only in colonial gymkhanas to being taken to every nook and corner of the country by the time the English left, have played in all editions of it. However, it was not until 1983 that someone took the team from South Asia seriously.  

Kapil’s Devils did the unthinkable at Lord’s in 1983

Led by young all-rounder Kapil Dev, the Indian cricket team was not the favourites even remotely. They reached the semi-final, helter-skelter and then managed to beat fancied England to make it to their first-ever final.

 

In the final. Nobody in their wildest dreams would have imagined that West Indies would lose to India. But India, which had beaten the team from the Caribbean in the group stage once in World Cup, knew that the Windies were a beatable side.

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However, smarting from the only group stage loss, the Windies embarked on a mission and gout the India side out for 183. Even during those initial days of ODI cricket, 183 was not considered a winning total or even a defendable total by any standards. Kapil and his bowling unit did not heed any such talks and got the big wickets of Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes and Clive Lloyd.

Suddenly, the Windies were 76/6 and staring at an unprecedented final defeat. The defeat came eventually as India were crowned the champions for the first time and Kapil holding the trophy on the Lord’s balcony became an iconic image in Indian cricket.

Ricky Ponting stole the show in 2003

It was supposed to be India’s best-ever chance since 1983 to win a World Cup as both Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were in the best of their batting form. However, Ricky Ponting had other ideas. Earlier, Australia had beaten India in a group-stage game, the only match that India lost in the entire tournament. The Aussies were undefeated, though.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, Sourav Ganguly and his team looked to take advantage of the overnight rain. However, that didn’t work as Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath bowled wayward lengths and faced the fury of the all-out attack from Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, who added 105 for the first wicket.

After they fell, Australian captain Ricky Ponting walked in alongside Damien Martyn and the pair didn’t get out. They added 234 in only 181 balls to take Australia to their then-highest ODI score of 359/2 in 50 overs. Ponting hit a magnificent hundred, scoring 140 in just 121 balls to put huge pressure on the Indian side.

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Instead of recovering from the horrid show in the field, India slumped into misery when they lost their best batter- Sachin Tendulkar- in the first over itself. From there onwards, they kept chasing the game and never reached the target, getting all-out for 234 in the 40th over and losing the final by an embarrassingly high margin of 125 runs.

Dhoni finished it off in style in 2011

Never before had a team hosting the tournament managed to win the World Cup title. But nine World Cups later, a confident MS Dhoni from a small town, Ranchi in Jharkhand, did it. Dhoni created history by leading the first-ever team to win the trophy on its home soil. India were not the favourites at the start of the tournament even though they were the hosts.

But as the tournament progressed, the team started to gel well and made it to the quarterfinals as the second-best in the group behind South Africa. India's game against England ended in a tie, while Proteas came back brilliantly after a superb start from Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. MS Dhoni's men snapped Australia's unbeaten streak across three World Cups in the quarterfinal. And amid massive build-up, they overcame the Pakistani challenge in the semi-finals to make it to the final.

In the final, Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and decided to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene scored a century even as other batters failed to convert their starts. A dash later on from Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera with the bat helped the Lankans reach a competitive total of  274/6.

India lost Virender Sehwag in the first over, and Sachin returned to the pavilion shortly. Two down, Gautam Gambhir rose to the occasion, much like the 2007 T20 World Cup. He scored 97 before getting run out. Dhoni played a captain’s knock, scoring an unbeaten 91. And MS Dhoni's iconic six at Wankhede Stadium delivered India's ODI World Cup title after 31 years. Ravi Shastri famous lines of “Dhoni finishes off in style, And party begins in India” still echoes in ears of billion fans.