Kolkata: Team India cricketers are among the wealthiest in the world; BCCI is the richest cricket Board; India conducts the most popular and lucrative T20 league.
Yet, the Rohit Sharmas and Virat Kohlis continue to flounder in ICC-conducted world-level tournaments.
On Sunday at London’s KIA Oval, the Rohit-led Indians added another inglorious chapter as they went down to Australia by 209 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Outplayed for most part of the five-day game, India went into the final day needing 280 runs to win with 7 wickets intact, and the Kohli-Ajinkya Rahane pair at the wicket. In yet another abysmal display of batting, India folded up after losing 7 wickets for 70 runs a matter of just 2 hours.
On a good batting track, India’s famed stars got starts and looked promising before throwing their wickets away playing reckless shots. But for Rahane’s gutsy 89 in the first innings, not a single batsman registered a half-century whereas two Australian betters – Travis Head and Steve Smith – smashed hundreds to put Australia on top.
Two years ago, Kohli-captained India had qualified for the final of the maiden WTC cycle as well, only to surrender to New Zealand by 8 wickets.
India’s last ICC-level triumph came in the 2013 Champions Trophy, when they pipped hosts England in the final.
Since then, India have featured in 4 of the 9 ICC finals, and lost all.
TEAM INDIA’S RECORD IN ICC EVENTS SINCE 2014
2014 T20 World Cup – Runners-up (captain MS Dhoni)
2015 ODI World Cup — Semifinals (captain MS Dhoni)
2016 T20 World Cup — Semifinals (captain MS Dhoni)
2017 Champions Trophy – Runners-up (captain Virat Kohli)
2019 ODI World Cup — Semifinals (captain Virat Kohli)
2021 WTC – Runners-up (captain Virat Kohli)
2021 T20 World Cup — Super 12 (captain Virat Kohli)
2022 T20 World Cup 2022 — Semifinals (captain Rohit Sharma)
2023 WTC – Runners-up (captain Rohit Sharma).
