The Indian cricket team’s participation in International Cricket Council (ICC) events is always a newsworthy topic to follow in the sporting world, and more so as the country is set to host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year.
Team India, currently led by Virat Kohli, have five ICC trophies to their name and are just one of the four countries to have won the three major ICC tournaments - the World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy.
Barring India, West Indies (also five trophies), Pakistan and Sri Lanka (three trophies each) have bagged all the major ICC tournaments. The Indian cricket team, however, is the first to win all ICC trophies.
Here are the ICC trophies won by India:
ICC Cricket World Cup - 1983
India’s legacy as a cricket giant began in 1983 when a Kapil Dev-led team defied the odds - 66 to 1 - to outclass Clive Lloyd’s West Indies to win the 1983 World Cup. It was the first ICC trophy won by India.
Until then, the very mention of the Indian cricket team didn’t carry much significance in the sporting world. But it all changed as an underdog triumph against two-time defending champions West Indies changed the face of cricket in India.
Kapil’s Devils - a term given to the 14-member team that travelled to England for the showpiece event - faced Clive Lloyd’s men thrice in the competition, winning the first and losing the second. But their third meeting was the most crucial affair, as the odds of a new champion emerging at the iconic Lord’s were significantly low.
But thanks to Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath, India silenced the 24,609 attendees in the final at the Lord’s Cricket Ground and scripted the first cricket match that uplifted the nation, with a 43-run win.
ICC Champions Trophy - 2002
The 2002 Champions Trophy is the first and only ICC trophy where a clear winner wasn’t decided, as hosts Sri Lanka and India were declared joint winners. It marked nearly two decades since India’s last ICC trophy win.
Sri Lanka, the pre-tournament favourites, made their way into the final courtesy of comfortable group stage results and a decisive seven-wicket win over Ricky Ponting’s Australia. On the flip side, India played with a relatively young team and secured a ticket to the final with a hard-fought 10-run win over South Africa.
However, what Sri Lanka and India didn’t see coming was rain disruption that washed out the finals not once but twice. Ultimately, the Asian cricket giants shared the spoils.
ICC T20 World Cup - 2007
A relatively new competition and a new captain certainly raised concerns about India’s performances in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup.
MS Dhoni, then 26 years old, was given the reins of the team captaincy as Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar ruled themselves out of contention for T20I cricket’s showpiece event in 2007. Thus, with a largely inexperienced squad, the onus was on the Ranchi-born cricketer to work out a miracle.
The now-retired Indian cricket legend is revered for his sharp cricketing brain and fearless attitude in making bold calls as a captain. While there have been days where his decisions may not have won the game in India’s favour, some of them turned out to be memorable match-winners that scripted history.
One such was the decision to have Joginder Sharma bowl to Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq in the final over of the 2007 final. After conceding seven runs off the first two deliveries, Sharma got Misbah to scoop a miscued shot that fell in S Sreesanth’s hands and sealed India’s first T20 World Cup.
ICC Cricket World Cup - 2011
In 2011, an era-defining six from Indian captain MS Dhoni in the final against Sri Lanka ended India’s 28-year wait for the ICC World Cup. But overall, it was Yuvraj Singh - with 362 runs and 15 wickets - who anchored the victorious campaign that served as a perfect send-off to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
India lost just one match in the competition, against South Africa in the group stage. Although this accounted for their status as favourites to win the title, they needed convincing wins over Australia (quarter-finals) and the semi-final against arch rival Pakistan to administer full authority as title contenders.
Given to chase a target of 275, the Men in Blue suffered early blows with Tendulkar and Sehwag’s dismissals but came back on track with Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni’s 109-run partnership. Gambhir’s failure to get a century in the final was indeed sad but he is still remembered as someone who laid the foundation for India’s memorable run chase.
Dhoni and Yuvraj put on an unbeaten 54-run stand for the fifth wicket and wrapped up the historic affair with a six-wicket win and 10 balls to spare.
This victory made India the first host nation to win the ODI Cricket World Cup.
ICC Champions Trophy - 2013
The 2013 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy was a page-turner for Indian cricket, as it was slowly recovering from the spot-fixing and betting issues in the Indian T20 League. MS Dhoni and Co. didn’t let the media onslaught faze them as they registered commanding results against the likes of Pakistan (group stage) and Sri Lanka (semi-final) to book a meeting with hosts England.
In Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, India found a top-order pairing akin to that of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag but they faltered in the final at Birmingham. This fixture, however, brought out a hero in Ravindra Jadeja who scored a match-defining 33 runs and scalped two wickets.
Despite Ravi Bopara’s all-round show, England fell short by five runs and handed India their second Champions Trophy title. The victory meant India became the first team to win all ICC trophies and MS Dhoni became the first captain to lead the country in those triumphs.
The triumph also marked Indian winning all the ICC trophies within six years and MS Dhoni is the only captain in world cricket to win all three ICC trophies.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / MANAN VATSYAYANA
