It was heartbreak in Ahmedabad. As the Indian juggernaut rolled on at the 2023 World Cup (50-over format), nobody thought that the team would fall at the final hurdle. But Pat Cummins had other ideas. He dished out a tactical masterclass in the final – a 4-5 field without a mid-off and bowling on a leg stump line – and India didn’t have a Plan B. Australia won the World Cup defeating the hosts and India now have a chance to avenge it, as the two sides meet again at the T20 World Cup Super Eights fixture in Gros Islet on Monday.
This is the biggest rivalry in cricket. Fans get hyped up over the India-Pakistan contest, but that is more down to the geo-political tussle between the two neighbours. As far as cricket is concerned, India have de-hyphenated Pakistan and their record at the ICC events attests to that. India versus Australia, on the other hand, is a pure cricketing rivalry, without any political undertones.
For the better part of the 20th century, it was a one-sided affair – India only putting up a fight when playing at home. Things started to change in the new millennium, under Sourav Ganguly. The Eden Gardens Test in 2001 was the defining moment in Indian cricket. Winning the Test series against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australia gave the country’s cricket a new swagger.
When India toured Down Under for a four-Test series a couple of years later, they returned with honours even. A great rivalry was born.
Australia, though, held sway in the World Cups. They beat India in the 2003 World Cup final, secured a thumping victory at the 2015 World Cup semi-final and broke a billion hearts in last year’s World Cup final. They also won the World Test Championship final in 2023 by defeating India.
Indian success against Australia at ICC events, on the other hand, has been few and far between. They downed the Aussies in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final, and before that, at the 2007 World T20, India secured a 15-run victory in the semi-final. On both occasions, India went on to lift the trophy. And there’s also a bigger achievement... Like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, who always had Paris, India will always have the Gabba. Back-to-back Test series victories in Australia, in 2018-19 and 2020-21, were special.
Back to the T20 World Cup fixture on Monday, and India have an opportunity to push their biggest rivals to the brink. If Australia lose and Afghanistan win against Bangladesh, the Aussies would be eliminated.
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