Hyderabad: When India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign on June 5 against Ireland, they will have one goal set for them. Putting an end to the ICC trophy drought the side has been going through after winning the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Out of the eight editions of the tournament played so far, India have only one trophy in their cabinet which came in 2007 when Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the national side to the title run with young guns in the roster.
Star batter Rohit Sharma will lead the side in the upcoming edition for the Men in Blue, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be his deputy. India will go into the tournament with a powerful batting lineup but finishing duties might be their issue of concern considering the form of the lower-order batters Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. The onus to lead the pace department will be on Jasprit Bumrah as Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj didn't have the best of the season in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).
Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024, let us go through India’s journey in the past editions.
- India Won Inaugural Edition
The inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007 brought a lot of excitement and hype around it as T20 was a new format for the world. The Indian team was not given high chance as they were coming into the tournament in the absence of senior players.
Also, they had played only one T20I game before the start of the coveted tournament. It was a young team and was led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Although they were not rated highly, Men in Blue punched above their weight and lifted the silverware beating Pakistan in the final.
Coming into the final, India were up against Pakistan and the game went down the wire. With the match going down the wire, Pakistan needed 13 runs from the last over. Misabh-ul-Haq smacked a six on the second delivery of the 20th over and it reduced the equation to six runs from four balls. But Misbah tried to play a scoop but provided a catch to S Sreesanth who was stationed at short fine-leg and India won the inaugural edition.
India had another brilliant campaign in 2014 but the final turned out to be the roadblock for the side. Virat Kohli shined in the campaign for the national side amassing 319 runs with an average of 106.33. His stellar performance played a key role in India’s solid run and the right-handed batter continued his red-hot form in the final against Sri Lanka by playing a knock of 77 runs.
But, the Sri Lankan pace duo of Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara allowed Indian batters to take only 15 runs from the last three overs and it ended up with India posting just 130/4 on the scoreboard. Sri Lanka then chased down the target in 18 overs and with six wickets in hand.
India made it to the semi-final in the 2016 edition but they suffered a loss against West Indies as Lendl Simmons tore apart the opposition bowlers with his aggression. The right-handed batter was given several lifelines during his stay at the crease and he capitalised on it fully with a knock of unbeaten 82 runs from 51 balls. None of the bowlers were able to stop him from wreaking havoc and Virat Kohli’s sublime fifty in the first innings went in vain with West Indies chasing the target of 193 with ease in the semi-final.
When India reached the semi-final of the 2022 edition, it seemed like the Indian team might win an ICC event after a long wait. But, the team stumbled at the final stage of winning the silverware and failed to defend a below-par total of 169. The total was so low considering the surface that England chased it without loss of any wickets. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales scored fifties and the lack of attacking intent from the Indian batting unit cost them a defeat.
Coming into the 2009 edition, there were a lot of expectations from the defending champions. But, they failed to live up to the expectations and ended up with only one victory in the tournament against Ireland and exited from the Super Eight stage. Dhoni was once again leading the pack but the campaign ended disappointingly this time around.
2010 was another poor edition for Dhoni and Co. as they were knocked out from the Super Eight after finishing at the last position in their group. They started the tournament held in West Indies with two wins but lost three matches in a row to be knocked out of the competition. Suresh Raina was the highest run-getter for the side scoring 219 runs while Ashish Nehra was the highest wicket-taker taking 10 wickets for the Indian side
2012 was the third time in a row when India were unable to qualify for the knockouts as they lagged behind in the net run rate. Overall, it was a good campaign for the Men in Blue, as they won four out of five matches but a huge loss against Australia by nine wickets affected their net run rate massively.
In 2021 it was a poor season for the Indian side as they got knocked out early in the tournament after suffering defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. They were first beaten by Pakistan with 10 wickets and then the Blackcaps slayed the Indian side by a margin of eight wickets.
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