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World Cup 2019: Kapil Dev to MS Dhoni, look at Indian Cricket Team & their captains' journey through the years
With the ICC World Cup 2019 right around the corner, let's take a look at Indian Cricket Team's Captains' journey through the years
Virat Kohli will be the 7th Indian Captain to lead the team in the World Cup and will be certain to bring the cup back home. Before that, let’s take a look at Indian Cricket Team’s journey throughout the World Cup.
The first World Cup tournament that was played in 1975 paved the way for cricket as an emerging sport in India. Eight teams participated and West Indies managed to become the first ever Champions of the World Cup. Led by Srinivas Venkataraghavan, the Indian Team lost to England, New Zealand and won against East Africa in 1975, and then later in 1979, to West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
The 1983 and 1987 World Cups were led by the legendary cricketer Kapil Dev who paved the way for a dominant Indian side in the world cricket. Who could have expected the underdog team to stand up robust against the stalwarts of the then West Indian team? The 43 runs win at Lords changed the fate of Indian cricket forever and the team went on to win its first ever World Cup in 1983. The 1987 tournament was jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and this is when the format of the game changed. The initial 60 overs game was then reduced to 50 overs. India, despite qualifying for the semifinals lost the cup and Australia emerged as a winner.
Former all-rounder, Mohammad Azharuddin led the team thrice in World Cup (1992, 1996 and 1999), most by an Indian captain. The 1992 World Cup was disappointing for the team as they finished at the seventh position in the points table with just two wins in their hand. A total of 12 teams participated in the 1996 World Cup that was hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India made it to the semifinals by defeating Pakistan by 39 runs and further was defeated by Sri Lanka who then went on to play the finals against Australia. In 1999, the Azharuddin led Indian Team again failed to showcase their consistency.
In 2003, Sourav Ganguly and team lost by a tiny margin to rewrite the history that was incarnated by the team led by Kapil Dev back in 1983. India entered the finals by defeating Kenya and failed to chase the giant total set up by the Australian side (359-2).
The wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid led the 2007 World Cup. However, despite all the stalwarts in the team, Indian team lost the tournament whilst Australia went on to win the cup third time in a row.
Any World Cup story is incomplete without the magnificent 2011 World Cup tale. The tournament saw some stellar performances and one such was by Yuvraj Singh who went on further to win the Man of the Tournament. MS Dhoni’s six at the last ball helped India to win the cup after 28 years of hard work and passion reinstalled all the emotions of the 1983 World Cup. In 2015, MS Dhoni and team were all set to bring the cup back home and had a successful start to the tournament. However, despite being consistent and winning all the games in the league stage, India lost to Australia in the semifinals of the tournament.
