India play Australia in the second semi finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. India have been undefeated in the tournament so far and have bowled out the opposition every single time. Australia on the other hand look to be the team to beat considering it is playing a World Cup semi final in its own backyard after more than two decades. Here we look at the history behind the India- Australia rivalry in the history of the World Cups.
India and Australia have played each other 10 times before in the World Cups. On Thursday, it will be their 11th encounter in the mega event.
1. 1983 World Cup: The first time that these two nations met at the World Cup stage was in the 1983 edition in Nottingham. Trevor Chappell smashed a century and Kapil Dev took a five wicket haul but it did not stop the Australians from posting a mammoth 321 run target. The Indians faltered in the chase and were bundled out for a mere 158. K MaCleay took a 6 wicket haul for just 39 runs.
2. 1983 World Cup: India entered this tournament as underdogs and we all know what happened after that! In what was expected to be an one sided affair in the Group B match at Chelmsford, the outcome was such that it shocked most: India won the match convincingly by 118 runs. Chasing 247 to win, Australia collapsed to a mere 129 thanks to the heroics of Madan Lal and Roger Binny with the ball who picked up 4 scalps apiece.
3. 1987 World Cup: India were the defending champions and the Aussies by then were a force to reckon with the likes of Boon,Border and Marsh in their ranks. Steve Waugh was the latest addition to the team and was making his World Cup debut. India were set a daunting target of 271 with Geoff Marsh scoring a brilliant century. In Chepauk, the Indians set about chasing the target in hot and sultry conditions but with home support nonetheless. The match went down to the wire and resulted in the heartbreak for the Indians as they lost to the Australians by 1 run. The wrecker-in-chief for the Aussies was their pace spear head Craig McDermott who took 4 wicktes.
4. 1987 World Cup: India met Australia again in Delhi and this time looking to avenege the defeat it previously suffered in the tournament. Sidhu,Vengsarkar,Gavaskar and Azharuddin all got half centuries taking India to a challenging total of 289. Australia were bowled out for 233 and there was a surprise name in the list of Indian bowlers. Mohammed Azharuddin took 3 wickets for 19 runs bowling just 3.5 overs!
5. 1992 World Cup: The 1992 World Cup was the first to be held in Australia. Playing India in Brisbane,Australia batted first to score a challenging 237.In a rain affected match, 3 overs were deducted from India’s quota of 50. India required 13 runs of the last over and more precisely 4 runs off the last ball. Javagal Srinath who was at the crease smashed the ball to the deep mid wicket boundary which initially looked like to be going all the way but in fact it was going straight to Steve Waugh positioned deep in the boundary. The anti climax to this was when Waugh dropped the catch.Waugh recovered and threw the ball to the end where Venkapathy Raju who was running for his life for the third run but eventually fell short of the crease. In a ‘De-ja-vu’ of sorts Australi for the second consecutive time defeated India by 1 run.
6. 1996 World Cup: In this Group A match at the Wankhede, Mark Waugh scored a magnificent hundred becoming the first man to score consecutive World Cup centuries. India eventually fell short of the target by 16 and Sachin Tendulkar fell short of his century by 10 runs.
7. 1999 World Cup: The mega event was back to England and this time the Indians faced off the Australians in a ‘super-six’ game at the Kennington Oval in London.Australia set India a winning total of 287 and when the Indians came out to bat they were reduced to a paltry 17-4 with McGrath in full flow. The saving grace for the Indians came from Ajay Jadeja who scored a century. He was accompanied by Robin Singh at the other end who scored a fighting 75 but ultimately the target was too steep and the Indians folded at the score of 205 losing the match by 77 runs.
8. 2003 World Cup: It was an easy walk in the park for the mighty Aussies at Centurion as they crushed India with 9 wickets and 27. 4 overs remaining.
9. 2003 World Cup: Fresh in the memory of most Indian cricket fans, the 2003 World Cup Final was the stage set for an India-Australia encounter. It was a one man show from the beginning as Australia batted first and their captain Ricky Ponting smashed a brilliant 140 off 121 balls and set India a target of 360. Once Tendulkar fell to McGrath in the first over therein ended India’s hope. The magnificent campaign resulted in nothing for the men in blue as they were inflicted a humiliating 125 run defeat by the Aussies in the final.
10. 2011 World Cup: It was the second quarterfinal at Motera, Ahmedabad and the old foes met once again. Ricky Ponting was playing his last World Cup and like the way the last time these teams met he led from the front and scored a century, setting India 261 to win. This time the roll of the dice went in favour of the Indians thanks to fighting half centuries from Tendulkar, Gambhir and Yuvraj. Raina proved to be the winning link in the chase with a 28 ball 34 to take India to the finishing line and into the semi finals.
Australia – 7. India – 3! Will it be 8-3 or 7-4?
By Ashirbad Hazarika
