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India finished as Runners-up at the 2023 Cricket World Cup, after losing the final to Australia by 6 wickets. This was their second loss in the finals, with their first loss also coming against Australia in 2003. This was preceded by ten consecutive wins, yet India conceded a loss as Australia won its sixth title. This was also the end of the host's win streak, which had run throughout the 2010s, started by India itself in 2011.

The 2023 Cricket World Cup was the 13th edition of the tournament, organized by the International Cricket Council. The tournament consisted of 48 matches and was held in India in October and November, 2023. India had participated in every world cup since the inaugural edition in 1975. This was India's fourth appearance in a World Cup final. Having won the tournament in 1983 and 2011, India had lost only once before in the finals also against Australia in 2003. As the hosts, India were amongst the favorites to win the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The Indian squad for the World Cup was led by Rohit Sharma.

In the World Cup, India won all the ten matches to finish at the top of the table in the group stage. In the semi-finals, India beat New Zealand by 70 runs before eventually losing to Australia in the finals by six wickets. Virat Kohli was the leading run scorer in the tournament with 765 runs and was awarded the man of the tournament. Mohammed Shami was the leading wicket taker with 24 wickets.

As the hosts, India was considered favourite to win the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Their record prior to the Cup had been excellent, with a victory in the 2023 Asia Cup followed by a 2-1 win against Australia in a 3-match ODI series at home. The team for the Cup consisted of a top-heavy world-class batting line up comprising captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, K. L. Rahul and a rising star in Shubman Gill, while the middle-order, though a bit shaky, still was quite strong with Shreyas Iyer as well as vice-captain and all-rounder Hardik Pandya in good form. India also boasted of one of the strongest bowling attack among the teams participating in the Cup, consisting of the pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, with the spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, in a surprise return to ODI cricket as a last-minute replacement for the injured Axar Patel, complementing them. Kohli and Ashwin were the only remaining members of the Indian squad which took part and won the Cricket World Cup last held in India, back in 2011. The round-robin format, used in both 1992 as well as the previous edition, was retained for this tournament.

Squad
India announced their squad on 5 September 2023. On 28 September 2023, Axar Patel was ruled out due to injury and was replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin. On 4 November 2023, Hardik Pandya was ruled out due to ankle injury and was replaced by Prasidh Krishna.

Coach: 🇮🇳 Rahul Dravid


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[W] Australia
India began their campaign with a win over Australia at Chennai. Australia came into the match with a 8–4 record against India in World Cups. While batting first, Australia were bowled out for 199 with Indian spinners sharing six wickets between them, Jadeja claiming three scalps. India also chose Ashwin for this match, who picked up two wickets. India lost three quick wickets for just two runs initially, before chasing the target successfully to win by six wickets with 8 overs to spare. Rahul (97* of 115 balls) and Kohli (85 of 116 balls) shared a 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which is the highest fourth wicket partnership for India in World Cups. With this, Australia lost their opening World Cup match for the first time since 1992.

[W] Afghanistan


India next played Afghanistan at Delhi. Bumrah's 4/39 restricted the Afghans to 272/8, despite half-centuries from skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai, both sharing a partnership of 121 runs for the fourth wicket. The target was eventually chased down for the loss of 2 wickets owing Rohit's record seventh century (131 off 84 balls) at World Cups, going past Sachin Tendulkar who shared an opening partnership of 156 runs with Kishan (47 off 47 balls), followed by an unbeaten half-century from Kohli (55 not out off 56 balls, 6 fours).

[W] Pakistan


India's next match was against arch-rivals Pakistan in a highly anticipated match at Ahmedabad. A mini opening ceremony was held before this match - with singers Arjit Singh, Shankar Mahadevan and Neha Kakkar performing, and was attended by Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachhan and Rajnikanth among others.

The match, despite the high expectations, turned out to be a no-contest in favour of India. Despite a promising start, Pakistan crashed 191 all out, losing their last eight wickets for 36 runs. Only captain Babar Azam, who scored a half-century, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan contributing with 49, along with Imam-ul-Haq's 36 - resisted for Pakistan. Five bowlers got two wickets each - an eerie similarity from the 2011 semi-final between the two sides held in the same country. In the chase, Rohit led the way (86 off 63 balls), along with Iyer (53 not out off 62 balls), as India chased down Pakistan's total for a seven-wicket victory. With this win, India maintained its unbeaten record over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, extending its all-win record to 8-0.

[W] Bangladesh
Facing next in the pool stage was Bangladesh at Pune. Bangladesh, batting first, began strongly, with openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das ensuring they reach 93/0 in the fifteenth over. Wickets then fell at regular intervals with Jadeja and the pacers scalping before the Tigers finished at a respectable 256/8. In reply, India quickly chased the target, with Kohli's (103 not out off 97 balls) century conversion coming at the tournament after eight years, putting him just one short of Tendulkar's world record of 49 ODI centuries, to take India home. Rohit (48 off 40 balls) and Gill (53 off 55) too contributing, as India marched on at the top of the points table.

Unfortunately for India, Pandya suffered a ligament tear in his ankle while bowling during this match and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the toournament. He was replaced by fast bowler Prasidh Krishna while Rahul took over as vice-captain.

[W] New Zealand
The match at Dharamshala was a top of the table clash with both teams unbeaten, as well as highly anticipated owing to their previous infamous clash at the 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final which knocked India out. Owing to Pandya's injnury, several important squad changes were made, with Shami and Yadav coming in for Shardul. Bowling first yet again, India started well, restricting the Black Caps to 30/2 in the tenth over, with the in-form opener Devon Conway dismissed for a duck. However, New Zealand fought back with a brilliant 130 from Daryl Mitchell, his second century of the tournament, and along with the Indian-origin allrounder Rachin Ravindra, who scored 75, attacked the Indian spinners Kuldeep and Jadeja and put up a partnership of 159 runs for the third wicket. Ravindra's dismissal however, began a collapse, as incoming Shami took a five-wicket haul (5/54), as the Kiwis lost their last 5 wickets for 30 runs to be bowled all out for 273. India prevailed in the chase owing to Kohli's half-century (95 from 104 balls). India broke their 20-year record of losing to New Zealand across ICC tournaments with this win. The match set a viewership record of 4.3 crore concurrent viewers on Hotstar.

[W] England
India then travelled to Lucknow for their match against the defending champions England. Batting first for the first time in the tournament after England won the toss and decided to field first, India struggled, managing only 229/9, with the bulk of the scoring done by Rohit (87 from 101 balls), Yadav (49 from 47 balls) and Rahul (39 from 58 balls). However, the total was surprisingly defended with an overwhelming margin as the English collapsed to the pace of Shami (4/22) and Bumrah (3/32), as well as Kuldeep (2/24), and led India to a 100 run victory. Due to this victory, India broke another 20 year record in its favour; this was the first time in 20 years that India had defeated England in the World Cup.

[W] Sri Lanka
India became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup, as well as seal the round robin stage top spot (the third consecutive time that India did so) with a massive victory over Sri Lanka. With a 302-run victory, the match against Sri Lanka at Mumbai was India's largest win in the Cricket World Cup in terms of runs. Gill (92 from 92 balls), Kohli (88 from 94 balls) who were both dismissed in quick succession by Sri Lankan pacer Dilshan Madushanka, who eventually finished with a five-wicket haul; along with Iyer (82 from 56 balls) further consolidated a score of 357/8. Then the Indian pacers, led by Shami (5/18) and Siraj (3/16), ripped through the Sri Lankan batting, bowling them all out for just 55. This match was notably similar to the 2023 Asia Cup final played just a month prior between the two teams. With this match, Shami, with 45 wickets, became India's highest wicket taker across World Cups, going past the record of 44 wickets shared by Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan.

[W] South Africa
In yet another top-of-the-table clash in the match against the Proteas at Kolkata, Kohli led the way with his 49th ODI hundred on his 35th birthday (101* from 121 balls), equalling Tendulkar's record of the most centuries in ODIs. Along with Iyer (77 from 87 balls), he formed a partnership of 134 runs for the third wicket as India scored 326/5 in 50 overs. In response, the South African batting, which had been dominant for most of the tournament, was again ripped though by the Indian bowlers led by Jadeja (5/33) and the Proteas eventually folded for a mere 83 to ensure a 243-run win.

[W] Netherlands
India finished the Round Robin stage with a 160-run win over The Netherlands at Bengaluru. The Indian batting dominated, with all the top five batsmen making 50+ scores. While Rohit (61 from 54 balls), Gill (51 from 32 balls) and Kohli (51 from 56 balls) contributed with half-centuries, with Rohit and Gill stitching a 100-run partnership for the first wicket; Iyer (128 not out from 94 balls) and Rahul (102 from 64 balls) went further and hit centuries, with Rahul's being the fifth fastest hundred across World Cups, and the duo broke the Indian Cup record for the fourth wicket partnership of 165 runs achieved earlier in the tournament with a world-record stand of 208. India finished at 410/4, the second highest score posted by India in the Cricket World Cup overall. In the second innings, 9 Indian players bowled - with the exception of Iyer and Rahul; with Kohli and Rohit being the part-timers getting a wicket each. A Dutch resistance with the Indian-born all-rounder Teja Nidamanuru scoring a quick half-century, the target of 411 proved to be beyond their reach and they were bowled all out for 250. As a result, India finished the Round Robin stage with an all-win record, only the second time since 2015.

[W] New Zealand
India played a record-breaking semi-final against New Zealand, which was to be a repeat of the semi-final of the preceding World Cup. India got of to a good head start with Rohit (47 runs from 29 balls) and was carried forward by Gill (80 runs from 66 balls), and Kohli (117 runs from 113 balls) who broke Tendulkar's record for the most ODI centuries. Gill was facing difficulty due to cramps and retired hurt to give way to Shreyas (105 runs from 70 balls); after which Rahul and Gill (who came back) brought India to a respectable 397/4. This broke the Kiwi's own record of most runs in a World Cup knockout game (where they scored 392 vs West Indies in 2015 QF). After dismissing the openers, the Kiwi innings was steadied by Mitchell (134 runs from 119 balls) and Williamson (69 runs from 73 balls). Mitchell once again put up a 130+ score against India, before being dismissed. A destructive bowling effort from Shami (7/57) broke many India and World Cup records as he did the heavy lifting to decimate New Zealand, helped with stunning catches from Rahul and Jadeja. Eventually, New Zealand was 70 runs short as India pulled through with a victory, to set up a final with Australia. India reached the final for the first time since 2011.

[L] Australia


The match was attended by Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

After losing the toss, India batted first as Rohit (47 from 31 balls) gave India a similar start as he had done throughout the tournament. However, Gill's early wicket and Rohit's wicket before the end of the tenth over slowed the pace of the innings, as Rohit was the only Indian batsman to hit a six. A combined bowling and fielding effort from the Australians meant only Rahul (66 from 107 balls) and Kohli (54 from 63 balls) could contribute, as the entire team collapsed for the first time, despite lasting the fifty overs. Rohit was criticised for getting out to a cheap shot while trying to accelerate the scoring, while Rahul's slow innings as well as Yadav's inability to bat with the tailenders too took their share of criticism and were considered as some of the reasons why India could not cross 250. Australia were rocked early on in the chase, with Bumrah (2/43) and Shami (1/47) doing the early damage and snaring the wickets of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith to leave them in a precarious position at 49/3. However, Travis Head turned things around with a brilliant 137 from just 120 balls, counterattacking the Indian spinners. He and Marnus Labuschagne, who scored a laborious 59 not out from 118 balls, shared 192 runs for the fourth wicket which took away the match from India. Australia won the match by 6 wickets and achieved their sixth World Cup title, with Glenn Maxwell hitting the winning runs.

In the aftermath of the match, many social media users took to social media to vent their anger and frustration. Harbhajan Singh, a former player on the Indian team, condemned the trolls.

Aftermath
India ended the tournament with a win-loss record of 10–1, with their only loss coming in the final. With 765 runs, three centuries and six half-centuries, along with a solitary wicket, Kohli was adjudged as the Player of the Tournament. Rohit, with 597 runs was the second highest run scorer in the tournament after Kohli, and for the second consecutive tournament scored 500+ runs. The bowling too shone, with Mohammed Shami, who played only in the second half of the tournament, becoming the highest wicket-taker of the tournament, with 24 wickets, and won the most 'Player of the match' awards (3, joint most with Travis Head). Jasprit Bumrah, with 20 wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja, who took 16 scalps, also made it to the top ten wicket-takers of this edition. Jadeja further shone in fielding, emerging as one of the top 5 fielders of this edition with 7 catches. Finally, with 17 dismissals, K. L. Rahul emerged as the second best wicketkeeper of the tournament.

For his heroics in the tournament, BCCI recommended Shami for the Arjuna Award, which he was awarded with in January 2024.