Top 10 emotional defeats of Indian Cricket Team

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Cricket is a game played by 22 fools and followed by 22,000 fools” . If we consider the case of India, this number is not limited to 22,000 but extends to millions.

India has given birth to great cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri , Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and now the likes of Virat Kohli and Yuvraj singh. They are applauded, worshipped and loved by the people when they bring back home trophies. They are ridiculed, their families are attacked with stones and houses smeared black when they lose. I do not remember a day when the same bunch of people who ridicule our cricketers were pelting stones or burning the effigy of a terrorist who attacked Mumbai, Delhi or the parliament of India. May be for them the game of cricket is much more important than the lives lost in terrorist attack.

Essentially Sports brings you top  10 emotional defeats of Indian Cricket Team:

10. Adelaide Test 2014: India vs. Australia

Another Indian batting collapse rendered a test match loss which led the Aussies to a 1-0 series lead. The test match which had no future and seemed to end in a draw suddenly took a turn. The Man of the match, Nathan Lyon took a 12 wicket haul and India lost their last eight wickets for a mere 73 runs. Vijay was out in his 90’s jinx again while Virat slammed his second century in his debut test match as captain.

It was test cricket at its best. India were quelled and Aussies won. But what a game that was. It was also the last game for Captain Michael Clark.
Despite some sledging, it was heartening to see both the captains acquaint each other.

This victory was marked as a tribute to Australian opener, Philips Hughes who died on field due to an accident.

9. India v Australia, 5th ODI, Hyderabad

It was the 1999 Chennai Test all over again. Tendulkar has seen heartbreaks more than anyone else. He single handedly almost chased down a daunting target of 351, but with the target in sight, he got out and the rest of the team choked.  It was 19 off 17 with three wickets and India lost by 3 runs.

Australia made 350-4 in their 50 overs to which India replied (read: Tendulkar) with 347 all out.

Marsh’s maiden century overshadowed Tendulkar’s heroic 175, which gave them a 3-2 lead in the seven match series.
It was the greatest knock by an Indian batsman in a losing cause.
Sachin remarks this innings as one of his greatest innings as he became the first batsman to accumulate 17000 runs in ODI’s.

8. Karachi Test 2006

Irfan Pathan’s hat trick on the first day of the third test match against Pakistan at Karachi made him the hero of the first innings, but it was short-lived. India bowled out for 265 runs in their second innings while chasing 606 runs to win the match. Eventually, Pakistan won the match by a whopping 341 runs and went on to win the series 1-0.

But what caught the eyes of the Indian fans was a headline by Times of India which read: 

‘Endulkar?’
This was asked after Sachin squatted down after being bowled over by Asif. However, that was in 2006 and the juggernaut played his last in 2012.

‘Endulkar’ focused on the clash between Chappel and the senior teammates and the anger between Greg’s brother Ian and Sachin.

7. ICC World cup 2007: India vs. Bangladesh

 

The outside chance of India qualifying for the super 8s ended with Bangladesh beating Bermuda.

Bangladesh stunned India to reach the main draw of the tournament and India lost their opening match at the ICC World Cup 2007.

This was a setback. After batting first, India could manage only 191 on the board which was successfully chased by the Bangladeshi tigers with 5 wickets in hand.
I have never seen this man in tears. It was surely the darkest day in Indian cricket history.

Many Indian fans labeled this as a ‘shambolic’ portrait of their performance, while some burned the effigies of former Indian team coach Greg Chappel.

6. Sydney Test 2008

The Sydney Test between India and Australia was clouded by what should have never happened in the first place. Even though the Aussies won the test match, the Australian media went on to criticize Ricky Ponting for his behavior on the field with the umpires.
It all started with the second innings of the Indian innings and India needed 332 runs to win the infamous contest.

1. Rahul Dravid was given out when caught off Symond’s delivery by Umpire Steve Bucknor when there was never really an edge. Steve just raised his finger without any doubt in his mind. Dravid was playing to draw the match and his wicket changed the course of the game in the favor of the hosts.
2. Then came Ganguly’s wicket. Clark went on to celebrate the catch which he himself knew was not neat. As if this was not enough for umpire Benson to dismiss Ganguly, Ricky Ponting pointed out his finger to the umpire to which Benson happily sent Ganguly back to the pavilion.

3. Steve Bucknor refused to go to third umpire when there was a stump appeal by Dhoni to get Symonds out. It looked like the umpires wanted the Aussies to win the game.

Then there was the very infamous “Monkeygate” which roused racial slur against Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds.

Harbhajan was banned for three tests and Steve Bucknor never umpired in an International match again.

The Sydney test match is considered as the most controversial match overshadowed by complaints over bad sportsmanship and bad umpiring, racism, gamesmanship and misconduct.

The match probably crossed the line and brought shame to the game. However, India went on to win the next test match at Perth but lost the series 1-2.

5.  Finals World T20 2014 : India vs. Sri Lanka

India lost the finals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 at Mirpur to the Sri Lankan side who lifted their first T20 World Cup in 2014.
The Sri Lankans outsmarted the Indians in every way possible and they deserve to be applauded for that. Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara bowled beautifully in the end and restricted India to 130 in their 20 overs. Sri Lanka won by six wickets with Sangakkara as the man of the match.
But what the media and the highly emotional fans of cricket saw was Yuvraj’s incompetence in losing the finals. They pelted stones at his house and lighted his effigies, there were abuses and tantrums, the hero of 2007 and the 2011 World Cup was ripped off and shown no mercy.
They focused on the fact that Yuvraj’s 11 off 21 balls made all the difference but what they didn’t see was that even Kohli and Dhoni couldn’t hit Malinga’s and Kulasekara’s balls to boundaries because they were bowling exceptionally well. Dhoni too is to be blamed. He should have sent T20 specialist Raina before Yuvraj.
We should accept the fact that the better team won.

Sachin also wrote on the same social media:

4. India vs. West Indies ICC T20 World Cup 2016

The latest one to add to this list is the second semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup 2016: India vs. West Indies.
It has to be said, the best reaction to a defeat is to be gracious.
The West Indies team played better than the Indian team. They chased down 192 with 4 balls to spare.
This is incredible keeping in mind the pressure one has in a semi-final game. No-balls, match fixed, luck are all just ways to convince ourselves of our own deception.
There is no proof of match fixing and it definitely wasn’t luck.
Don’t depreciate someone’s efforts by attributing their triumph to some fluke. Don’t disparage the game itself.
Dhoni rightly said, “it wasn’t our day today.”

3. 1996 World Cup Semi-final

Defeat too hard to take, for Eden Garden and Vinod Kambli.

After a tense, gripping win over the arch rivals Pakistan, India was emotionally drained. Pakistan’s stand-in captain, Aamer Sohail wished India good luck “in the final at Lahore” which called for a premature celebration of the World Cup triumph. India were the clear favorites but they had already lost to Sri Lanka in the group stage. India had never lost to the same team in twice in a World cup tournament. It had been 13 years since the World cup came home.
Hosts of the first semi-finals, Eden Gardens saw India crashing out of the world cup, Kambli in tears and spectators throwing bottles, plastic bags or whatever they could get their hands on.
After winning the toss, India was asked to chase 252 to get themselves through to the finals.

Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket signaled the beginning of the downfall of India. India lost 7 wickets for 22 runs after they were cruising at 98-1 in 20 overs. The angered Eden crowd set fire to the seating which ultimately concluded the Lankans as the winners by default by match referee Clive Lloyd.

Ironically, Vinod Kambli who was batting at 10 from 49 balls later said he could have saved the match when India needed 9 runs per over with two wickets in hand.

One spectator’s placard read: “Congratulations Sri Lanka, we are sorry” and Kambli’s tears symbolized an embarrassing moment for the Indian fans.

2. Chennai Test v Pakistan, 1999

Chennai established their ‘sporting crowd’ reputation after the contest between India and Pakistan in 1999.  Sachin Tendulkar almost pulled off a miracle which eventually remained the most heart-breaking match of his career.
The match came to international attention after the two neighbors came back resuming cricketing contests after the completion of nuclear tests. The match also lived up to the expectation and perhaps remained the saddest tragedy of the Indian fans.
Sachin walked out for the second time after India was asked to chase 271 in the difficult conditions and outstanding bowling.
Sachin saw players leaving him while the scoreboard crawled to 86 for 5.
When only 17 runs were needed with 4 wickets in hand, finally the fatal ball arrived and caused endless grief for the Master and his millions of fans. Sachin fell for 136 and the remaining could only manage 4 runs causing India to lose by 12 runs.

“The Chennai crowd was absolutely fantastic. They have a very good knowledge of the game and appreciated both the sides. When Pakistan won and took a lap of honor, the crowd just stood up and applauded.” Venkatesh Prasad remembers.

However, win or lose this effort against Pakistan will go down as the greatest of all in the history of the sport.

1. World Cup final 2003

It was not how the Indian fans had shared the confidence and booked a restaurant weeks ago to ”celebrate”  the victory on the night of World cup final, nor did they mean to spend so much money to fly to Johannesburg. The Indians fans knew they were far from winning this world cup but some didn’t leave the ground until it was all over.

Australia made 359 for the loss of 2 wickets and India countered with only 234 runs on the board. India lost their second chance to win the World cup final to Australia by 125 runs, who lifted the cup their third time.

India fought harder and better than it did in their first encounter but one mistake could take it all.
Even when Ponting’s sixes rained down, the loyal Indian fans refused to be completely silenced.
But they did have a slight enjoyable moment, when Martyn dropped a simple catch on the boundary in front of the Bharat Army.
To win the 2003 World cup would have been the best thing to happen to Sachin Tendulkar.  He was the main star of the tournament and has amassed highest runs in that world cup which eventually won him the man of the tournament award. But what hurt the Indian fans was how the likes of Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid in the most fierce batting line-up ; and Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Harbhajan, Srinath and young Kaif and Yuvraj who had proved their mettle with their fielding skills lose their side the world Cup?

This feels really depressing seeing Sachin with his Man of the Tour Trophy. He couldn’t even forge a smile posing for a picture; such was his desire to win the world cup.

Some days they will lose and some days they will bask in the glory of triumph. Sportsman spirit is not only for those who are on the field, for those too who are praying and cheering for them.