This One Stat Going Back 32 Years Shows How Australia is India’s Bogey Team in World Cups
In World Cups, Australia have a great record against India, winning eight of the 11 matches played between the two teams.
The Australians celebrate a wicket during their match against the West Indies on Thursday.
The start of the 2019 World Cup campaign for India against South Africa was perfect. Virat Kohli’s team outplayed South Africa in all three facets of the game, overcoming any jitters that they may have after their delayed start to the tournament.
But what comes next is the real deal, a test of India’s World Cup credentials. The match against Australia whether India really are contenders, as the pre-tournament talk suggested, or just pretenders.
While South Africa was already struggling before they faced India, Australia is made of sterner material and the team oozes quality from top to bottom. The Aussies are also on a hot streak right now, winning both their matches in the World Cup so far.
The victory over Afghanistan was straightforward, but the one over West Indies showed the character of the team as they dig themselves out of a hole to come back and take victory from the grasp of defeat.
It has been this belief that made them five times world champions, and Virat Kohli and his team would be aware there is no place for complacency as they take the field at the Kennington Oval, London, on Sunday.
In World Cups, Australia have a great record against India, winning eight of the 11 matches played between the two teams. Two of the three wins for India came during the World Cup wins of 1983 and 2011. Australia and India, overall, have faced each other in seven editions of the tournament.
The dominance Australia has enjoyed can be sampled from this stat: India haven’t won a league match against them since 1987. They crosses swords twice in a tournament on three occasions, in 1983, 1987 and 2003.
Three of those matches were knockout games – the 2003 World Cup final, 2011 World Cup quarter-final and the semi-final at Sydney in 2015.
Even outside World Cups, India’s worst losing record is against the five-time world champions. Out of the 136 times India and Australia have played, the former has a win percentage of 38.88, which includes 77 losses – quite easily their worst record.
The Australian team has had a renaissance this year, starting from the victory over India in the ODI series in India in March. The Aussies have been on a 10-match winning streak since then and India will have its task cut out for them.