15 years on: India's 2003 World Cup final loss to Australia

March 23, 2018, marks the 15th anniversary of India’s mammoth loss to Australia in the final of the 2003 ICC World Cup in Johannesburg in South Africa. India has won a number of world cups since Kapil Dev’s team set a rich legacy in 1983 but amid all the pleasure that India’s senior and junior teams have brought us in the last decade or so, the pain of that defeat against Australia still haunts us. It clearly wasn’t India’s day.

The 2003 world cup was the first time that India did not have a disappointing leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin at the premier event. Azhar had led India in as many as three world cups in the 1990s and could best lead the team to the semi-final – in the 1996 edition.

Indian cricket had turned for the better since 2000 when Sourav Ganguly took over as the captain as they started winning more games abroad. But in the run-up to the 2003 world cup, India had a rough patch as they lost a home series to the West Indies 3-4 and an away series to New Zealand 2-5. Besides, the reports that the Indian cricketers were busy endorsing products and doing advertisement campaigns did not impress the supporters as they were expecting the players to take lessons from the twin losses and practice harder for the approaching world cup.

India had an unimpressive start to the tournament

India still did not have a good beginning in the tournament. In the very first game, they were bowled out for just 204 by minnows Netherlands who lost the game by 68 runs just because of inexperience. But the shocker for the Indian fans came in the next game when India was bowled out for a paltry 125 by a formidable Australian bowling attack and the Ganguly’s team lost the match by 9 wickets. The fans found it too hard to digest and they took to the streets – burning effigies of the players, conducting mock funerals and even targeting residences of the players.

After the hysteric reactions at home, India started winning

The team was clearly cornered and with just four more games to qualify for the Super Six stage, the men in blue didn’t have much time to script a turnaround. But they did what looked implausible after that horrible loss to the Australians. India went on to win the remaining four games comprehensively and the maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who was hitting the ball well in that tournament, played significant roles in all of those wins.

Tendulkar hit 81 against Zimbabwe, 152 not out against Namibia, 50 against India and 98 against Pakistan to see his team in style. The victory in the final group game against Pakistan in Centurion gave the Indian team a massive boost and all the dissent against them looked a distant past within a fortnight. India advanced to the Super Six stage as the second team from the group, after Australia who was looking rock solid in the tournament.

India won all their Super Six games

The Indians clicked as a unit in the Super Six stage, defeating Kenya – the side that surprised all in that edition, Sri Lanka and New Zealand handsomely. India opted for the Virender Sehwag-Tendulkar duo as its opening combination in the tournament with the skipper Ganguly coming in at No. 3. And with Rahul Dravid also donning the wicket-keeping gloves, India could make an extra slot for a batsman to lengthen the batting line-up till No.7. The decision had its share of criticism but it was paying off well for India in the 2003 World Cup.

Ganguly’s ton saw India overcoming the Kenyan resistance

India was clearly the second best team in that tournament winning every game except against Australia. They advanced to the semifinal as the second team from the Super Six stage and took on a gritty Kenya in the semifinal. India won this game by 91 runs as Ganguly slammed his second ton in Kenya in as many games to lead his side to the final, something India did after two long decades. And like in 1983, India were up against the best team of their time in 2003 as well.

But March 23, 2003, was not India’s day

And then came March 23. Ganguly, who won just a single multi-lateral tournament by then despite leading India to earn reputation as a competitive side, won the toss and elected to field at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. He was expecting his bowlers to capitalise on the damp conditions created by the preceding rain.

A young Zaheer Khan started this match giving Australians a lot of glare (the pace trio of Javagal Srinath, Khan and Ashish Nehra gave India a decent service in the tournament) but the Australians had always loved it and they were pleased to see the Indians stepping into their trap. India’s opening bowlers did not have strong nerves on the day perhaps because of the pressure of playing a World Cup final and Ganguly had to bring in the spinners early.

Harbhajan Singh gave India two breakthroughs by claiming Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden who gave the Australians a flying start and that was all for the day for the Indian bowling. Skipper Ricky Ponting played the innings of his life (140 not out) in the game along with Damien Martyn (88 not out) and the two plundered runs at will to register a partnership of 234 in 30 overs. Australia posed a mammoth score of 359 for 2 in their allotted 50 overs, leaving the Indian bowlers traumatised.

The fact that Anil Kumble was ignored for the final, something which remains a mystery till this day, made it even worse for Ganguly. Even Dinesh Mongia was made to bowl seven overs as the opening trio went for 212 runs in 27 overs. Ponting hit eight sixes during his innings as the Indian bowlers ran for cover.

For the fans who saw a fairy tale emerging over the last eight matches, it was a earth-shattering final. Overhauling such a target against the famed bowling attack of the Australians was always an impossible task and the excitement of a 100-over match was virtually over by the halfway stage.

359 in 50 overs was far too much

The Indian fans yet hoped to see some magical touches from Tendulkar for the stage was set for him to finish as a tragic hero. But even that wish of the supporters was not fulfilled as the maestro gave a return catch to the bowler Glenn Mcgrath in the fifth ball of the innings after hitting a boundary. The silence became even deafening as a perfect anti-climax was staged in the closing stages of the tournament. The only heroics came from Sehwag who hit 82 off 81 balls to take the fight to the Australian but once a direct throw from Darren Lehmann caught him short of the crease at the non-striker’s end in the 24th over, the guesswork was all about the difference of runs in the defeat. For Australia, Mcgrath, Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds were the wreckers-in-chief and India were bowled out for 234 in the 40th over with its batting line-up, which was doing so well in the tournament, folding under the iron hard pressure of the world cup final.

A distant second-best team

The defeat margin of 125 runs remains the biggest in the world cup final till date and it clearly showed how much lead the Australians had taken over the second best team in the world. There was no shame in losing to such an outfit who won their third title in 16 years. Even if Ganguly had batted first after winning the toss as many thought later, the result might not have been much different.

Perhaps the Indian fans also knew it and unlike what was happening a month back, they gave their players a heroes’ welcome. India’s success rate in world cup finals might have been reduced to 50 per cent by that loss and the pain of reaching so near but yet finishing so far remained, but India’s performance in the 2003 WC in South Africa remained superior. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s feat in 2011 might have calmed the pain a bit but every year, March 23 is still remembered with a soft wrench in the heart.