Here’s A Head-To-Head Between India & Australia At The World Cup

India and Australia have been arch-rivals since that final in 2003. The two teams have since grown and changed vastly. But one thing remains. These men are in the habit of putting everything on the line when they walk on to the pitch.

Much like they have done in the past.

1. Group B match, Prudential World Cup, 1983

Australia defeated India by 162 runs.

Riding high on Trevor Chappel’s 110, Australia mounted a humongous score of 320 in 60 overs. India never had the batting to chase down a score like that and despite Kavil Dev’s valiant 40 off 27 towards the end, the team was bowled out for 158.

2. Group B match, Prudential World Cup, 1983

India defeated Australia by 118 runs.

Batting first, India did not get off to a good start. And none of the batsmen could convert the starts they got. But these little contributions throughout the course of the innings had let India finish at 247.

Australia should have cruised away with that score on board but Roger Binny and Madan Lal took four wickets each to dismiss the entire team for 129.

3. Group A match, World Cup, 1987

Australia defeated India by 1 run.

In the 3rd game of the first ever 50-over World Cup, Australia had gotten off to a great start as Geoff Marsh almost batted through the innings for his century. Steve Waugh’s cameo at the end meant that India was chasing 271 to win.

Chasing the score, India had started well. In fact, the trio of Gavaskar, Srikanth and Navjot Sidhu tore into the Australian bowling attack. By the time Sidhu was dismissed for 73 off 79 balls, India had been cruising at 229.

But the infamous Indian batting collapse followed and in the end, the team found itself short of the target by just one run.

4. Group A match, World Cup, 1987

India defeated Australia by 56 runs.

Batting first, India had gotten off to a great start and the middle order also joined them. Gavaskar, Sidhu and Vengsarkar all scored 50s, each quicker than the other to set a platform for the lower order to slog around. Which is exactly what happened when Azhar smashed 54 to get India to a total of 289.

Australia started the chase with good intent but losing wickets at regular intervals meant that they could never get on par with the required run rate and were all out for 233 in the 49th over.

5. Round Robin Match, Benson & Hedges World Cup, 1992

Australia defeated India by 1 run. (Revised target)

Batting first with a cloud cover on, Australia did reasonably well to 237. The score was however revised when India came to bat and the Men in Blue had to chase 236 in 47 overs.

However, no batsman other than Azhar could fight it out against the Aussies. Sanjay Manjrekar scored a quickfire 47 at the bottom of the order. But with 2 needed off the last bowler, Venkatapathy Raju was run out and India lost the game by 1 run.

6. Group A match, Wills World Cup, 1996

Australia defeated India by 16 runs.

Riding high on Mark Waugh’s brilliant 126, Australia managed to put 258 on board in 50 overs. Chasing 259 to win, India’s hope again fell on Sachin’s shoulders who scored a magnificent 90 before being dismissed.

But the Indian batting line-up just folded after his dismissal and the entire team got all out for 242.

7. Super Six match, World Cup, 1999

Australia defeated India by 77 runs.

Australia batted first and managed to put 282 on board in 50 overs. Mind you, this was considered to be a big total back in the day.

But Tendulkar getting dismissed for a duck meant that the score was going to be almost impossible to chase. Ajay Jadeja held off the inevitable for a while with a fine century but India never looked like it was going to win. The entire team was bundled out for 205.

8. Pool A match, World Cup, 2003

Australia defeated India by 9 wickets (with 166 balls remaining).

India wasn’t in the best of form when this game took place. So when Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie came out at 90 mph, Indian batters had nowhere to go and were dismissed for a paltry 125.

Australia did not have a problem chasing it down in the 23rd over.

9. Final, World Cup, 2003

Australia defeated India by 125 runs.

The tales of this day have been told as horror stories to Indian kids when they refused to sleep. India had managed to stun everyone and had found their way to play against Australia in the final.

But the Australian team under Ricky Ponting was a class apart. Ponting himself scored 140 and along with Damien Martin, gave India a target of 360 to chase in 50 overs.

The Indian batters, other than Sehwag seemed pretty overwhelmed by the occasion and the Men in Blue were all out for 234 in the 40th over.

10. Quarter-Final, World Cup, 2011

India defeated Australia by 5 wickets with (14 balls remaining).

Ricky Ponting rose to the occasion again and scored another century in this game. But India managed to restrict the Aussies to 261 despite that.

After this, half-centuries from Sachin, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh drove India home with ease.

11. Semi-Final, World Cup, 2015

Australia defeated India by 95 runs.

Despite Australia having put on 328 on board after a Steve Smith century, India was widely considered to be the favourites to win the game. But the Indian batsmen buckled under the pressure of some good fast bowling.