Say what you will, the wounds of the Ahmedabad loss in 2023 are still raw. Yes, India’s men have since won a barrage of ICC trophies, like the T20 World Cup in 2024 and 2026, the Champions League Trophy in 2025, but the loss that day against Australia is still a painful memory for so many of us. Let’s not fool ourselves that all is fine.
After their first single round robin group game against Australia, which tested them a little, the Indians were unstoppable in the tournament until they reached the final. New Zealand, South Africa, England, you name it, they all were taken to the cleaners. It was India’s trophy to lose, and lose they did, sadly!
There was a very hostile background to the match, too. On the eve of the match, Australia captain Pat Cummins had talked about silencing the 100,000-strong spectators at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. “The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided, but in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow,” he said.
That ruffled a few feathers. When I heard that remark, I kind of laughed to myself, like yeah, right, you will see what we’ll do to you tomorrow. Just wait!
But then Cummins indeed silenced the Ahmedabad crowd. It wasn’t a hard-fought match either for us. After bowling out India for just 240, the way Travis Head made mincemeat of the Indian bowlers was insulting. The big dream was shattered. Then, later, a photo emerged that Mitchell Marsh was resting his foot on the World Cup trophy, which, to an average, pious Indian mind, was nothing short of sacrilege.
Not only was the Indian dream destroyed, but the very essence of Indianness was violated, too. That’s not going to go away with T20 World Cup wins or the Champions Trophy win. That’s no consolation. Hopefully, Gautam Gambhir is aware of it.
India haven’t won the 50-overs World Cup since 2011, and it’s the biggest white-ball tournament. No two ways about it. India beat Australia rather comprehensively in the 2024 T20 World Cup and then in the 2025 Champions Trophy, and that was satisfying to some extent, but the full closure won’t happen until India beat Australia in the final next year in South Africa. And Cummins and Marsh should be part of that side.
Suryakumar Yadav, who tasted the 2023 defeat as part of the Playing XI, recently, having won the 2026 T20 World Cup as captain, talked about that match, and that shows that even players are hurt to date, and haven’t got over it.
“I’d love to replay that [the Ahmedabad match] and win it,” he said.
India’s ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill also invoked the loss on November 19 and stressed at the same time how important it was for them to win the 50-overs trophy next year. “We felt like we were so close last time when we were here in India. To be able to get another crack at it in South Africa, it’s going to be a great opportunity for us,” he said.
You see, it’s there at the back of their minds.
