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Cricket tournaments organized by the ICC are few in number, but they always come with great expectations for the participating teams. To shortlist a champion squad in ICC tournaments, every cricketing board undertakes a lot of preparations.
The Cricket World Cup is the ICC’s biggest showpiece event held every 4 years. In smaller ICC tournaments like World Twenty20 and Champions Trophy, major cricketing teams compete against each other to show their readiness for the next World Cup. In short, if it’s an ICC led tournament, the emotions tend to run very high.
From 1975 to 2017, the ICC has organized 11 Cricket World Cup titles, 6 World Twenty20 championships and 8 Champions Trophy series. Historically, it has been seen that one of the top 3 teams (as per ICC's rating system) usually wins the title.
But there is an old saying which says, ’victory is a thousand times sweeter when you’re the underdog,’ and in this edition, we are going to look at 5 instances when a team came to an ICC tournament as underdogs but stunned the world by winning the title.
#1 India – Cricket World Cup, England in 1983
Kapil Dev in action at the 1983 World Cup against Zimbabwe
The odds on India winning the trophy were 66 to 1. In the previous 2 editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, the Indian team only managed to register a single win against East Africa.
But Kapil Dev beautifully led his side to win 4 crucial matches in the league stage of the World Cup. In the match against Zimbabwe, India were struggling at 17 for the loss of 5 wickets. Kapil Dev came to bat at No. 6 and changed the course of the game by slamming 175 runs in 138 balls studded with 16 fours and 6 sixes.
In the process, Kapil Dev not only registered the world record of scoring the highest number of runs by a player in an ODI innings, but also managed to seal a semifinal berth for his country after winning the match by 31 runs.
Going into the semi-finals with the firm belief that now India could now win the World Cup, Kapil Dev and his men registered a win by 6 wickets over England. Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma displayed great batting skills to chase the target of 214 runs with 32 balls to spare.
Played in traditional white clothing with a red ball, the 1983 Cricket World Cup, officially the ‘Prudential Cup 83’, featured 8 teams - and every match consisted of 60 overs per innings.
In the final against the West Indies, put in to bat first, India struggled against the bowling attack spearheaded by Malcolm Marshall. After reaching 100 for the loss of 4 wickets, India were bundled out for 183 runs in 54.4 overs.
In the dressing room, Kapil Dev gave his players a stirring pep talk, and his team did not let him down.
After losing 2 quick wickets, Viv Richards looked in a hurry to finish the match. But Kapil Dev took a magnificent catch to dismiss the legend after running 20 yards towards the boundary.
After that wickets kept tumbling and finally West Indies were dismissed for a paltry 140 runs. India became only the second team after West Indies to win a World Cup.
Pakistan Cricket Team
#2 Pakistan – Cricket World Cup, Australia in 1992
For the first time, the 1992 World Cup, also called as ‘Benson & Hedges Cup,’ was played in colored clothing and with a white ball.
After Kapil’s heroics in the 1983 World Cup, it was time for Imran’s daredevilry in 1992. Pakistan’s World Cup campaign didn’t take off on a good note though; after comprehensively losing their opening match to West Indies, their first win came against Zimbabwe.
Against England, the rain gods came to their rescue as Pakistan were all out for 74 runs but the match was luckily abandoned.
After losing to India and South Africa, Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals looked bleak. Their leadership looked in a terrible crisis, and that’s when Imran Khan asked his men to ‘fight like cornered tigers.’
The team went on to win 3 matches in a row against Australia, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, and somehow managed to finish in the top 4 - surpassing Australia and West Indies on net run rate.
Chasing 263 runs in the semi-finals against New Zealand, the Pakistani middle order made valuable contributions with Javed Miandad’s patient 57 and Inzamam’s quick-fire 60 off 37 balls. The target was chased with an over to spare.
Now after making it to the finals of the Cricket World Cup for the very first time, Pakistan were going to face England. Erasing memories of their previous league match against the same opponents, Imran’s Tigers looked ready to give it back to the English men.
With a solid batting display in the middle, Pakistan managed to set a target of 249 runs. Wasim Akram, the man of the match, hammered the final nail in the coffin by dismissing Botham, Lamb and Lewis after his quick-fire 33 off 18 balls in the slog overs.
#3 Sri Lanka – Cricket World Cup, India in 1996
After a dismal tour of Australia, the Sri Lankan team looked down and out before their 1996 World Cup campaign.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were joint hosts of the penultimate cricket World Cup scheduled in that millennium. However, Sri Lanka got a direct entry to the quarterfinals much before playing a single match.
Australia and West Indies refused to send their players to the island nation following a terrorist attack in Colombo. As a result, Australia and West Indies forfeited their respective matches and the points were awarded to Sri Lanka.
In their very first match against Zimbabwe, the Lankans came out as a formidable unit and chased Zimbabwe’s target of 230 runs in just 37 overs. In their 2nd match, they mauled India with some ferocious pinch hitting by their 2 openers. Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana gave the team an explosive start and their middle order finished the run-chase with 10 balls to spare.
In their next match against Kenya, they posted 398 runs, then a world record for the highest single innings total. Again the 2 Lankan openers gave an explosive start and by now the Lankan strategy seemed loud and clear - play lofted shots and accelerate the run rate during the first 15 overs of the field restrictions.
Finishing as table toppers with 10 points, they took on England in the quarterfinals and chased their target of 235 runs in just 40.4 overs. But what happened in the semi-final will be forever etched in the hearts of Indian cricket fans.
The disastrous Indian batting collapse while chasing Sri Lanka’s 251, the unruly behavior of the crowd at Eden Gardens, and the teary-eyed Vinod Kambli running off the field once the match was awarded to Sri Lanka - those were some of the most heart-wrenching moments of the 1996 World Cup.
In the final against Australia, the Lankans continued their form and chased Australia’s score of 241 runs in the 47th over. Aravinda de Silva’s fine 107 with the bat and 3 wickets for 42 runs with the ball earned the ‘Man of the Match’ award, while Sanath Jayasuriya with a tournament strike rate of 131.54 grabbed the ‘Man of the Series’ recognition.
#4 India – World Twenty20, South Africa in 2007
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 witnessed a number of upsets. India and Pakistan suffered early exits in the tournament after facing defeats against minnows like Bangladesh and Ireland.
But that pain was short-lived with the introduction of ICC’s World Twenty20 Championship in the same year. MS Dhoni was inducted as the captain of a young Indian side when stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly chose to stay out of the T20 format.
Many cricketing pundits opined that choosing Dhoni as a captain of the side and that too with a bunch of new players may backfire, and that India could face an early exit similar to their World Cup 2007 misery. But that was not to be.
In the league stages, India’s match against Scotland was washed out while they managed to steal a victory against arch-rivals Pakistan in T20 cricket’s first ever bowl-out.
8 teams made it to the super-eight. After facing defeat at the hands of the Kiwis, India fought back to win against England and South Africa in 2 consecutive days.
In the match against England, Yuvraj Singh became the first player in history to hit 6 sixes in an over, off the bowling of Stuart Broad. Rohit Sharma scored a fine 50 against South Africa to ensure India made it to the semis.
In the semi-final against Australia, Yuvraj Singh again appeared in the spotlight by scoring a quick-fire 70 off 30 balls. Sreesanth too joined the party, taking 2 wickets for 12 runs. Ultimately, chasing 188 proved too many for the mighty Australians and they fell short by 15 runs.
The fans couldn’t have asked for a better match when India and Pakistan made it to the final. After a fine cameo by Gautam Gambhir, India posted a total of 157 runs. In reply, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Misbah-ul-Haq held his nerves till the last over of the match.
With 1 wicket in hand, Pakistan needed 12 runs off the last over. Surprisingly, instead of Harbhajan Singh, who still had 1 over left in his quota, Dhoni went to the inexperienced Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over.
Misbah played a dot ball, then hit a massive six, but it was the scoop shot off the third delivery that led to Pakistan’s downfall. Sreesanth took a simple catch and India won the inaugural World Twenty20 by 5 runs.
#5 Pakistan – Champions Trophy, England in 2017
Usually, it takes a lot of time to rebuild a team when it’s placed at the bottom of the rankings table. But such a paradigm shift can only be expected by a team like Pakistan.
Sarfraz Ahmed led a young Pakistani team to glory, not unlike the way Imran Khan stormed into the finals of the Cricket World Cup in 1992. Before the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Pakistan were ranked No. 8 and had a strong chance of failing to qualify directly for the Cricket World Cup 2019.
In their opening match of the Champions Trophy, they comprehensively lost to India by 124 runs. Chasing India’s total of 319, Pakistan simply played like the 8th ranked team and their chase ended at 164 runs. All the top 4 Indian batsmen - Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli and Yuvraj - notched up fine half-centuries.
In Pakistan's second match, Hasan Ali and Imad Wasim bowled magnificently to dismiss South Africa for 219 runs. When rain interrupted the match, Pakistan had already scored 119 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, and by virtue of the Duckworth Lewis system, they were declared the winners by 19 runs.
In their last league match against Sri Lanka, Pakistani skipper Sarfraz Ahmad played a patient knock of 61 runs to guide his team in the run chase of 237 runs and win the match by 3 wickets.
After that there was no looking back. Pakistan made it to the semis when it was least expected, and were suddenly riding a wave of confidence.
In the semi-final, England, who were considered as favorites, only managed to score a paltry 211 runs. The English bowlers then had no answers to Pakistan’s fierce batting led by Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali, and the target was just chased in just 37.1 overs. Pakistan had made a strong statement going into the final against India.
In the final, India opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Fakhar Zaman scored his maiden ODI hundred in quick time and was aided by solid batting from Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, and Mohammad Hafeez in the middle. The Indian bowlers were smashed to each and every corner of the stadium.
Pakistan dominated throughout their innings and set a mammoth score of 338 runs. In reply, India could only manage to score 158 runs and lost all their wickets in the 31st over.
For a while, India’s batting resistance was strongly held by Hardik Pandya in his quickfire knock of 76 from 43 balls. But once he got dismissed in a terrible run-out that involved Ravindra Jadeja at the non-striker’s end, it was literally all over for India.
Pakistan won the match by 180 runs and with that, became the 5th ranked ODI team. They no longer had to play any qualifying matches for making it to the World Cup 2019.
Later in the year, the ICC awarded Pakistan’s historic win with a first-of-its-kind award called "Fans' Moment of the Year".
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