From Manchester to Durban – Three of India’s stunning triumphs against England in ODI World Cups

Team India will be locking horns with England in a crucial encounter in the ongoing World Cup, with the Men in Blue keen to regain their position on top of the points table. Add to that England’s woeful run in the tournament, Jos Buttler’s men will be desperate to stun the hosts on Sunday.

This is, however, not the first time though that India will be meeting England in an ODI World Cup tie. More importantly, with defeats in the 2019 World Cup followed by another defeat in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, the Men in Blue will want to take revenge over England. India, though, have also picked up a few memorable wins over England, and here’s a look back at them. 

1.    India won by six wickets, Old Trafford, 1983

It was one of the most memorable matches for Team India in their iconic global triumph. Opting to bat first against India in the semi-final, England got off to a flier, with Graeme Fowler (33) and Chris Tavare (32) putting up a decent stand. However, Roger Binny’s double whammy got India back to the game. Despite shards of resistance coming in isolated patches, India’s bowling unit came together in scintillating fashion as Kapil Dev led the charge with a three-fer while braces from Binny and Mohinder Amarnath set the tone right, restricting England to 213. Despite Sunil Gavaskar (25) and Kris Srikkanth (19) falling early, Team India managed to brave those choppy waters and set sail towards promised land, thanks to Mohinder Amarnath (46), Yashpal Sharma (61) and Sandeep Patil (51).

2.    India won by 63 runs, Birmingham, 1999

Taming the Lions in their own den always felt special and this was the second time that India pulled off this feat. After a staggering 16 years, when the tournament returned to England, India was up against Alec Stewart’s men and they were asked to bat on a surface that promised to produce a bag of tricks. Sourav Ganguly (40) looked good up front and had support from Rahul Dravid (53) with cameos from Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azaharuddin and Ajay Jadeja following suit. Riding high on the collective showdown from the batters, India posted 232, giving their bowlers a chance to fight. England, however, were taken by surprise upfront as they lost a couple of early wickets in Stewart and Graeme Hick. The Three Lions did manage to put in a resilient showdown for a while through the likes of Graham Thorpe (36) and Nasser Hussain (33) but the joys would be short lived as Sourav Ganguly clinched a three-fer while a couple of wickets each for Javagal Srinath, Debasis Mohanty and Anil Kumble sealed the fate of the fixture.

3.    India won by 82 runs, Durban, 2003

This game was special for the Men in Blue in several ways that featured a stunning display with the bat from two of India’s best and then a phenomenal showdown from one of India’s most promising pace aspects, leaving a star-studded English batting unit in utter disarray. Opting to bat first, India scored 250, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar’s half-century followed by Rahul Dravid’s impeccable 62. Despite a collapse in the dying embers, the Indian bowlers managed to garner the rhythm that they were looking forward to as Mohammed Kaif pulled off a stunning run out, removing the dangerous Nick Knight before Ashish Nehra would mow down the English batting order. Andrew Flintoff was the solitary beacon of hope with a warring 64 but that wasn’t enough for England to even come close. Nehra’s 6/23 still remains as one of the best figures for the Indian bowlers in the history of the World Cup.