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Top 5 Performances of Team India Against Australia in ODI World Cup

image-lnaa5t8iYuvraj Singh vs Australia [Twitter]

India and Australia are facing each other in the World Cup since 1983. They have met in group stage matches, quarterfinals, semi-finals and even in the final of the 2003 World Cup. Below are the five memorable performances by the Indian players in these matches.

Roger Binny (1983)

image-lna9u2fqRoger Binny [Twitter]

During India’s World Cup winning campaign in 1983, India and Australia were in the same group and although Australia won the very first meeting of these two cricketing giants in the World Cup, India took their revenge in the second group league match and the all-rounder Roger Binny played a pivotal role.

Batting first India posted a moderate 247 in 55.5 overs with contributions from everywhere including Binny who scored a handy 21 off 32 coming at number eight. It was important for India to record a victory to maintain their World Cup Chances and Binny was in action from almost very beginning. Coming to bowl at second change, Binny picked up three out of the four top order batters for Australia including Graeme Wood, Graham Yallop, and David Hookes. He later picked up one more wicket and finished with a man-of-the-match performance of 4 for 29 and 21 runs to give India a thumping 118-run victory.


Mohammad Azharuddin (1987)

image-lna9vzacMohammad Azharuddin [Twitter]

India and Australia were again in the same group in 1987. Like 1983, four years later also both the teams shared the honour as they had won one each against each other. India’s win again came thanks to an all-round performance from someone who is not known much for his bowling. But on that very day he did magic with both bat and ball in the hand.

Batting first India posted 289/6 with four of their batters, Sunil Gavaskar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Mohammad Azharuddin scoring fifties. This was the first ever incident of four Indian batters crossing the 50-run mark in ODI cricket. Among those the fifty from Azhar was a quickfire one, 54 off 45. Australia started the chase well, but the Indian bowlers put control on them and started to pick up wickets. And then Azhar came to bowl his occasional off-spin and picked up three late-order wickets to derail the chase entirely. Australia finished on 233 with Azhar picking up 3/19, his best-ever bowling analysis in ODI cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar (1996)

image-lna9xq0jSachin Tendulkar against Australia [Twitter]

Sachin Tendulkar played his first World Cup in 1992 as an 18-year-old but by the 1996 World Cup he was one of the superstars in world Cricket. He was expected to shine in the World Cup at home and he did not disappoint. Against a very strong Australian attack he shone at his home ground Wankhede Stadium.

Batting first Australia posted 258 in 50 overs, thanks to a sublime 126 from Mark Waugh. Tendulkar led the chase despite losing the early wickets of Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli. He kept playing shots in all parts of the ground and maintained the required run rate in check. He added 63 runs with Azhar where Azhar contributed just 10. Tendulkar raced to 90 out of team total of 143 and looked set to take India home but Mark Waugh had the last laugh. He bowled a wide one that Tendulkar missed and was stumped of a wide delivery by Ian Healy. India lost the match by 16 runs but Tendulkar’s innings remained one of his best in ODI cricket.

Yuvraj Singh (2011)

image-lna9zkx0Yuvraj Singh against Australia [Twitter]

The 2011 World Cup belonged to Yuvraj Singh who was the star for India and contributed with both bat and ball in multiple matches. India’s quarterfinal opponents were the mighty Aussies who were coming off winning the last three World Cups in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Despite a century from the captain Ricky Ponting, Australia could post only 260/6 in 50 overs.

Yuvraj played a key role with the ball in hand. He picked up the wickets of Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke and his 44/2 in 10 overs helped to put breaks on the Australian innings who could have score a near-300 total otherwise. During the chase, India started well but none of their batters could hold one end and play a big innings. Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir scored 53 and 50 respectively but when Gambhir was dismissed, India still required 93 runs in less than 17 overs. Yuvraj helped India to again gain control and remained unbeaten on 57 to take India home with more than two over to spare. His iconic celebration after scoring the winning runs is part of the World Cup folklore.

Shikhar Dhawan (2019)

image-lnaa0pvkShikhar Dhawan vs Australia [Twitter]

India were defeated by Australia during the 2015 World Cup semi-final and when these two teams meet in the 2019 World Cup at the Oval Indians wanted revenge. Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has an enviable record during ICC tournaments and on that day also the southpaw led the Indian batting with his swashbuckling 119 of 107 runs.

His innings was decorated with 16 boundaries, and he did not show respect to any of the Australian bowlers. Thanks to his century and contributions from Virat Kohli (82), Rohit Sharma (57) and Hardik Pandya (48), India posted a massive 352/5 in 50 overs. Australians tried hard during their chase but could score only 316, handing India a 36 runs win. Dhawan deservingly got the Player-of-the-Match award thanks to his memorable century.