Are India The Biggest Chokers In World Cricket?

The loss in the 2023 World Cup final came despite India getting what they wanted to do in the final (bat first), even after losing the toss. But a strong Indian batting line-up came up with a poor effort on the day that mattered the most. Barring Rohit Sharma, who gave the team another good start...

The word “chokers” is synonymous with the South African cricket team in international cricket. Despite possessing some of the biggest stars in the game, the Proteas are yet to win the World Cup even once - ODI or T20I. Their only win in an ICC event came in 1998 when they beat West Indies to win the inaugural Champions Trophy by four wickets. South Africa’s record in knockout games is undoubtedly very poor. However, following India’s loss in the 2023 World Cup final to Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, one is bound to ask whether Team India and not South Africa are the biggest chokers in world cricket.

It’s been more than 10 years since India won an ICC trophy in any format despite coming tantalizing close on several occasions. If we look at one-day cricket, they lost in the semi-finals in 2015 and 2019 to Australia and New Zealand, respectively. The Men in Blue reached the 2017 Champions Trophy final dominantly, only to be hammered by Pakistan by a huge margin. In T20Is, they lost the 2014 T20 World Cup final to Sri Lanka and were bowled out in the semis in 2016 and 2022. India have also reached the finals of the two World Test Championship (WTC) but finished runnersup on both occasions.