How Many Times India Won ICC World Cup?

India has won the ICC World Cup on three occasions - 1983, 2007 and 2011 - across two different formats over a gap of 28 years and under two different captains, Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni.

1983 - India lift maiden World Cup title

The Indian cricket team had failed to qualify from the group stages in both the 1975 and 1979 World Cup editions, but what was more disappointing was their underwhelming performances on the biggest stage of cricket.

Despite having the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Farokh Engineer and others, the Indian side had slumped to one-sided defeats against the likes of England, New Zealand, West Indies and even Sri Lanka. Their only win in a match across two World Cups had come against East Africa in 1975.

The 1979 World Cup had even seen Pakistan qualify for the semis while the Indian side had finished last in their group. Hence, when India arrived in England for the 1983 World Cup under new captain Kapil Dev, it was quite obvious that they were the least favourites.

It was under these circumstances that India would go on to lift the World Cup title, thereby inspiring an entire nation and setting the ball rolling for India to become the cricketing superpower that they are today.
 

The India team was clubbed into Group B alongside Australia, West Indies and Zimbabwe, where each team faced the others twice. The Indian team started off with a shock win against defending champions West Indies, where Yashpal Sharma’s heroics with the bat were followed by three-fers by Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri.

An easy win against Zimbabwe in their second match was followed by two reality checks against Australia and West Indies, who had comprehensive wins against India. With their World Cup campaign going a familiar way yet again, India needed something special which was provided by Kapil Dev’s unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe. Following that, India didn’t lose a single game as they would England in the semis before going on to complete a double against tournament favourites West Indies.

2007 - India wins inaugural 2007 World T20

 The situation in which India entered the 2007 T20 World Cup wasn’t very different from the 1983 World Cup in terms of form. The 2007 ODI World Cup in the West Indies ended in a debacle for the Men in Blue as they lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to get eliminated from the World Cup group stages.

The under-par performance had attracted heavy backlash back home in India and BCCI had decided to send an entirely new side to the T20 World Cup, scheduled later that year. The veteran likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan and many others were replaced with a young team under Dhoni’s captaincy.

India were again the underdogs with the likes of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and even Sri Lanka being pegged as title contenders ahead of the eventual champions. This title win had cemented Dhoni’s ability as captain to the world as he would go on to win every ICC trophy over the next years.

Having started their campaign with a washed-out game against Scotland, India needed to win most of their remaining games Pakistan, New Zealand, England and South Africa. And the Men in Blue would go on to win three of the four fixtures with the only exception being New Zealand.

India were pitted against tournament favourites Australia in the semis and Yuvraj Singh’s 30-ball-70 ensured India put up a tough fight. S Sreesanth’s magnificent spell of 2/12 further brought India to the final as they defeated the Aussies by 15 runs.

The high-voltage India vs Pakistan 2007 T20 World Cup final was a testament to their archaic rivalry as India would finally win by a narrow margin of five runs in the very last over of the match. The tournament gave India names like Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and many others.

2011 - India lifts ODI World Cup after 28 years

Unlike the previous occasions, where the Men in Blue came as underdogs, the 2011 World Cup had India as one of the title contenders. With India as one of the hosts, the team had familiarity with the conditions and a well-balanced team of experience and youthful vigour to compete. The advent of IPL three years back also gave Indians a lot of exposure, which helped the side to play fearlessly.