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Team India will play its 14th knockout match of any ICC event in 11 years today. India will face England in the T-20 World Cup semi-finals. England had defeated India in the last semi-final in 2022. Since 2014, India has lost 6 knockout matches of ODI and T-20 World Cup. Team India could not win the toss in any of them.
This time India’s semi-final match will be held at Providence Stadium in Guyana, where batting first is beneficial. That means, if England wins the toss, India can once again go on the back foot in the ICC knockout match. Let us know how much impact the toss had on India’s performance in the ICC event…
T-20 World Cup: Last won the knockout match after losing the toss 10 years ago
The last time India won a knockout match of an ICC event was in 2014, despite losing the toss. Then the Indian team defeated South Africa in the semi-finals of the T-20 World Cup. South Africa won the toss in this match. Since then, in the knockout match of any ICC event, the Indian team has never been able to win the match after losing the toss.
From 2007 till now, the Indian team has played 6 knockout matches in the T-20 World Cup. In 2, India won the toss and the team won in both of them. India lost the toss in 4 and had to face defeat in three of them.
Batting first is beneficial in Guyana
The semi-final match between India and England was played tonight at 8 pm at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Here 5 group stage matches were played, in 3 the teams batting first and in 2 the teams chasing won.
The average score of the first innings in Guyana is 146 runs, while in the second innings 3 teams have been all out on a score of less than 80 runs. These also include New Zealand, which was bowled out by Afghanistan on the score of 75 runs in the second innings. Due to poor batting in the second innings, the overall average score in the tournament is only 112 runs.
It is clear from the last few matches of the tournament that batting first is beneficial in Guyana. That means, whichever team wins the toss today, it will bat first. Therefore, it is important that India wins the toss before winning the match in today’s important semi-final. This time India has won 67% of its matches in the tournament by batting first. In Super-8, India won all three matches while batting first.
In the T20 World Cup, India never got the support of the toss, but in the ODI and Test formats also, India faced problems due to the toss.
ODI World Cup: Australia won 2, New Zealand lost one by knockout, India lost the toss in all three.
India last won the ODI World Cup in 2011, when India won 2 out of 3 knockout matches despite losing the toss. These include the quarter-final against Australia and the final against Sri Lanka. In both, India bowled first, the team won the toss against Pakistan in the semi-finals and batted first and also won the match.
After 2011, India played 3 more ODI World Cups. In 2015, Australia and in 2019 New Zealand defeated them in the semi-finals. Whereas in 2023, Australia itself won the final. The team could not even win the toss all three times. During this period, India defeated Bangladesh in the quarter-finals in 2015 and New Zealand in the semi-finals in 2023. Team India also won the toss both times. That is, even in the World Cup of ODI format, the toss stopped India’s victory chariot in the knockout matches.
Champions Trophy: Won the toss, but lost the final
India went to England in 2013 and captured the Champions Trophy. Then the team defeated Sri Lanka in the semi-finals and England in the final. India even won the toss against Sri Lanka, but despite losing the toss against England, India won.
The Champions Trophy was played once again in 2017, with India once again making it to the finals. The team won the toss against Bangladesh in the semi-finals and defeated them by 9 wickets. In the final also, India won the toss, but captain Virat Kohli could not understand the conditions and asked Pakistan to bat first.
Pakistan also capitalized on the opportunity and scored 338 runs in 50 overs. India could score only 158 runs and lost the match by a huge margin of 180 runs. In this match, India had a chance to set a big target by batting first, but the wrong decision of the captain snatched away the chance of winning the trophy from India.
World Test Championship: Won one toss, lost one, lost both matches
ICC also started the Test format World Cup in 2019, which was named WTC i.e. World Test Championship. Its first final was played in 2021, with India making it to the title clash with New Zealand.
The 2021 final was played in Southampton, England, where New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first. Team India could only score 217 and 170 runs in 2 innings, New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets and broke India’s dream of winning the trophy.
The second final of WTC took place again in 2023, this time also India played the final, but it faced the Australian team. Team India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss this time, but he too could not understand the conditions and asked Australia to bat first. Kangaroo team scored 469 runs. India could score only 269 and 234 runs in 2 innings and lost the match by 209 runs.
Played 13 knockouts since 2014, lost 8 tosses and 9 matches
Since 2014, India has played 13 knockout matches in 4 different ICC tournaments across all three formats. The team could win the toss only 5 times, out of which the team had to face defeat 2 times. Three wins could be achieved only in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, while both losses came in the finals. That means if India wins the toss, there is a 60% chance of winning the knockout. But even if we won the toss in the final, there was no chance of winning.
Since 2014, India has lost the toss of 8 knockout matches. Of these, the team lost 7 times and won only once. This victory also came in the semi-finals against South Africa in 2014 itself. After this, India could not win the match in any ICC tournament knockout match after losing the toss. Therefore, it has become very important for India to win the toss in today’s match.
