India's Perfect 3 in 3 - Life comes a full circle

This was India's 3rd straight big tournament ICC World title having conquered the T20 World Cup in 2024 followed by the Champions Trophy in 2025 and now the T20 World Cup of 2026. With this victory, India also becomes the first team to successfully defend their title and it also emerged third time triumphant in the T20 World Cup having won the inaugural edition in 2007 and then the 9th version in 2024 and now the current 10th time its been staged in 2026. Incidentally the only 2 common links across these 3 victorious campaigns happen to be Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel who both played crucial roles in enabling India win these 3 world titles across the last 3 years.

India also happen to be the first country to have won the T20 World Cup thrice. One coincidence running across as an underlying theme is that India's victories in the T20 World Cup on all 3 occasions came about while batting first. The only final which India lost was in 2014 in which they were also inserted into bat by eventual champions Sri Lanka. In 10 editions of the T20 World Cup being conducted, this also happens to be the first time the home nation is capturing the trophy. Another noteworthy coincidence is that India have now won 2 Limited Overs World Cups at home with the ODI World Cup triumph in 2011 and this T20 World Cup victory 15 years later in 2026. In both these editions, they only lost one game and both times the opponent was South Africa. Another strange coincidence not directly involving India but a reign of luck favouring them is that every time Zimbabwe have defeated Australia in a World Cup game, the victors in that particular World Cup were to be India. This has also happened 3 times now first with Zimbabwe's victory over Australia in the Prudential ODI World Cup of 1983 and after that in the inaugural T20 World Cup of 2007 held in South Africa and now recently in the 2026 T20 World Cup. Also India avenged revenge against their rivals New Zealand in the final, a team who they have always lost in T20 World Cups prior to this losing all their 3 encounters previously viz in 2007, 2016 and 2021.

The records don't end there. India's coach Gautam Gambhir became the first cricketer ever to win the T20 World Cup both as a player and coach. He was part of the initial success way back in 2007 & now led the side as coach to succeed in 2026. In fact Gautam Gambhir is the only Indian cricketer to have been part of 3 Indian World Cup victories in a capacity of either a player or a coach being a member of the victorious T20 World Cup squad of 2007 followed by the ODI World Cup conquest in 2011 and now as coach of the successful 2026 T20 World Cup winning side. Gambhir also incidentally happened to be the highest run scorer for India in both the 2007 T20 World Cup final as well as the 2011 ODI World Cup final.

India also finally got 3rd time lucky at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In fact since 2023, their only 2 defeats in ICC world events happened to come by at this stadium with India heartbreakingly going down in the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 vs Australia at this very ground. The other defeat was at this tournament when they were literally given a pounding by South Africa who pounced their way to a commanding victory which almost put India's chances of qualifying to the next stage in jeopardy. Ending the curse of Ahmedabad at the biggest stage of a final was indeed sweet redemption especially considering the ill fated hoodoo circumambulating around this particular pitch across the last couple of years. Another superstition looming which India arrested was winning a World Cup final on a Sunday. All of India's prior World Cup victories be it the ODI World Cup final of 1983 & 2011 and 2024 T20 World Cup final was won on a Saturday. The T20 World Cup final of 2007 was held on a Monday due to Heritage Day in South Africa. All of India's World Cup final losses be it the ODI World Cup (2003 & 2023) and T20 World Cup (2014) were both on a Sunday.

The Solar month of Maasi which is when the Sun orbits in the sign of Aquarius that runs around the period from approx mid February to mid March has also been very lucky when it comes to Indian cricket. In fact India has claimed major titles during the March leg on the 10th, 9th and 8th respectively across multiple years. Thus Maasi month or Kumbha Masam as it's called especially the time interval that falls in the month of March has been extremely lucky for India from a cricketing parlance.
10th March 1985 - India win the one and only World Championship of Cricket. This was a championship held by Australia to commemorate 150th anniversary of European settlement in the State of  Victoria and comprised of the then 7 test playing nations and was one of the first world cricket events to be played in coloured clothing much before the advent of the first World Cup in coloured shades which saw its ingress only in 1992.
9th March 2025 - India claimed the Champions Trophy and in the process also became the only side to claim this title for the 3rd time.
8th March 2026 - India won the T20 World Cup 2026 becoming the first team not only to win at home but also the first side to successfully defend their trophy and also the first country to win the T20 World Cup for the 3rd time.

All of the above sounds absolutely rosy and seems like India is an invincible and unstoppable force when it comes to white ball cricket. But that was not the case for over a decade with India coming up short many a time towards the final hurdle despite putting up commendable performances. After the 2013 Champions Trophy victory, India went through a wretched run devoid of major ICC World trophies till they finally arrested the slide by claiming the T20 World Cup in jaw dropping humdinger fashion in 2024. After that there's not been looking back with the team going from strength to strength adding 3 titles to the kitty back to back. This golden run now especially seems all the more welcoming even though some may brush this off as being a regular occurrence but the barren run prior to that was extremely painful to say the least. India have finally found the mojo of the winning mentality by knowing how to cross the final hurdle. This particular T20 dominance was superbly spectacular considering that it was at home when the team was under tremendous pressure to deliver and defend their title. And boy oh boy they did it in swashbuckling fashion. Let's hope this streak keeps going in the ascendancy and the team is able to win more laurels in the days and years to come.

Summary of India's 3 in 3 Victories

Continuous 3 Year World Title Championships
2024 T20 World Cup - 29th June 2024
2025 Champions Trophy - 9th March 2025
2026 T20 World Cup - 8th March 2026

India's 3 T20 World Cup Triumphs
2007 T20 World Cup - 24th September 2007
2024 T20 World Cup - 29th June 2024
2026 T20 World Cup - 8th March 2026

India's March Month Glories
1985 World Championship - 10th March 1985
2025 Champions Trophy - 9th March 2025
2026 T20 World Cup - 8th March 2026

July 14th comes back to haunt and the eerie similarity between 2021 & 2024

There were 3 highly anticipated sporting finales which got played out on the 14th of July 2024 viz

Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz

Euro Final - England vs Spain

Copa America Final - Argentina vs Columbia 

The day was all set and it was imminently clear that it was going to be a sporting extravaganza of epic proportion and a blockbuster of sorts for the sport loving aficionado.

Sporting clashes have happened across different formats and dates earlier on as well. But what really caught the eye and makes this one Sunday special is because it associates itself to a few incidents of the past which ironically played out in the same intervening period but across different years.

Let's traverse back to the exact day of 14th July, 5 years ago in 2019. That very same day witnessed a Wimbledon final and the ODI World Cup cricket final. On 14th July 2024 also we had the Wimbledon Final but instead of the cricket we had the Euro Football final. The common player/team running across both these days were Novak Djokovic and England. In 2019, Novak Djokovic claimed the Wimbledon title in a match for the ages against Roger Federer and the England cricket team claimed the cricket World Cup final in a super over through boundary count in the final against New Zealand which was heralded as one of the greatest ever ODI matches played. 

Both Novak Djokovic and England appeared again on court in the final in 2024 and a victory for both would have made it extra special and a day to savour for eternity for both Novak Djokovic and England as a sports team but alas it was not to be as Djokovic was swept aside by the marauding young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and later on in the evening the England football team were humbled by a mercurial Spanish side. The 14th of July 2019 which bought joy to Novak and the England cricket team bought despair to the same Novak Djokovic and England football team on the 14th of July 2024. It was perceived that Novak almost did the impossible by saving 2 match points on his opponents serve to register a famous victory much to the chagrin of the partisan British crowd who were cheering and egging on Federer to create history in 2019. In a similar vein, it was also felt that the Kiwis were robbed off a World cup title in dubious fashion since the win was awarded to England in controversial circumstances. Both Federer and New Zealand felt dismayed on the 14th of July 2019 but things came back to haunt Novak and England in albeit a different manner by taking defeat off them coincidentally and ironically on the very same date 5 years later. Hence, there were a lot of coincidences and patterns emerging across these 2 dates 5 years apart but the result ended up being completely opposite from one another.

Talking of coincidences, there was one more eerie similarity taking place in 2024 but this time the year in question is related with 2021. The very same 3 sporting events that happened in 2024 also took place in 2021 just 3 days apart on 11th July 2021 and once again there was the common theme of one player/team being weirdly the common link across the 3 major sporting finales. 

Let's take a look at the commonality.

2021 & 2024 Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic appeared in both finals

2021 & 2024 Euro Final - England played in both finals 

2021 & 2024 Copa America Final - Argentina took part in both finals

The results however were a mix & match across these 3 years. Novak Djokovic emerged victorious in 2019 but came a cropper in 2024. England football team ensued heartbreak both in 2021 at home and 2024 in Berlin. The Argentinian team emerged triumphant on both occasions beating the home side Brazil in 2021 and winning the finale again in 2024.

Documenting the tale of sporting finales loaded with numerous twists & turns arising across different years resulting in so many weird and varied patterns indeed makes sport so very special and thrilling.

Not Finishing the Job - India's cricketing story in Big Ticket ICC Events

It's not always that you come so close to winning championships. India have no doubt been good enough continuously coming to the final stages of ICC world events, but there is a thing called 'finishing the job' and we have failed at that miserably.

Since the WC win in 2011, the results in ICC events are listed below. After 2013 Champions Trophy, a big ticket victory has eluded India despite coming close on several occasions
2011 WC - Winners
2012 T20 WC - Group Elimination
2013 CT - Winners
2014 T20 WC - Runners-up
2015 WC - Semi finals
2016 T20 WC - Semi finals
2017 CT - Runners-up

We handed the 2014 T20 WC final to Sri Lanka in a platter through a horrendous batting performance by getting an abysmal score of 129 off 20 overs having lost just 3 wickets. Then again in the semi of the T20 WC 2016 vs West Indies where we spilled regulation chances, not doing our basics right and allowing them to chase over 190 preventing us from having a shot at the final at home.

And today's result is the culmination of all disappointment. First it was against Pakistan and more so in an ICC world tournament final. We allowed them to bat first when we should have stocked up and put the runs beyond their wherewithal. Instead we bowled and did that despicably without any planning and leaking runs by the second. And when the batting was expected to come up trumps, we just caved into pressure and fell off even without offering a fight. This will rank as one of the most embarrassing defeats for India.

Sorry, if we are to compare ourselves to the Aussie team of yore, we are just not there. That ruthlessness and killer attitude just didn't come up when especially needed. Personally am extremely disgruntled and no amount of our past ICC tournament wins against Pakistan is going to be of any solace.

As a hard nut Indian cricket fan, defeats hurt but this one is just too personal to swallow 😐.