Twenty years after the Sourav Ganguly-led Indian cricket team returned empty handed from Johannesburg after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the 2003 World Cup final against Australia, Rohit Sharma and his men will have a golden opportunity to script their names in the record books when the Men-in-Blue takes on the familiar foes at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday.

Separated by a generation that had their base in Test cricket, and for them ODI was the faster format, to the current ones, more prone to fast-paced T20 style, yet there are numerous uncanny similarities between these two moments in cricket history.

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Rahul – the makeshift wicketkeeper

India’s current head coach Rahul Dravid donned the big gloves as a makeshift option in the 2003 World Cup, and came up with a decent show behind the stumps besides making a notable impact with the bat, amassing 318 runs across 11 matches. In 2023, history seemed to have repeated as another Rahul, KL Rahul, was tasked with the role as the frontline option in Rishabh Pant is recovering from an accident. KL Rahul has been prolific with the bat as well, contributing 386 runs from 10 matches, so far.

Interestingly, Dravid was also the vice-captain of the 2003 World Cup team, and KL has also been given the additional responsibility of Rohit Sharma’s deputy after Hardik Pandya was ruled out midway into the tournament.

10-match winning streak

Interestingly, in 2003, Ricky Ponting’s Australia went into the final with an unblemished 10-match unbeaten run, while India lost to the Kangaroos in the group stage. Similarly, in a strange coincidence, Australia lost their opening game to India in the 2023 edition, while Rohit Sharma and Co are on a rampaging 10-match undefeated run before reaching Ahmedabad.

3rd World Cup title

In 2023, India are chasing a third World Cup title, after having won the 1983 and the 2011 editions while Australia are eyeing their sixth. In 2003, Australia were hunting their third World Cup crown after having won in 1987 and 1999.

Indian leading run-chart

In 2003, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar led the chart of run-scorers with 673 runs, while Virat Kohli is the highest run-scorer in the 2023 World Cup with 711 runs with one more match left to play.

While the memories of the 1983 and 2011 World Cup wins have ignited a sense of pride in every Indian cricket aficionado but somewhere yet to overcome the heartbreak of 2003. Sunday’s showdown between the two cricketing giants will present one more opportunity to both sides to establish their supremacy and add another chapter to their rich cricketing history.