India-New Zealand & Australia-South Africa: Old rivals set to script new stories

July 9, 2019, Old Trafford, Manchester, India arrive as the table-toppers and barring a blip against England, have looked like the team to beat. Their top three are scoring runs, bowlers taking wickets, and whenever India have gotten themselves in a pickle, they have done just enough to get past the finish line.

In short, they are doing everything that you expect of a side challenging for the World Cup title.

Up against them, on this dreary Manchester day, are New Zealand. They barely got to the semi-finals, outwitting Pakistan on net run rate, and there are not many hopes pinned on them. Of course, everyone knows that the Kiwis never give up without a fight. But pound for pound, India look too strong and in much better shape.

This is an ODI but the quirks of the English weather mean that it lasts two days. On day one, India are in control. At the start of day two, India are still in control. Until….they are not.

New Zealand ripped through India’s top order, leaving them tottering at 24-4 after the first powerplay, and it is left to MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to rescue India. The latter dazzles, the former anchors.

Both though, perish in relatively quick succession towards the end – Jadeja while attempting a big shot; Dhoni, perhaps more crushingly, while attempting a sharp second run to retain strike. India lost, and crashed out of a World Cup they seemed destined to win.

India have not made the final of a white-ball ICC event since. Virat Kohli would never be captain in an ODI World Cup thereafter. And Dhoni would never play for India again…

***

June 17, 1999, Edgbaston, Birmingham. Australia versus South Africa. With a place in the World Cup final at stake. Australia have won the World Cup once but were denied at the final hurdle by Sri Lanka in the previous edition. South Africa, since their debut at the World Cup, have always been a tough proposition to tackle.

Slightly contrasting trajectories up to the semi-final too. South Africa raced out of the traps and Australia had to rely on a resurgence in the Super Six stage, which included a win over the Proteas and Herschelle Gibbs famously dropping Steve Waugh, post which the Australian skipper muttered (reportedly) that Gibbs had dropped the World Cup.

Back to the semi-final now. Australia have runs on the board, but not too many. 213 to be precise. South Africa get off to a decent start, ticking along to 48-0 before quickly finding themselves teetering at 61-4.

The game goes back and forth, until perhaps the final over. Lance Klusener, the tournament’s MVP, is now on strike and needs to get nine runs to take South Africa to their maiden World Cup final. Damien Fleming has to defend those runs to ensure Australia have another shot at the World Cup.

Remember, if the game ends in a tie, Australia will go through because, well, they finished higher in the Super Six stage. At who’s expense? Hmm…South Africa.

Two boundaries off the first two balls and South Africa are suddenly in the driving seat. Just one more run, and they will enter the promised land. Four more balls left to do so, but just one wicket in hand.

Then, catastrophe strikes for South Africa. Or, in blunter words, the most inexplicable of capitulations transpires.

South Africa, for some reason, decide they want to run whenever the ball hits the ball. They survive a run out on the third ball of the over but are not so lucky on the fourth ball. The lasting image is that of Klusener and Allan Donald running to the same end as Australia whip off the bails at the other end.

Australia reach the final because the game finished deadlocked. They beat Pakistan, and go on to win three World Cups in succession. South Africa are labeled a lot of things, all revolving around their inability to handle pressure, and they have not come close to making the ODI World Cup final since.

Until…

***

2023. The ODI World Cup. In India. A country mad about the game. South Africa have barged through, their batting utterly dominant when batting first, and doing just enough when having to chase. Australia began shakily, like they did in 1999, but have reeled off seven consecutive wins to enter the final four.

Now, they are on a collision course. After the 1999 installment, these two sides did meet at the penultimate stage in 2007, with Australia again emerging triumphant. South Africa, though, are probably the only side in the world to hold the wood over the five-time winners in ODI cricket and have already beaten them once at the 2023 ODI World Cup.

South Africa, thus, are aiming to translate that positive head-to-head record into something tangible. Australia, hoping to continue their dominance on the grandest stage, and reiterate that there is no team better at winning these high-stakes, high-jeopardy games.

India ended their 20-year winless streak against NZ in ICC white-ball tournaments this year

That is not all this World Cup has to offer, though. In the other semi-final, India are slated to take on New Zealand, a little more than four years after that day in Manchester. In between, the Blackcaps thrashed India at the 2021 T20 World Cup and outfoxed them in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship.

So, if there is any team India perhaps did not want to face in a clutch contest, it was New Zealand. But this Indian team under Rohit Sharma's stewardship has won nine on the bounce, and are hoping to emulate the great Australian sides of 2003 and 2007, who won the World Cup undefeated. And if they are to hold a candle to them, the opposition or the occasion should not really matter.

As for New Zealand, well, there is so much going in India’s favor that this seems the archetypal Kiwi game - fly under the radar, have a surprise or two up their sleeve, and defy the odds.

So, given the current landscape and the circumstances, these two matches could go down as two of the greatest the World Cup has seen. Add to that the history between these two, and it does not take rocket science to figure out why those in Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Africa (and perhaps everywhere in the cricketing world) are looking forward to it so eagerly.

A generation of Indian fans has grown up with the heartbreak of Manchester and the humbling of Southampton; a slightly older generation (but a generation nonetheless) of South African fans has still not exorcised the ghosts of Edgbaston 1999.

Kiwi fans have taken pride in denying India a piece of history (and glory) over the past few years; Australian fans have often basked in the achievements of their most illustrious cricketers, especially when it has come at the expense of the Proteas.

Over two days, in Mumbai and Kolkata, two nations will have a chance to snatch that joy away from their rivals, and two countries will have the opportunity to extend that misery and have a shot at writing another chapter in this beautiful sport’s folklore.

What happens in Mumbai on Wednesday, will not have a bearing on what transpires in Kolkata on Thursday, and vice versa. Yet, it feels that everything is intertwined.

Destiny to have these two encounters. Possible delirium for two, devastation and despair for the others. A World Cup final for two, and just a semi-final appearance for the others. Heartbreak for two, pure elation for the winners. Above all, four new stories (heroic fables or otherwise) for four sets of fans to reminisce or repent for generations.