India first time reached the knock-out stage of the cricket World Cup in 1983 which ended with them being the champion. It followed by the knock-out appearances in 1987, 1996, 2003, 2011 and 2015. Till 2003, the highest score by an Indian in World Cup knock-out match was 93.
On 20th March 2003, India faced Kenya in the 2nd semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. Kenya had a great run to reach the semi-final. They beat Sri Lanka, Canada and Bangladesh in the group stage and also got the full point against New Zealand who refused to travel to Nairobi. After beating Zimbabwe in the super-six, Kenya qualified for the maiden World Cup semi-final played at Durban against India.
Kenya faced India in the Super Six and defending 225 put Indians in a troubled situation. Indians were reduced to 24 for 3 with both Tendulkar and Sehwag went along with Mohammad Kaif. An unbeaten partnership between the Captain Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh helped India chase down the score and save them. Ganguly scored 107 and Yuvraj remained unbeaten on 58.
In the semi-final, Ganguly won the toss and led from the front to score another century to put India to a very strong position with 270/4. Tendulkar also contributed with 83. Ganguly’ hundred was his fourth century in the World Cup matches and he became the first Indian to score a century in the knock-out stage of the cricket World Cup.
There was a rain threat during Kenya’s innings and with South Africa going out of the tournament because of the D/L method calculation everyone was unsure about the D/L method target. Ganguly had a sheet of paper in his pocket with all the D/L calculations and kept looking at it during India’s fielding. However, Indian bowlers were on top and reduced Kenya to 63 for 5. They were finally bowled out for 179 giving India a win by 91 runs and their second opportunity to play a World Cup final.
India next played World Cup knock-out matches in 2011 and despite three knock-out matches, the highest knock was Gautam Gambhir’s 97 in the final. Rohit Sharma became the second Indian to score a century in World Cup knock-out matches with his brilliant hundred against Bangladesh in the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup.
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