Bengaluru, July 15: There was a time when it was considered a jinx. No host team could ever win a World Cup. For experts, it was a matter of failing to absorb the pressure of performing in front of the home crowd.

England had failed four times time (1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999) although they had make the finals in 1979; India and Pakistan failed in 1987 and 1996; Australia and New Zealand in 1992; South Africa in 2003 and the West Indies in 2007.

In case of the West Indies, though, it was more the team's fragile capacity to win against big teams that was the reason, more than the pressure.

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However, the paradigm shifted phenomenally in the second decade of the 21st century. Ever since Australia's dominant power waned (between 1996 and 2007, they had made the finals in Asia, England, South Africa and the West Indies and won three of them) after they completed the treble, a new standard has set in.

Since Ricky Ponting's side exited the 2011 World Cup in the quarterfinals, the days of the hosts dominating the tournament dawned and for three consecutive World Cups now, it is the hosts/co-hosts who are lifting the title in front of the home crowds. Sri Lanka technically was the first (co) hosts to win a World Cup but that seemed more of an aberration and they hadn't won it on their own soil still, but in Pakistan.

History repeats in 2011, 2015, 2019

In fact, since 2011, it is only the hosts and co-hosts that have been playing in the finals and in case there is only one cricket-playing host, that host has won the tournament. In 2011, co-hosts India defeated co-hosts Sri Lanka in the final played in Mumbai by six wickets. The winning captain was Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In 2015, it was against one co-host Australia thumping another co-host New Zealand in the final (by seven wickets). In 2019, England, the only cricket-playing hosts (other one was Wales) bagged the title by defeating New Zealand in a thriller of a final.

Indian fans can be happy

Are home conditions suiting teams more now and the pressure is less? In these years of exclusive nationalism, the sporting outfits are perhaps even more spirited to achieve special feats. The reasons may be tactical, strategic or even political, but the cricket World Cup has come up with a new trend.