Year Ender 2023: Indian Cricket Team's Biggest Heartbreaks ft. Hardik Pandya's absurd comment

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Year Ender 2023: The Indian cricket team had an exceptional 2023 season where they attained a lot of highs in all the three formats of the game. They also became the number one ranked team across all the formats. As on Friday, December 22 - India continue to be the top-ranked team in the Test, ODI and T20I formats.

Winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and Asia Cup 2023 were the biggest highs for India in 2023. India lost just seven of their 35 ODI matches in 2023. The Men in Blue played 23 T20I matches and lost just once in the format again. Out of the seven Test matches before the first Test against South Africa from December 26, India lost just two.

However, the very few setbacks India faced gave the team and its fans the biggest pain. A look at the Indian cricket team's biggest heartbreaks in 2023.

Defeat in World Cup 2023: Millions of fans are still recovering from that defeat in the World Cup 2023 final against Australia on November 19. With just 13 fours and three sixes in 50 overs, India managed to score just 240 runs in front of a packed crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The 130 thousand fans in the stadium and a billion more Indian cricket team fans outside knew that the Men in Blue had given the World Cup on a platter. Pat Cummins' Australia gunned down the target in just 43 overs. India, who were unbeaten in the tournament till then, lost the golden opportunity to win their first World Cup after 2011.

Defeat in WTC Final 2023: India qualified for their second consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) final and were up against Australia this time. They were thrashed by New Zealand in the WTC 2021 (inaugural edition).

It was being believed India must have learnt from their past mistakes. Notably, the 2021 final was also played in England. The Oval in London was hosting the 2023 final.

However, India flunked on the big stage once again. Hundreds from Steve Smith and Travis Head took Australia to 469 from 50/3 in the first innings. India's top-order of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli flunked in the first innings and on the back of Ajinkya Rahane's 89, managed to post 296.

Later, Australia set India a 444-run target before bundling them out for 234. Yet, another ICC knockout match was lost. The wait for an ICC trophy continued.

T20I series defeat vs West Indies: The number one ranked T20I team in the world lost a 5-match T20I series 2-3 against West Indies who failed to qualify for the 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup.

The Hardik Pandya-led side were thrashed by eight wickets in the fifth T20I after West Indies managed to chase down 166 in just 18 overs. It was Hardik's first defeat as captain in a T20I series. It was India's first bilateral series defeat since the tour of Sri Lanka in 2021. Also, it was India's first defeat in a 5-match T20I series.

"Sometimes losing is good. You get to learn a lot," Hardik Pandya said after losing the series. The comment rubbed salt on the wounds of fans who were pumped after India bounced back in the series from a 2-0 deficit.