The two-time World Cup champions Indian national cricket team is ready to begin their journey in the upcoming 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. Recently, the national selectors have announced the 15-member Team India squad for the forthcoming World Cup. Before their new World Cup journey, let’s check out the average ODI experiences of Indian World Cup squads in the 21st century.
| Year | Total ODI experiences before the WC | Average ODI experiences before the WC |
| 2003 | 1652 | 110.13 |
| 2007 | 2225 | 148.33 |
| 2011 | 2084 | 138.93 |
| 2015 | 1255 | 83.67 |
| 2019 | 1573 | 104.87 |
Graphical analysis of Indian World Cup squads’ average ODI experiences
2003 ICC Cricket World Cup
The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was a memorable tournament for India under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. While South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya organised that tournament, India finished as the runners-up after losing the final of that tournament against Australia.
Before that tournament, the Indian World Cup team’s average ODI experience was 110.13. While Sachin Tendulkar was the most experienced player in that squad with 303 ODIs and three previous World Cup experiences, five more players had more than 100 ODI experiences.
| Player | Number of ODI experiences before the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup |
| Sourav Ganguly (C) | 218 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 110 |
| Sanjay Bangar | 11 |
| Rahul Dravid (wk) | 196 |
| Mohammad Kaif | 37 |
| Zaheer Khan | 56 |
| Anil Kumble | 238 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 32 |
| Ashish Nehra | 30 |
| Parthiv Patel (wk) | 13 |
| Virender Sehwag | 57 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 63 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 59 |
| Javagal Srinath | 229 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 303 |
2007 ICC Cricket World Cup
India had the disastrous experiences in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. West Indies hosted that tournament while India finished their journey in the group stages after suffering defeats against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (only won against Bermuda). However, that Indian national cricket team had great ODI experiences as their average ODI experience before the World Cup was 148.33.
Once again, Sachin Tendulkar was the most experienced player in that squad with 381 ODI experiences. A total of nine Indian players had the 100+ ODI experiences before that tournament.
| Player | Number of ODI experiences before the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup |
| Rahul Dravid (C) | 310 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 163 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 180 |
| M.S. Dhoni (wk) | 66 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 286 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 147 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 13 |
| Zaheer Khan | 117 |
| Anil Kumble | 270 |
| Munaf Patel | 17 |
| Irfan Pathan | 73 |
| Virender Sehwag | 167 |
| S Sreesanth | 27 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 381 |
| Robin Uthappa | 8 |
2011 ICC Cricket World Cup
India hosted the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It was a memorable tournament for India under MS Dhoni’s captaincy as India won their second Cricket World Cup (India won first World Cup in 1983) after beating Sri Lanka in the final. It was also an experienced ODI squad as India’s average ODI experience before the World Cup was 138.93. Sachin Tendulkar played that tournament as the most experienced player (444 ODI experiences), and nine Indian players had more than 100 ODI experiences.
| Player | Number of ODI experiences before the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup |
| MS Dhoni (C & wk) | 177 |
| Virender Sehwag | 228 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 105 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 444 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 265 |
| Suresh Raina | 110 |
| Virat Kohli | 45 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 45 |
| Zaheer Khan | 182 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 217 |
| Ashish Nehra | 116 |
| Munaf Patel | 71 |
| S Sreesanth* | 51 |
| Piyush Chawla | 21 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 7 |
(Special Note: S Sreesanth replaced the injured-pacer Praveen Kumar before the beginning of the tournament)
2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup where the defending champions India played some excellent cricket. Under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, India won all their matches in the group stages and also won the quarter-final of that tournament (against Bangladesh). However, the host side Australia finished India’s World Cup journey in the semi-final. It was the very lesser-experienced Indian side compared to their previous World Cup squads in the 21st century. That Indian squad had only 83.67 ODI experiences on average. A total of five players in that Indian squad had the over 100 ODI experiences. MS Dhoni had the most ODI experiences in that squad as he already played 254 ODIs before that tournament.
| Player | Number of ODI experiences before the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup |
| MS Dhoni (C & wk) | 254 |
| Virat Kohli | 150 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 88 |
| Stuart Binny | 9 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 53 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 111 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 44 |
| Axar Patel | 13 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 46 |
| Suresh Raina | 207 |
| Ambati Rayudu (wk) | 27 |
| Mohammed Shami | 40 |
| Mohit Sharma* | 12 |
| Rohit Sharma | 127 |
| Umesh Yadav | 74 |
(Special Note: Mohit Sharma replaced the injured-pacer Ishant Sharma before the beginning of the tournament)
2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup
England and Wales will host the upcoming 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup from 30th May to 14th July. A total of ten teams will participate in this tournament, including the no.2-ranked ODI side India. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India will begin their World Cup journey on 5th June when they will meet South Africa at Southampton.
Well, this Indian squad has the average ODI experiences of 104.87. A total of six players have more than 100 ODI experiences, including their most-experienced MS Dhoni (341 ODIs).
| Player | Number of ODI experiences before the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup |
| Virat Kohli (C) | 227 |
| Rohit Sharma | 206 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 128 |
| KL Rahul | 14 |
| Vijay Shankar | 9 |
| MS Dhoni (wk) | 341 |
| Kedar Jadhav | 59 |
| Dinesh Karthik (wk) | 91 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 41 |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 44 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 105 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 49 |
| Hardik Pandya | 45 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 151 |
| Mohammed Shami | 63 |
(Updated till 22nd April 2019)