India was on a dream run in World Cup 2003 and with only one defeat in the entire tournament in league stages, their entry into the finals was storming. Australia was the only team that had defeated India in the group stages. But this time it was final and India was playing as per their potential.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be enough for the men in blue as they lost the final. Australia thrashed the Sourav Ganguly led side by 125 runs in a high scoring final match.

ALSO READ: Javagal Srinath recalls struggles of playing in spin dominated India attack during early days

Former India pacer Javagal Srinath, one of the participants of World Cup 2003, said they had to step up in the final which they failed to do. 

“We could have won the 2003 World Cup final but we were up against the best side in the world. They were on a roll and nobody could even get closer to them. We lost the final and I couldn’t do much in that match either. Winning that final could have been a real feather in my career but you can’t expect everything to happen in life,” Srinath told SportsKeeda in a chat.

Australia had scored 359/2 batting first. It was Ricky Ponting who scored a hundred. Indian pacers, Zaheer Khan, Srinath, and Ashish Nehra conceded 211 runs combined.

There are a lot of points to discuss in hindsight, but Srinath thinks every player needed to double their impact in the game to beat the mighty Aussies.

“We had a chat about it – should we have batted first? But those are all hindsight expertise of what we bring post the match. I just think they were the better side. The same team had won the previous World Cup as well. I think all of us needed to play twice our potential. Probably that could have been the best way.”

(WITH SPORTSKEEDA INPUTS)