5 defending world champions who underperformed in the next edition
The ICC World T20 2016, saw the first instance of a team lifting the coveted trophy for the second time, as West Indies beat England, by 4 wickets in the final of the tournament held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on April 3.
However, once crowned champions, only a few teams have been able to replicate the same success to a large extent in successive editions. The testimony to this is the fact that in the 9-year history of the World T20s, no team has won the title back-to-back.
While the home side has never won any of the World T20s-- and it did not happen this year either, as India crashed out in the semi-final at the hands of the West Indies-- there have been many occasions when the defending champions have underperformed in their title defence.
The same has been the case sometimes in the 50-over World Cups as well. Here, we take a look at 5 defending World Champions who underperformed in their title defence.
1. Sri Lanka (2014 World T20 champions) in WT20 2016
The 2014 World T20 champions could not repeat their success in the 2016 edition, as their campaign contained just one victory- against Afghanistan- out of 4 games.
Hampered by the absence of their regular captain and strike bowler Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan side, that at the moment is a mixture of youngsters and experienced campaigners, couldn’t put up a decent show in their title defence.
They won their opening game against Afghanistan, but that was pretty much it as far as defending their title was concerned as they lost against West Indies, England and South Africa thereby finishing at the 4th spot in the pool of 5 teams.