How many medals would the Indian cricket team have won if ICC tournaments had podium?
The 2024 Paris Olympics are underway and India are desperately awaiting more medals after the shooting contingent responded with three bronze medals. Cricket, arguably the most prominent sport in India, would have been a sure-shot medal earner, but unfortunately, the sport has been only in the Olympics once, that too in 1900.
While the sport is set to mark a return in the next edition of the event in 2028, Indian fans will have to stay content with the handful of cricket medals they have earned through the Commonwealth and the Asian Games.
Assuming that the ICC tournaments conducted over the years had apodium, assuming the trophy winners won gold and the runners-up had silver medals, it would be interesting to see how many medals India would have amassed over the years.
The men's team would have won six gold medals following their triumphs in the 1983 ODI World Cup, 2002 Champions Trophy (shared with Sri Lanka), 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2024 T20 World Cup.
They would also have won five silver medals after finishing as runners-up in the 2000 Champions Trophy, 2003 ODI World Cup, 2014 T20 World Cup, 2017 Champions Trophy, and the 2023 ODI World Cup.
India have also exited the semi-finals on several occasions in the past, but since there are no third-match playoffs conducted for the semi-finalists, there is no way to know whether India would have made it to the podium as third-placed or not.
As far as the women's team are concerned, they are yet to win an ICC tournament, so they do not have a gold medal to their name. However, since they finished as runner-up in the 2005 ODI World Cup, the 2017 ODI World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup, they would have won three silver medals.
Lastly, India have won several U-19 World Cup titles both men's and women's editions combined. The men's youth team have secured the title a record five times, which gives them five gold medals. They have also finished as the runners-up on four occasions, including the most recent edition, giving them four silver medals.
As far as the women's youth team are concerned, they won the inaugural edition of the competition in 2023, and as a result, have a gold in the first attempt.
India would have had 24 medals if ICC tournaments had podium
All of the above mentioned efforts by the men's and the women's team gives us a total of 24 medals, divided between gold and silver. The number has a great chance of increasing if there was a third-match playoff in place to truly determine the winner of the bronze medal.
The Indian men's and women's teams have had several semi-final exits over the years, most recently the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup.