India claimed a historic feat on Wednesday evening by becoming the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the moon's southern pole. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, launched on July 14, flawlessly executed a soft landing at 6:04 PM IST, as cheers of joy erupted across the nation. Over the course of a lunar day – equal to 14 Earth days – the mission will conduct detailed analysis of the moon's surface and search for traces of water. India joined China as the only other country to have operational rovers exploring the lunar landscape.
As India successfully landed on the moon, the social media platforms were full of congratulatory wishes towards ISRO and Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians posted a rather interesting picture to mark the occasion on their X (formerly Twitter) account. MI made a reference to the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019, that had failed in its landing on the lunar surface to draw a unique cricketing parallel.
Also read: Watch: Team India stars erupt in applause as Chandrayaan-3 makes historic moon landing; Rohit, Kohli salute ISRO
Incidentally, Team India had also failed marginally short of making into the final of the 2019 World Cup, losing to New Zealand in the semis. Drawing the parallels, MI indicated that ISRO made a successful comeback with Chandrayaan-3 and now, it's Team India's returns to make a similar return in the 2023 World Cup.
Team India – then under the captaincy of Virat Kohli – enjoyed a brilliant run as it topped the group stage, but fell short by 21 runs in the semi-final in Manchester. In late 2021, Rohit Sharma took over the reins of captaincy in the ODIs and the 2023 World Cup marks his maiden ICC tournament as captain in the format.
{{/usCountry}}Team India – then under the captaincy of Virat Kohli – enjoyed a brilliant run as it topped the group stage, but fell short by 21 runs in the semi-final in Manchester. In late 2021, Rohit Sharma took over the reins of captaincy in the ODIs and the 2023 World Cup marks his maiden ICC tournament as captain in the format.
{{/usCountry}}India's ICC trophy drought, however, dates back to 2013 when the side lifted the Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni's leadership. With Rohit at helm, India faced defeats in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup last year (against England), and the title clash at the World Test Championship in June 2023 (against Australia).
With the home World Cup coming up in October-November later this year, India are among the favourites to lift the title. The ODI squad was boosted by the returns of batters KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer earlier this week; both were included in the Asia Cup squad. Last week, leading pacer Jasprit Bumrah also made a comeback after a 11-month absence during the T20I series against Ireland, where he also led the Indian team.