On paper, you won’t find a better team than that: Virender Sehwag recalls memories of India's 2007 ODI World Cup squad

Every Indian cricket fan would know that the year 2003 was a humdinger in the history of Indian cricket as it had its own shares of ups and downs. There were moments that would mark the strength of the Men in Blue led by Sourav Ganguly and then were moments that weren't exactly pleasant.

In a tournament marked by its own troughs and crests for the Indian cricket team, they finished the campaign as the finalists, losing to the all-conquering Australia back then. With a string of impressive displays in 2003 followed by a flurry of new inclusions to the side, the team travelled to West Indies in 2007, hoping to do one better than the previous edition of the global event.

Sadly for the Indians, they were eliminated from the group stages after a crushing defeat against Bangladesh in the tournament opener while slumping down to the eventual runners-up, Sri Lanka in their third game.

Dynamic opener Virender Sehwag, who was an integral part of the batting unit, couldn’t really fire away as per his usual standards - piling woes on the Indian team’s performance that year. However, the former Indian opener had an interesting opinion about this entire scenario, touting the 2007 ODI World Cup team of India as probably one of the strongest teams of all time.

Talking on Breakfast with Champions, Sehwag said, "2007 hurt more. Our team in 2007 was the best team in the world at the time. On paper, you won't find a better team than that, even before or after. In 2003, we lost the final, in 2011, we won, but we didn't have such big names ever. We lost two matches, won one and that too against Bermuda."

He further added, "Everyone thought we would reach the next round. We had a two-day break after the league stage. We lost, we didn't have tickets. We had to stay two days extra in Trinidad and Tobago without any practice. In those two days, I didn't ask for room service or housekeeping, I didn't even step out of the room. With the help of a relative in the US, I arranged for Prison Break and finished three seasons of the show during that time."