Cricket after 1998

In the 1999 WC, Pakistan started of their campaign strongly beating a strong Australian team. Australia got things together and they stormed into the Semi-Finals. India also were favorites for this tournament but they suffered a huge blow very early in the tournament and Sachin had to leave mid-way to attend his father's funeral. In a match between Australia and South Africa, Australia were struggling and South Africa just needed few wickets to take the game away from Australia. South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs dropped the Australian Captain Steve Waugh in trying to celebrate before completing the catch. To this Steve Waugh responded, "You've dropped the World Cup!!" 

South Africa had to chase 219 runs in the Semi-Final against Australia. With 9 required off the last over with a wicket left, Lance Klusener hit consecutive boundaries with 1 required from 4. He survived the run-out and now 1 run was needed off 3 balls. Klusener once again attempted a risky run as he was run-out. This was South Africa's 3rd loss in the Semi-Final of a WC in only their 3rd appearance as they received the unwanted tag of 'Chokers'. Australia blew away Pakistan in the Finals chasing 125 in just 14 overs and 9 wickets to spare. They won their 2nd WC becoming only team after West Indies to achieve this feat.

In the year 1999, the Anti-Corruption Unit of ICC conducted few investigations and found out that the Indian Captain Mohammad Azharuddin and few of his team-mates along with South Africa Captain Hansie Cronje were involved in fixing as they were handed lifetime bans from Cricket. Sourav Ganguly and Graeme Smith were given the Captaincy for their respective teams and they both went on to build great teams for the future.

However, the Cricket viewers still were not convinced about the integrity of the game. The 2001 Border Gavaskar Series became a major attraction for them. The Australian side that had dismantled the Indian team in Mumbai went on the lose the 3-match series 2-1. The 2nd Test at Kolkata became one of the all-time greats. India got bowled out on 171 in reply of Australia's 445 and were asked to follow on. Trailing Australia by 42 with 6 wickets in hand. VVS Laxman & Rahul Dravid scored 281 & 180 respectively to take India to 657/7 dec. with Australia needing 384 to win. Eventually, India won that match by 171 runs and went on to win the Chennai Test to claim the series 2-1. Australia's 16-match winning streak in Tests was broken.

Australia however went on to dominate almost everything for next 5-6 years winning the 2003 WC held in South Africa beating India by 152 runs in the Finals becoming the first team to win 3 WCs. With ageing players in the side Australian dominance came down a bit. Australia though went unbeaten in 2007 WC as they went on to beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs in the Final.