Today we’ll talk about some memorable individual performances in Cricket World Cup. As we know, Cricket has been among the most popular sports of the world. Many individuals who have been playing cricket have transformed into the games great with their performances. While there are many competitive tournaments like Champions Trophy, Ashes, Asia Cup, there is one tournament which supersedes the popularity, i.e. Cricket World Cup. Playing in Cricket World Cup is a dream that every team or cricketer nurture.
But not every team, not every player get a chance to play at this level, something that makes this tournament even more exciting. Let’s see the best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
Kapil Dev (India, 1983)
Kapil Dev changed a nation which played cricket into a fierce cricketing nation. He was the captain of the Indian team which won Cricket World Cup 1983. And this happened against the mighty West Indies who were on the course to their third consecutive Cricket World Cup title.
Kapil went on to become the most loved Indian celebrity of that era. While his 175 not out against Zimbabwe at the World Cup was an exhibition of his prowess, he took 12 wickets and scored 303 runs from the tournament. It was he who made India believe. He is among our best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
Martin Crowe (New Zealand, 1992)
Martin Crowe is often recalled as the best captain New Zealand ever had. While there are so many incidents to talk about from his career, his performance with bat at the Cricket World Cup 1992 is something worth a recall. He was among the most talked about Cricketers in that World Cup which Pakistan won eventually.
He scored an unbeaten century against arch-rivals Australia in the World Cup and scored 91 against Pakistan in the Semifinal. New Zealand however couldn’t defend a target of 263 against Pakistan and it ended New Zealand’s campaign in the World Cup. Crowe was the first man of the tournament in Cricket World Cups (this was introduced in 1992 World Cup). Martin scored 456 from 9 matches. He is among our best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
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Lance Klusener (South Africa, 1999)
Lance Klusener was one of the key match winners in the South African team of that era (96-2004). He was the man of the tournament in the 1999 Cricket World Cup where he scored 281 from 9 matches. In addition to his batting performance, he took 17 wickets with ball.
The South African team, however, got eliminated in the Semi-final on points basis as they tied with eventual champions Australia in the match. Lance Klusener, however, won hearts though his team couldn’t become the World Champions. He is among our best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
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Sachin Tendulkar (India, 2003)
The God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar has played numerous innings which are exhibition of his class, his impact on the game. Here we take you to the 2003 Cricket World Cup when Sachin scored a record 673 runs from the tournament. In addition to his batting supremacy, he took two wickets as well as a part-timer.
His best innings however was against the arch-rivals Pakistan which had a destructive pace attack of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis & Shoaib Akhtar. Sachin scored 75 ball 98 in the match as India defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets. He is among our best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
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Yuvraj Singh (India, 2011)
Singh has been one of the exhibition of strokeplay or firepower in Batting. He was key to India’s campaign in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Yuvi scored 362 runs off 9 matches in the tournament including a hundred and four fifties. If this was his batting in numbers, his bowling fetched 17 wickets as well.
Yuvraj Singh was declared man of the tournament. He is among our best few individual performances in Cricket World Cup.
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