10 players who are top performers in World Cup knockout stages

No tournament gets into serious business unless it moves on to the knock-out stages. Viewership picks up, so does the intensity – enormous pressure mounts on the players’ shoulders, so on and so forth. A slip off from one's fingers, one lose delivery or an uncanny edge off the bat will be blown up into unimaginable proportions and may rewrite a player’s destiny the wrong way.Likewise, performances speak volumes if a player manages to shine on the given day during this phase. More so, this is the ideal platform for champions to emerge. All that said, only few manage to be on the better side of this divide.World Cup 2015 has graduated on to the quarter-final round, leaving only the best 8 teams to battle it out for glory. With the knock-outs kicking off from Wednesday, from what history reveals to us, here’s a list of champions who have most often risen to the occasion during the knock-out phases of cricket’s showpiece tournament:Note: Players who have played a minimum of 5 ICC tournaments have only been considered.

#10 Muttiah Muralitharan

With an infectious smile and an indecipherable bowling technique, Muralitharan ruled cricket’s bowling department for the greater part of his career. He has over 1300 wickets – from ODIs and Tests – to his name, making him the most successful bowler in all of the game’s history.

This champion off-spinner from Sri Lanka played a pivotal role in the team’s ascent in world cricket. In the crucial quarter-final fixture of 1996 against England played in the sub-continent, Murali bowled a meticulous spell restricting the opposition to a chaseable total which eventually set up the route for Sri Lanka’s first and only yet World Cup glory.

He splendidly ripped through the Kiwi batting lineup in the 2007 World Cup semi final played in the Caribbean, managing figures of 4/31.

#9 Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble was a wily leg-spinner who is India’s leading wicket taker in both One Days and Tests. During the progressive age of ODIs, Anil Kumble was the Indian captain’s go-to spinner on any condition.

He has 337 ODI wickets under his belt and his bowling statistics for knock-out stages read as 21 wickets in 13 matches. Using his uncanny ability to turn and bounce a delivery at an unusual speed made many batsmen around the globe succumb.

His most outstanding performance was seen during the 1996 quarter-finals against India’s arch rivals, Pakistan. Kumble claimed 3/48 and bundled out the Pakistani line-up from head to tail.

#8 Glenn McGrath

Fondly known as “Pidge”, six-foot tall Glen Mcgrath from Australia is the most clinical bowler the world has ever seen.

With 71 wickets from 39 games, McGrath is the leading wicket-taker in World Cups. However, Australians, whenever they think of World Cup finals can only surely recollect the way Mcgrath claimed the prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in 2003. During that final, he finished with a brilliant figure of 3/52.

In 1999 World Cup final at Lords, Mcgrath once again wrecked the opposition by picking up two wickets and conceding just 13 runs, which again is a startling figure for an ODI. Like his teammate Adam Gilchrist, Mcgrath also has been associated with three World Cup wins.

#7 Wasim Akram

502 wickets between 22-yards – that is a legendary figure, no matter what. Wasim Akram, regarded as one of the world’s greatest fast bowlers, stands second after Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of ODI wickets.

The left-arm speedster is one of the rare breed who could swing the ball both ways leaving batsmen completely at sea. Living up to his stature, he has produced few stellar performances during the knock-out matches as well. Akram has claimed 30 scalps in a scanty 17 matches making him the deadliest in these rounds.

His 3/49 in the grand finale of 1992 Benson & Hedges World Cup uprooted the English side and paved the way for Pakistan’s only World Cup victory so far.

#6 Saeed Anwar

For over a decade, this bearded Pakistani left-handed opener, Saeed Anwar held the record for the highest individual score(194) in ODIs. He is still considered Pakistan’s batting superstar by adding 8824 runs and 20 centuries to his name.

More often than not he has stepped on the gas during the most important games for the team. His unbeaten 113* against New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup semi-final assisted his team to reach its second World Cup finals after 1992. Having notched up 5 centuries in the knock-out games, Anwar averages 40 plus with 1324 runs.

#5 Adam Gilchrist

History tells us that this man has a thing for World Cup finals. Adam Gilchrist has played only three World Cups (1999,2003 & 2007) and has been on the winning side in all three; how many do you think would get as lucky as this Australian?

He’s the second most successful wicketkeeper in ODIs and holds the record for the most number of dismissals in a single World Cup tournament with 21 victims from behind the stumps during the 2003 edition. Gilchrist, who carries the sobriquet ‘Gilly’, was Australia’s most productive wicketkeeper-batsman. He used to open the batting for Australia alongside his long-time on-field pal and partner Mathew Hayden.

He made a quick-fire 54 against Pakistan at Lord’s during the ‘99 World Cup final. More of a deja-vu, he reprised his performance again in 2003 finals against India with a 57. To best it all, he converted his innings into a massive 149 of just 104 balls including 8 sixes against the island nation, Sri Lanka, to win the man-of-the-match award and also to cling on to the coveted silverware for the third consecutive time in 2007.

#4 Sourav Ganguly

As difficult as it is to captain a side during the World Cup, so is it difficult to score three centuries with that responsibility.

Sourav Ganguly maneuvered India to its first World Cup final in 20 years during the 2003 edition held in the African continent. It was not just his captaincy but also his valuable contribution with the bat that laid the road to finals for India.

He has five centuries during the knock-out stages of international tournaments and three of those had come in the 2003 World Cup itself. Often hailed as the God of the off-side, Ganguly played a beautiful innings of 111 which brought India out of the shackles of a threatening Kenyan attack in the 2003 World Cup semis. Furthermore, he had scored an unbeaten 141 against the Proteas in the semi-final of the ICC Knockout Trophy of 2000.

#3 Ricky Ponting

Australia’s most successful captain with a historical 24-match winning streak in World Cups, Ricky Ponting was an indispensable cog in the team during big tournaments.

He has been a part of three successful World Cup wins for Australia which includes two as captain. Despite shouldering the huge responsibility of captaining the side for the major part of his career, Ponting did pull up his socks when it mattered the most.

The way he rocked the Indian bowling attack with a roller-coaster knock of 140 not out during the all important 2003 World Cup final at the Wanderers stands to illustrate his champion’s demeanour. Another vital innings of 102 which went in vain came against the same sweet opposition, India, during the quarter-finals of 2011 World Cup. Having amassed a total 1829 runs in the killer stage with four phenomenal hundreds, Ponting was Austalia’s batting mainstay throughout his career.

#2 Sanath Jayasuriya

The sizzling southpaw from Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya was the world’s most explosive batsman during his prime days. During a time when ODIs were played in a more conservative fashion, his style of batting stood out as rebellious.

Opening the batting for the Lankans, Jayasuriya has featured in four World Cups and in a good number of tournaments like Champions Trophy and the like. He has 1835 runs during the eliminator stage of such tournaments. This aggressive opener’s 125 in 114 balls against India during the final of 2008 Asia Cup ascertained Sri Lanka’s hold on the sub-continental cup.

He, among other notable knocks, has a match-winning 82 against England in the 1996 World Cup quarter-finals. As Sri Lanka eventually won their first and only World Cup that edition, his timely contribution will forever be remembered in the history of Sri Lankan cricket.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Inarguably the best batsman in ODI history, Sachin Tendulkar, would have pulled a surprise only had he not made it to this list. The Little Master from India has played six ICC World Cups and plenty of other international tournaments in his 24-year long career. Sachin retired from the ODI scene in 2013 but not before embossing his name on the walls of big tournaments.

His 141 against Australia in Dhaka during the quarter-final of the 1998 ICC Champions Trophy (earlier known as Wills International Cup) was a pure display of class. It was one of those innings where he single-handedly helped the team post a defendable total. In the semi-finals of both the 2003 and 2011 World Cups, Tendulkar raked in two crucial 80s to keep his team alive in the tournament. In the knock-out phases alone, Tendulkar has 2431 runs at an average of 52.84 with seven incredible tons.