10 ICC World Cup winners who have never won an IPL trophy

The ICC Cricket World Cup is considered as the mega-event of cricket because of the top cricketing nations of the world gather at one place to determine the best cricketing country of the planet.

Over the years, 11 World Cups have been played with Australia emerging as the most successful team with 5 World Cup wins. India and West Indies have won it twice while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won it once.

The only cricket league of the world which comes near to the excitement and star power of the World Cup is Indian Premier League. IPL is by far the most popular T20 league as all the international stars take part in the league.

A majority of World Cup winners of 2007, 2011 and 2015 have taken part in the IPL but not all have been successful in winning the IPL trophy. In this article, we will have a look at the 10 ICC World Cup winners who have never won an IPL trophy.

(Please Note - The World Cup winners who have played a minimum of 4 IPL seasons are only considered for this list.)

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#10 Brad Hogg

The leggie, in spite of featuring in multiple editions of IPL, could not get his hands on the trophy.

Starting with the members of the 2007 Australian World Cup winning squad, the Aussie left-arm chinaman bowler, Brad Hogg played 5 IPL seasons in his career but his franchise never emerged as the winners of the season.

Hogg made his IPL debut in the year 2012 that is 5 years after he won the ICC World Cup as a part of the Australian team. Rajasthan Royals picked him in the 2012 auction and retained him until 2014 before Hogg landed in the Kolkata Knight Riders squad.

Neither Rajasthan or Kolkata managed to win the IPL trophy in those seasons as Hogg ended his IPL career in 2016.

#9 Shaun Tait

The lethal pacer was a vital cog in the famous Aussie pace attack

Australian pacer Shaun Tait was an integral part of his nation's World Cup winning squad of 2007. Tait was the 2nd highest wicket-taker of the 2007 World Cup with 23 wickets to his name. Though he had an economy rate of 5.52, his bowling average of 20.30 helped in nullifying the extra runs.

Talking about Tait's career in IPL, the fast bowler donned the Rajasthan Royals jersey in 5 consecutive IPL seasons from 2009-13. He was released by the Jaipur franchise in 2014 before he went unsold in the 2014 and 2015 IPL auctions. Kolkata Knight Riders picked him in 2016 but Shaun could not contribute much to the team's cause.

Both Rajasthan and Kolkata failed to win an IPL trophy when Tait was a part of their squads as the 2007 ICC World Cup winner could not prove himself as a match-winner in the toughest T20 tournament of the world.

#8 Brad Hodge

Brad Hodge in the Australian Cricket Team's portrait session

Australia's hard-hitting all-rounder, Brad Hodge had played one of the most memorable knocks of his career against the Netherlands in the 2007 World Cup. Hodge slammed 123 runs off 89 balls versus the minnows in a group stage encounter. Though he was not a regular in the Australian playing XI, Hodge stepped up and delivered whenever his team needed him.

Moving towards his IPL career, Hodge played for 3 IPL franchises namely Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and Rajasthan Royals.

In the 7 IPL seasons he played, the 2007 World Cup winner never reached an IPL final forget about winning the IPL trophy. The best finish of Hodge's IPL team came in the year 2013 when the Australian himself helped his team, Rajasthan Royals reach Qualifier 2 by playing a match-winning knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator.

#7 Virat Kohli

The no.1 batsmen in world cricket is yet to win an IPL trophy

Virat Kohli had a splendid debut in the ICC World Cup as he announced himself at the grandest stage with a century against Bangladesh. Kohli played a key role in helping the Indian side win the 2011 World Cup. His consistent performances have helped him become the best batsman of the world in just a few years.

However, when the talk comes to IPL, the Delhi lad can be considered as the unluckiest player of the league. Almost all the top-class players of the Indian team have won the IPL at least once, but the Indian skipper is yet to taste title glory in the cash-rich league.

Kohli has played all the 12 seasons of IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore but the team has never won the IPL trophy despite reaching the final thrice.

#6 Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag could never lead or bat his side to a victory in IPL

Virender Sehwag established himself as one of the most brutal openers in World Cup history by playing many fearless knocks in the 2011 World Cup. His match-winning contributions at the top were one of the main reasons behind India's extraordinary success at the World Cup.

However, the Delhi opener did not have the same luck in the Indian Premier League as he never got a chance to put his hands on the coveted IPL trophy.

Sehwag started off his IPL career as a part of his home franchise, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2008. He played 6 seasons for Delhi but the best his team could reach was the 3rd position.

Viru moved to Kings XI Punjab in 2014 and reached the first ever IPL final of his career but Manish Pandey and co. denied him his first IPL title. After a disastrous season in 2015, Sehwag decided to bid adieu to the league without any trophies.

#5 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer was the joint highest wicket-taker in the 2011 World Cup

The highest wicket-taker of the 2011 World Cup winning Indian team, Zaheer Khan was in the form of his life in 2011. His crucial breakthroughs early in the innings always provided India a good start with the ball. Even in the death overs, Khan used to chip in with some important wickets.

Thanks to his incredible performances at the international level, Zaheer always used to receive superb contracts from IPL franchises. The left-arm fast bowler played for 3 IPL teams in his career.

His first IPL franchise was Royal Challengers Bangalore following which he moved to Mumbai Indians. Zaheer played his last 3 IPL seasons for Delhi before retiring in 2017.

Though Mumbai had won the IPL championship thrice from 2008-17, Zaheer was never a part of the winning Mumbai Indians squad. However, this year he finally touched the IPL trophy as Khan was the director of the champions Mumbai Indians side in the 2019 edition of IPL.

#4 S Sreesanth

Sreesanth, after the ban tried out many different things, even politics but nothing really got going for him

Kerala born right-arm fast bowler, S Sreesanth was one of the few Indian players who had won the World T20 in 2007 and then won the ICC World Cup in 2011. Though Sreesanth did not play a major role in the latter tournament, he got a chance to lift the World Cup being a part of the Indian squad.

Though he won two ICC trophies with India, the fast-bowler ruined his career by involving himself in a match-fixing saga in 2013. He was handed a lifetime ban and his franchise Rajasthan Royals suspended his contract.

Before getting banned by the BCCI, Sreesanth had played 6 IPL seasons from 2008-13. He donned the jerseys of 3 IPL franchises namely Kings XI Punjab, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and Rajasthan Royals during this phase but his team never managed to win an IPL trophy.

#3 James Faulkner

James Faulkner could fire both with the bat and the ball on his days.

A part of Australia's 2015 ICC World Cup-winning squad, the left-arm fast bowling all-rounder, James Faulkner is one of the three players of the squad who have had great IPL careers but have never won the trophy.

Very few fans may remember that James kicked off his IPL journey as a part of Pune Warriors India in 2011.

The all-rounder was then bought by Preity Zinta-owned Kings XI Punjab in 2012. But, the franchise which gave the limelight to Faulkner was Rajasthan Royals.

Royals bought him in 2013 and established him as one of their biggest match-winners until 2015. Faulkner played for Gujarat Lions till 2017 before the franchise left the league. Unfortunately, the Australian has not been able to attract any IPL franchise after the 2017 season.

He had reached the IPL play-offs while playing for Gujarat in 2016 but the Lions failed to win the IPL trophy.

#2 Mitchell Marsh

Mitchell Marsh picked a 5-wicket haul in the second match of ICC World Cup 2015

Australian all-rounder, Mitchell Marsh lifted the ICC World Cup trophy for the first ever time in his life in 2015. He scalped a 5-wicket haul against England in his team's World Cup opener. His marvelous bowling figures of 5/33 helped Australia get off to a winning start in the 2015 World Cup.

Diverting the attention towards Mitchell's IPL career, the all-rounder had been a part of 6 IPL seasons. His first IPL experience came as a part of Deccan Chargers in 2010.

Mitchell switched to Pune Warriors India in 2011 and spent 3 seasons there. Pune Warriors never made it to the playoffs in their IPL stint. After PWI's exit, Marsh could not make it to any IPL team until 2015. He joined the new Pune franchise, Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 but the best his team could reach was the runners-up position in 2017.

Mitchell Marsh did not find any buyers in 2018 and 2019.

#1 Steve Smith

Steve Smith made a dashing return to cricket in IPL 2019 after facing a ban for ball tampering

Former Australian captain, Steve Smith was the cornerstone of the 2015 World Cup winning squad of Australia. Smith played 8 matches in the 2015 World Cup and scored a mammoth 402 runs at a stupendous average of 67.00. He struck 4 half-tons and 1 century at the mega-event of 2015.

But, Smith is yet to win an IPL trophy in his career. He was a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2010 before he joined Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011. Due to the disbandment of Kochi Tuskers, Smith was forced to move to Pune Warriors India in 2012. After the termination of the Pune franchise, Steve Smith played for Rajasthan Royals.

Rajasthan Royals got suspended in the year 2015 hence, the Aussie found a new home for himself in Rising Pune Supergiant. The Pune franchise left the league after 2017 as Smith once again joined the Rajasthan franchise.

Though he has played for multiple IPL franchises in his career, the furthest he reached in an IPL season was in 2017 when he led Rising Pune Supergiant to the final only to lose to the Mumbai Indians.