4 underrated knocks in the history of World Cup finals

Cricket world cup appears once in every four years and is no short of a spectacle. Every cricketing nation wants to have as many World Cups in their trophy cabinet as they can. The first ever cricket World Cup was played back in 1975 and it launched a bandwagon!

Since then, the importance of the tournament has skyrocketed. For a new generation of players, it is all to play cricket for. Many legendary cricketers have ended their careers without once getting to lay their hands on the coveted trophy.

Over the course of 11 editions of this grand cricketing festival, there have been many great performances with the willow that has led a team to the ultimate glory. But as it always happens in a team sports, while some get noticed and receive all the accolades, the others go unnoticed.

Let us have a look at 4 great World Cup final knocks that went unnoticed amidst other great knocks.

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4) Collis king in 1979

The 1970s was a time when the great West Indies team were ruling cricket. The West Indies won the inaugural World Cup in 1975 and came into the 1979 finals as the favourites. Many teams feared their menacing quartet of bowlers.

In the finals of the 1979 edition of the tournament, West Indies batted first but witnessed the rare failure of players like Greenidge, Haynes, Alwin Kalicharran and skipper Clive Lloyd.

At one point in the innings, they were tottering at 99-4. At this juncture, Sir Viv Richards came to their rescue and anchored the innings.

Sir Viv remained unbeaten till the end, finishing with astonishing 138*. The knock went on to become one of the all-time great innings in a World Cup final. But along with Sir Viv, there was another man who probably played in a more aggressive manner.

Collis King, whose career lasted for just 18 one-day matches, played an absolute blinder in the finals. He scored 86 runs off just 66 balls which included 10 fours and 3 sixes. He scored at a breathtaking strike rate of 130.30, which at that time, was unheard of. It was his career's only half-century.

But sadly due to his short-lived career, King never made it big on the international stage, and sadly, his great knock got overshadowed by the classy innings of Sir Vivian Richards.

3) Javed Miandad in 1992

Rated by many as the greatest batsman that Pakistan has ever produced, Javed Miandad was one of the most mentally toughest cricketers. Although a legend in his own right, he had never featured in a World Cup final in his career till 1992. However, he waited patiently and was featuring in the 1992 World Cup along with his longtime teammate, the flamboyant Imran Khan.

Pakistan had a dismal start to their campaign and it barely seemed like they would eventually end up being one of the finalists. But, as they say, cricket is a game full of uncertainties. And suddenly out of nowhere, Pakistan landed themselves into the final after beating high spirited Martin Crowe's New-Zealand in the semi-finals.

It was one last shot at World Cup glory for Javed and Imran who had defied age all their career. After an early batting collapse, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad did what they had done all throughout their career i.e. to save the Pakistani sinking ship.

Imran Khan and Javed Miandad scored 72(110) and 58(98) respectively. But, much to Javed's dismay, Imran Khan and his young prodigy Wasim Akram stole the limelight even though Javed was Pakistan's highest runscorer in that tournament with 437 runs.

Wasim was awarded the Man of the Match. Imran's famous speech holding that glass trophy was etched into every Pakistani cricket fan's memories.

2) Damien Martyn in 2003

If you ask about 2003 World Cup final to any Indian, they would probably reply back berating Ganguly for making a blunder for not electing to bat first even after winning the toss. However, it would be unfair to reduce such an epic game to a meagre error in judgement at the toss.

It was the golden era of Australian cricket where everything they touched literally turned to gold. They were the best team in that decade by a country mile. They were rooting for their second consecutive World Cup trophy in 2003, and to be honest, it looked like they had more pressure to win the trophy being the best team at that time.

On March 23rd 2003, Ricky Ponting unleashed hell. He murdered the Indian bowling attack at the Wanderers. Ponting demoralised the Indian bowlers with his monstrous epic 140*(121) which included 8 massive sixes and 4 fours. He scored at an astonishing strike rate of 115.70.

But the bashing of Indian bowlers was not just restricted to one side. A silent destruction was being carried out on the other end by Damien Martyn. He scored 88*(80) which included 7 fours and a six. His strike rate was in excess of 104.76, but as it has been the case with many players, Martyn's brilliant knock was overshadowed by Ponting's indescribable destruction.

1) Gautam Gambhir in 2011

To describe India's 2011 World Cup triumph without mentioning how Gambhir was robbed of attention for one of the all-time great knocks, would be a cosmic insult.

The 2011 edition of the tournament was a two-month festival in India. Everywhere the team went, everybody had one thing to say to them "You must win it this time, at least for Sachin".

For the finals, Wankhede was jam-packed. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat first. Indians started well, but their joy was short-lived, as Mahela Jayawardhane produced one of the all-time great centuries 103*(88) in a World Cup final. India were set a target of 275 to lift the trophy.

At the interval, every Indian feared that 2003 would repeat again. When India came out to bat in the second innings, the whole nation had their eyes focussed on the run chase. To everyone's surprise, India got off to a terrible start. Within 10 overs, they had Sehwag and their beloved Sachin Tendulkar back in the hut.

But, as Bruce Lee once said " in the middle of chaos, lies opportunity", it was an opportunity for any one of the middle order batsman to become a legend. To get their name in eternal history books.

As it turned out, Gautam Gambhir produced a scintillating inning of 97(122) when it was needed the most. He steadied the innings with Kohli after the early disaster, and after Kohli got out, he took India closer to the winning total with Dhoni.

Although Gambhir's inning was the defining knock of the final, his innings got covered under the weight of MS Dhoni's inning, who played a brilliant knock of 91(79) which included 2 sixes, one of them was that match finishing six which got registered for timelessness.

For a country that celebrates their cricketing heroes, Dhoni became one that night. Even though Gambhir's knock was one of the most defining knocks in Indian cricket history, it will remain under the shadow of Dhoni's heroics. Gambhir's knock will probably go down as one of the most underrated knocks of all time.