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The 12th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup is about to commence in England. In the earlier 11 editions, Australia have won the World Cup the most number of times with 5 wins, India and West Indies have won the tournament twice each while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have registered one win each.
New Zealand, South Africa, England and Bangladesh are yet to win a World Cup while Afghanistan are still relatively new to International cricket. Out of the 11 occasions, the host nations have won the tournament only thrice. While the first three editions of World Cup in England was played as a 60 over format, the later editions were all 50 over formats.
Here, an attempt is made to select the best Playing XI with one player from each previous 11 editions of World Cup-winning teams. As the number of player from one team is restricted to only one, some legends have to miss out. Actually from the pool of class players, one can make two or three teams of identical might.
Openers: Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist
Sachin Tendulkar was unlucky in the first five World Cups that he was part of. It all changed in his final World Cup appearance in 2011, when MS Dhoni’s men conquered the world after a long gap of 28 years. Tendulkar was one of the heroes of India’s victory with 482 runs in the tournament, including 2 hundreds.
Sachin has aggregated 523 runs in 1996 and 673 runs in 2003 World Cups. No one could forget his brutal assault on Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. He certainly deserves a place in any All-time World XI, more so in this elite team. Tendulkar is one of the openers in this team.
Adam Gilchrist is Australia’s best ever wicket-keeper batsman. Along with Matthew Hayden, he formed a formidable opening partnership for Australia. Gilchrist was one of the few players who were part of three World Cup-winning teams.
Gilchrist scored 408 runs in World Cup 2003 at a strike rate of 105. He was even better in the next World Cup in 2007, with 453 runs at a strike rate of 104. In the final of World Cup 2007, Gilchrist scored an incredible 149 runs off 104 balls which took the wind out of the Sri Lankan’s sail.
Adam Gilchrist is the second opener and wicket-keeper in this team.
Also read - Highest team total in world cup
Middle Order: Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting is the only Captain other Clive Lloyd to win 2 World Cups successively. In fact, the West Indies and Australia were the only two teams who managed to retain the World Cup trophy. Ponting’s best innings in the World Cup came against India in the final of World Cup 2003 when he remained not out on 140. Ponting is the obvious choice for the No 3 position in this team.
Sir Vivian Richards
Sir Vivian Richards was the original master blaster who instilled the fear of God in the psyche of the bowlers all over the world. He had very little to do with the bat in his first World Cup final in 1975. But he made his presence felt with the run-out of the Chappell brothers to turn the tide in his team’s favour.
The World got to witness the genius of Richards only in his second World Cup finals in 1979 against England. With the Windies reeling on 55 for 3, Richards produced one of the best innings in a World Cup final scoring 138 not out. After his mammoth batting effort, he bowled 10 tidy overs for 35 runs to crush England by 92 runs. He is the No 4 in this team.
Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh was Allan Border’s go-to man in the Reliance World Cup 1987. He scored 167 runs and took 11 wickets in that World Cup. But he reserved his best against South Africa in World Cup 1999. In a must-win game, Waugh showed his fighting spirit scoring 120 off 110 balls. Again in the semi-finals against the same opponent, he made 56 to eliminate South Africa. For his guts alone, the elder Waugh could walk into any team.
Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd was the senior statesman of the West Indies team of the 80s. He was their captain cool during times of West Indies’ dominance. In the finals of World Cup 1975, Lloyd scored a brilliant century to enable West Indies to win their first World Cup title. Clive Lloyd is the captain of this team.
All-rounders: Kapil Dev, Imran Khan(VC)
This team is fortunate to have two of the best all-rounders of all time.
It was Kapil Dev’s belief in himself and his team in World Cup 1983 that changed the fortunes of Indian cricket for the better. There could be any number of reasons for India’s unexpected win in 1983 like the player’s skills and efforts and the prayers of millions of Indian fans. But the presence of Kapil Dev as the leader made it possible.
His unbelievable innings of 175 against Zimbabwe and his outstanding catch to dismiss the rampaging Viv Richards in the finals, were the two crucial factors for India’s triumph in 1983 World Cup. Not to forget his intelligent employ of Mohinder Amarnath and Kirti Azad as bowlers. Kapil is an automatic choice.
Imran Khan had a different style of leadership. He was successful in bringing the best out of his teammates. His charismatic leadership quality was on display in World Cup 1992 when he motivated his whole team to perform when they were at the brink of elimination. At one point of time, Pakistan had to win 5 consecutive matches to reach the semi-finals and they did exactly that under Imran Khan’s headship.
Imran Khan is the second all-rounder and the vice-captain of this team.
Bowlers: Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc was Australia’s hero with the ball in the last World Cup in Australia. He was unplayable with his prodigious swing and express pace. He took 22 wickets at an unbelievable economy of 3.51. He had his best figures of 6 for 28 against New Zealand at Auckland. His dismissal of danger man Brendon Mccullum in the first over of the finals was the turning point of that match. He is the left-arm seamen in this line-up.
Shane Warne
Shane Warne took 20 wickets in the World Cup 1999. In the semi-finals, Australia was defending a modest total of 213. South Africa was off to a flying start with the opener adding 48 runs for the first wicket. The Australian captain turned to his champion bowler Shane Warne for a miracle. Shane Warne got rid of Herschelle Gibbs in his second over. In his third over he dismissed Gary Kirsten and Hansie Cronje to dismantle South Africa’s chase. He came back to dismiss the well-settled Jacques Kallis to close out the match for Australia. Shane Warne is the leg-spinner in this team.
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan played a huge role in Sri Lanka reaching the finals of two successive World Cups in 2007 and 2011. In 2007, he took 23 wickets with a 4 for 31 against New Zealand in the semi-finals. In his last International appearance in World Cup 2011, Murali took 15 wickets and finished his ODI career with 534 wickets at an economy of 3.93. He is the off-spinner in this team.
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