Cricket World Cup History: Ranking the top 5 batting performances in World Cup finals

#4 Ricky Ponting’s 140* vs India, 2003

Ricky Ponting

After Ganguly’s decision to bowl first in the final, Australian openers were off to a flier and the stage was set for Ricky Ponting to take the game beyond India's reach. He allowed himself to settle at the crease as he brought up his fifty off 73 balls. He was a different threat after that as he was ruthless in his approach and the Indian bowlers were left clueless.

After his fifty, he hit two consecutive sixes off Harbhajan Singh and totally hit 8 sixes and 4 boundaries in his knock. He played some scintillating shots throughout this knock but a one-handed six off Ashish Nehra was truly special. The final over from Javagal Srinath went for 18 runs as Ponting smashed two fours and a six to finish the innings on a high note. Australia finished with 359/2 and the game was effectively over by the end of the first innings.