Top 5 Batting Performance In A World Cup Final

World Cup happens once in 4 years which brings in a lot of closely contested battle between bat and ball watched by millions around the globe. As the tournament progresses it’s important that every player would be keen to rise to the occasion to take his team across the line.

Eleven world cups have been played and 165 centuries have been recorded by 103 players from 15 different teams with Sachin Tendulkar leading the chart having 6 centuries to his name followed by Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara with five each.

The first century in the championship was scored by Dennis Amiss of England when he made 137 against India in 1975 and the recent one was by Steve Smith against India at the SCG in 2015.

There have been plenty of standout performances with the bat through the years but a century in the finals of a World Cup is every batsman’s dream. There have been some outstanding batting display in the finals of the championship and here are the top 5 performances:

---

#1 Sir Vivian Richard’s 138 against England in 1979 final

The 1979 World Cup final was contested between England and West Indies at the Lord’s,London. The hosts put the opposition to bat after winning the toss. The pair of Greenidge and Haynes were back to the pavilion with Richards at the other end.

He had to stand firm at one end to take his team out of trouble and he did that perfectly. He had a 139-run stand with CL King and scored an amazing 138(4s-11 and 6s-3) off 157 balls which took the team to a decent total of 286 in 60 overs. The Windies pace attack were successful in defending the total and the Carribean team successfully defended their title.

#2 Aravinda De Silva does it for the Lankans in 1996

Sri Lanka were the underdogs going into the tournament and nobody expected them to reach the knockouts. But they surprised everyone getting to the semis and defeated the Mighty Indian team at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

The final was held at Lahore and they faced the likes of the Waughs, Warne and Mcgrath. The Lankans won the toss and put the kangaroos to bat. They had to defend a par score of 242 on that pitch. The dashing openers failed to provide the start they were looking for and found themselves in deep trouble at 23 for 2.

Then arrived Aravinda De Silva and took the attack to the opposition along with Gurusinha who made a valuable 65. De Silva scored an unbeaten 107 off 124 balls(4s-13) and won the championship for his team with 22 balls to spare.

#3 Punter plays a captain knock in 2003

The Australian team of the 2000s were invincible. They dominated both the formats and were the hot favourites to win the 2003 world cup in South Africa. As expected, they had a very good run in the tournament and were undefeated in the league stage.

The semis was against Sri Lanka and they got across the line comfortably winning the match by 48 runs(D/L method). They faced the challenge of the Indians in the finals at Johannesburg whom they had defeated convincingly in the league stage by 9 wickets. Indians put the opposition into bat in the finals and that strategy backfired in the first over when Zaheer went for 15 runs in the first over.

They got a 105-run stand from the openers and then came in captain, Ricky Ponting at 3. He was good to go from the first ball and took the bowlers on. He scored a majestic unbeaten 140 which consisted of 4 boundaries and 8 sixes. This took the team’s score to a mammoth 359 in 50 overs. The Indians had an uphill task of chasing 360, but couldn’t get the start they needed when Sachin got out for 4 in the first over. Sehwag’s 82 and Dravid’s 47 went in vain as the Aussies defended their title by 125 runs.

#4 Gilchrist scores the highest score in a World Cup final

The Aussies continued their World Cup domination in 2007 in West Indies. They were the team to beat once again with a mighty line-up. The unbeaten run in World continued in 2007 and did extremely well in the league stages and in the super eights. They faced South Africa in the semi-final and defeated them comfortably by 7 wickets with 18.3 overs to spare. Lankans had reached the finals taking down the kiwis.

The final was expected to be highly competitive but ended one-sided. After a delayed start due to weather, the match was reduced to 38 overs and the Kangaroos batted first scoring 281 for the loss of 4 wickets. It was all about Gilchrist and the way he scored all around the park. He took on every bowler he faced scoring 149 off 104 balls consisting of 13 boundaries and 8 sixes. It was pure bliss and class.

The target was revised to 269 in 36 overs and the Lankans were in no position to chase this and finally ended up second.

#5 Gautam Gambhir’s 97 at the Wankhede

The 2011 World Cup was hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Indians were in Group B with South Africa, England, West Indies and Bangladesh. They finished second in the group stage with 4 wins, 1 loss and a tie against England. They faced Aussies in the quarters at Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad and ended their 5th world cup hopes by defeating them by 4 wickets. The semis was against the arch-rivals Pakistan in PCA stadium, Mohali and continued their undefeated record against Pak in the championships.

The finals were against the co-hosts Sri Lanka at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai. They won the toss and opted to bat scoring a defendable 274 in 50 overs thanks to Jayawardene’s ton. The Indians didn’t start well with Sehwag falling for a nought and Sachin for a mere 18.

The chase seemed improbable by then. However, Gautam Gambhir shouldered the responsibility of getting the team out of trouble by building a partnership of 83 with Kohli who fell on 35. Then he was joined by MS Dhoni at the centre and they played the bowlers with calm and composure not taking too much of risk and keeping a check on the run rate. Gambhir was on 97 when he fell to Thisara Perera and missed out on an amazing hundred.

Nonetheless, it will go down as his career-defining knock and will be immortalized in every Indian heart. Though he couldn’t finish the match, his presence played a huge role that day along with Dhoni’s 91* that won India its second world cup. Gambhir had contributed 97 runs in 122 deliveries hitting 9 boundaries.