World Cup Dream XI – One best player from each edition of the World Cup

#Middle Order: Viv Richards (1979), Clive Lloyd ( 1979), Aravinda De Silva (1996)

Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards

Widely regarded as one of the greatest ODI player of all time, Vivian Richards enjoyed an illustrious cricketing career. In 187 ODIs, he accumulated over 6700 runs with the bat and 118 wickets as an off-spinner. He played an important role in the 1975 World Cup victory with some brilliant effort on the field. But his performance in the 1979 final brought him glory. Batting first, Windies had a bad start losing 4 wickets with 99 on the board. Richards and Collis King put on 139 runs for the 5th wicket. Richards had contributed with an impressive 138 runs from just 157 balls. It was his aggressive style of batting that impressed the cricket fraternity.

Clive Lloyd is one of the most successful test captains of all time. Under his leadership, the team had a winning streak of 27 matches without a defeat. Lloyd led the squad for the first three tournaments winning the first two world cups and finishing second in 1983. He was a tall man who used to bat in the middle order and occasionally bowl medium pace. In the 1975 final against Australia, the West Indies found themselves in trouble at 50 for 3. Lloyd came into the center and smashed 102 runs in 88 balls taking his team to a respectable total. This proved to be a crucial innings which won them their maiden championship.

The 1996 World Cup was full of surprises and controversies. Due to security concerns, Australia and West Indies refused to play in Sri Lanka which resulted in the home team qualifying for the quarter-final without playing a game. They played England in the quarter final in which they emerged victorious by 8 wickets setting up the semifinal against India. Aravinda de Silva, who was a strong middle order batsman played a match winning knock of 66 off just 47 balls in that game. His performance earned him the ‘Player of the match’ award. Sri Lanka were to face Australia in the final. Batting first, the kangaroos put up 241 runs in 50 overs. Chasing, Sri Lanka were in deep trouble after they lost both the openers for 23 runs. Aravinda de Silva played the innings of his life scoring 107 off 124 balls that led to a World Cup victory to the team.