Top 10 legendary players who never won World Cup and IPL titles

Both the ICC Cricket World Cup and the IPL are two important events that every cricketer wants to savour at least once in their lifetime. While the cricket World Cup being the loftiest of all trophies does get commemorated after every four years, the IPL on the other hand is held once each year since 2008. However, with both these pinnacle events also being like Everest to triumph, not many of the greatest of cricketers have been fortunate enough to attain these glories. Probably a few bunches of them despite getting utterly close have eventually come second in the end. Hence in this list, let’s check out 10 Legends who haven’t won both the World Cup and the IPL 1. Chris Gayle Chris Gayle. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) The beloved Universal Boss has been active in international cricket since the year 1999. Despite now being 41-years of age, Chris Gayle has been vigorously playing both international and Global T20 cricket but unfortunately the Jamaican is yet in due to either win an IPL or a World Cup. While during his pursuit to make West Indies win their third World Cup glory, Gayle has featured in 5 ODI World Cups since the year 2003. However with the WI team attaining an enfeeblement since the start of the 21st century, neither in one of those occasions, the Caribbeans have qualified even for the semi-finals. While the 2019 World Cup was supposed to be his last ODI endeavor, Gayle had recently announced that he won’t retire from limited-overs cricket till the age of 45. Hence maybe the upcoming 2023 World Cup in India can be his last chance to ultimately bag a World Cup trophy especially in a career that is already more than two decades-long. Now coming to the IPL, Chris Gayle had started his IPL journey with the KKR franchise and so far has best lived his eminent days with the RCB franchise. By getting bagged by RCB in 2011, Gayle had immediately soared the red army to a final spot in the 2011 edition, but unfortunately, his malfunction in the final did make the team finish as runners-up. Probably another time where Gayle was utterly closest to win the IPL trophy was in 2016 when RCB had merely lost to SRH by 8 runs in the final. Overall, with the Jamaican now getting indulged with the Punjab franchise, at least for once Gayle would hope to clinch one of T20 cricket’s biggest glories. 2. Sourav Ganguly Sourav Ganguly. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) Sourav Ganguly had made his debut way back in 1992 but his real installation in the side had happened from the year 1996. So in a career that did span for 15 long years, unfortunately, the price of Kolkata was unable to taste a World Cup glory despite all his strenuous efforts. Especially in the ODIs where Ganguly was one of the best in business, he merely played three World Cups from 1999 till 2007. Now with team India enduring an unpleasant time both in 1999 and in the 2007 World Cup, the former Indian captain had utterly come closest to the glory in 2003 final. However, Ricky Ponting’s invincible Australia did keep their triumphing rally intact as the Indians lost the final by a massive margin of 125 runs. Perhaps, on a personal note, Ganguly had smashed three centuries in that tournament and overall has a tally of 1066 runs at an average of close to 56 from his 22 World Cup games. Coming to his five-year IPL journey then, Ganguly had played for the KKR franchise and the PWI team since the inaugural edition of the IPL. While his association with the KKR franchise did end after IPL 2010, Ganguly neither had a ball while representing the PWI franchise. Collectively, he did retire from the 2012 IPL after scoring 1349 runs from his 59 matches at an average of around 25. In between not even once Ganguly got to reach the semi-final or playoffs stages. 3. Rahul Dravid Rahul Dravid 2001. (Photo Source: Hamish Blair/ALLSPORT) Just like Sourav Ganguly, even Rahul Dravid hasn’t been able to win both the World Cup and the IPL glory. The cricketer in his sterling 16-year old international career has also only played three ODI World Cups, again much like Ganguly from 1999 till 2007. Especially in his debut World Cup of 1999, Dravid had amassed a mountain of 461 runs from his 8 games that also made him end as the tournament’s highest run-scorer. Now with team India facing an obnoxious time in the 1999 and 2007 World Cup, even Dravid was closest to taste glory in the 2003 edition. The cricketer had yet again stacked a pile of 318 runs at an average of 63.60 but it never meant enough against the invincible Aussies. With regards to the IPL, Dravid had started his IPL stint with his home franchise RCB but after the 2010 edition, he was then bagged by the RR franchise. Especially while playing for RCB, the cricketer had come closest to the trophy both in 2009 and 2010 editions where the red-army had respectively finished as runners-up along with a subsequent playoff qualification. Apparently, even in his last IPL of 2013, the RR team had qualified for the playoffs but unfortunately ended as third in that season. 4. AB de Villiers AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) By making his ODI debut in 2005, ABD had immediately dwelled himself in SA’s squad for the 2007 World Cup. The team under the valiant leadership of Graeme Smith also seemed as hot contenders to lift the 2007 World Cup but eventually, the impregnable Aussies had trounced over them in the semi-final clash. However, even in the next World Cup edition, the Proteas had beaten heavyweight teams like India but again in the knockout stages, they eventually choked against NZ in the quarter-finals. Possibly, out of the all three World Cups that the ABD had played in, the 2015 edition was the closest wherein a nerve-wracking semi-final against NZ, South Africa had lost the game out of nowhere. Although while the legend’s fortunes weren’t that upright when it came to bagging the ICC trophies, unfortunately, ABD has also lacked summoning an IPL trophy as well. While there is no doubt that his best eminent days in the IPL have come with the red-army, ABD was twice closest to grab his maiden IPL trophy. Especially during his debut stint with RCB in the 2011 edition, RCB had lost to CSK in the final and similarly, in the 2016 edition, SRH had beaten the red-army by mere 8 runs in the finals. However, with ABD now merely being a T20 freelancer and with the RCB being hailed as a heavyweight to bag the 2021 IPL, hopefully, there comes a certain IPL silverware under his name. 5. Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Sangakkara. (Photo Source: Twitter) Just like the above unlucky ones, even this legendary name from Sri Lanka has neither savoured a World Cup glory nor an IPL trophy. With regard to his World Cup journey, Sanga had made his ODI debut in the year 2000 and has in total got featured in four World Cup editions (2003,2007,2011,2015). Perhaps during his debut World Cup edition, although Sri Lanka had qualified for the semi-finals, the Australians had impregnably wiped them off from the tournament. However, while the 2003 World Cup semi-final loss had brought misery, Sanga had to swallow a much bitter pill especially in the next two World Cup events where Sri Lanka had subsequently lost the two finals against Australia and India. Precisely, the 2011 final loss against India was a fretful torment as at that time Sanga was helming Sri Lankan cricket. Nevertheless, even in the IPL, Sangakkara has played the tournament for six consecutive seasons wherein he has featured himself for franchises like KXIP, Deccan Chargers, and SRH. The closest Sanga had come towards the IPL glory was in the inaugural season where KXIP had lost against CSK in the second semi-final. 6. Mahela Jayawardene Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images) Mahela Jayawardene had made his ODI debut in 1998 and he immediately was part of the Sri Lankan squad for the 1999 World Cup in England. Although Sri Lanka had a dreadful outing in that edition, the 21-year old was surely one of the young guns who was all set to serve Sri Lankan cricket for a very long time. And much like his dear friend Kumar Sangakkara, even Mahela Jayawardene then endured a bitter misery as Sri Lanka had fallen behind on three close occasions despite being very close to their second World Cup glory. Perhaps personally for Mahela, the 2007 final loss against Australia was a much bitter pill to swallow as he was the captain at that time. Overall in a career that spanned for around 18 years, Mahela got featured in a total of five ODI World Cups (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 & 2015). However, when it comes to the IPL, although Mahela has fetched three IPL glories as an MI head coach, nothing else has been grabbed as a player. With getting intact with the tournament for six consecutive years, the Sri Lankan legend did play for teams like KXIP, Kochi franchise, and Delhi Daredevils. But in terms of coming closest to winning an IPL title, Mahela while playing for DD in 2012 had come in third in the 2012 IPL season. 7. Daniel Vettori Daniel Vettori. (Photo Source: Twitter) As a 20-year old, Daniel Vettori had got featured himself in the 1999 World Cup squad that eventually dwelled him to play for NZ till the year 2015. In his international career that had an elongated span of close to 18 years, Vettori in total had played 5 World Cups eventually retiring from cricket in the 2015 World Cup final. With regard to his World Cup journey, NZ had dreadfully lost against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup semi-final along with failing to enter into the semis in the 2003 edition. While the 2007 and 2011 editions again brought the Kiwis into the semi-finals, certainly on both those occasions they were considerably defeated by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s mighty Sri Lankans. However, the closest that the all-rounder ever went for a World Cup triumph was in 2015 when NZ had unfortunately lost against the Aussies in the 2015 World Cup final. Even in the IPL where the NZ legend has played for two different franchises, his RCB stint had just brought him second in the final of the 2011 IPL season. This was a further bitter pill to swallow as Vettori was the captain of the team when RCB had to lose against CSK in the final. 8. Shaun Pollock Shaun Pollock. (Photo by Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images/Getty Images) Just before the 1996 World Cup, Shaun Pollock had made an astonishing debut that profusely made him establish in the final frontline squad of South Africa. From there on while the cricketer did exert himself as one of the finest swing bowlers of the game, unfortunately, the all-rounder did fail to bag a World Cup glory. Overall while Pollock had played in a total of 4 World Cups editions (1996, 1999, 2003 & 2007), the closest-ever the cricketer came to bag a World Cup medal was in 1999 when in an epic semi-final clash, South Africa did face an eventual defeat against the Australians. Another time where Shaun Pollock came closest was when South Africa had reached into the semis of the 2007 World Cup. Perhaps in the 2003 World Cup at home, Pollock had a dreadful outing while helming SA in that tournament. Now with regards to the IPL, Pollock was part of the MI franchise in the inaugural edition of the IPL after all he did then hung his boots from all forms of cricket. 9. Anil Kumble Anil Kumble. (Photo Source: Twitter) While Anil Kumble had made his ODI debut for India way back in the year 1990, the leg-spinner had missed the bus when it came to getting featured in the 1992 World Cup squad for Australia. The 1996 World Cup at home was his first World Cup endeavour where India in a hapless chase had lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals. Overall, in total the legendary leg-spinner has represented India in a total of four World Cups, where the closest Kumble had come to grab a potential WC medal was in 2003 final. The 2007 World Cup in West Indies had turned out to be a disaster for India that also then eventually made Kumble play his last match for India in ODIs. Further, with regards to his IPL journey, the cricketer has only played for his home franchise RCB where again he was closest in 2009 to grab his IPL medal. However, Adam Gilchrist’s Deccan Chargers did win the finale encounter by a mere margin of six runs. Even in the next subsequent edition where Anil Kumble was the captain, RCB had qualified for the playoffs but unfortunately had finished third in the 2010 IPL. 10. Dale Steyn HOBART, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 11: Dale Steyn of South Africa. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Unlike many of his unfortunate South African colleagues, even Dale Steyn hasn’t been able to trounce the two apex trophies. The cricketer has been active in international cricket since the year 2004 and has played two ODI World Cups for SA so far (2011, 2015). While the speedster had unfortunately missed the bus for the 2007 World Cup, in the 2011 edition he was captain Smith’s premier bowler who had bagged 12 wickets from his 6 games. However, despite his strenuous efforts, Proteas had lost an easy game in the quarter-finals against NZ. Nevertheless, in the 2015 World Cup, Steyn was then further closest to take SA into the finals, but the speedster was sadly unable to cease Kiwis from chasing the target. Also with regards to the IPL, very early on Steyn had an opportunity to win the IPL both in the 2009 and 2010 seasons while playing for RCB. However later on while representing SRH in IPL 2013, the South African again could have gone close but the team eventually finished fourth in that season.

Top 10 legendary players who never won World Cup and IPL titles

There are many legends of the game who are devoid of both the trophies yet.

9. Anil Kumble