Cricket World Cup Moments

Cricket world is getting ready for it’s the mega event to be held in Australia in less than 100 days from now. Being crowned as World Champions is undoubtedly the pinnacle moment for any team in the world of sports. It’s the big stage and the big occasion which separates the men from boys. Be it Sachin’ s mauling of Pakistani bowlers in World Cup 2003 or Wasim Akram’s special spell against England in 92, World cup has always been the stage where the greats have risen above the bar and given special moments to the viewers.

Whenever a child starts a new chapter in a book, he is asked to do a revision of previous ones. So, before we witness such new moments in the upcoming World Cup, I will like to share my Moments from previous World Cups. We will start from 1983.

10. 1983 Kapil Dev’s 175*(India vs Zimbabwe 18 June 1983, India won by 31 runs)

The year very dear to Indian Cricket fans, when Kapil Dev led India to defeat the invincible West Indies to win the World Cup.. My moment of 1983 World Cup was Kapil Dev’s 175 of 138 balls against Zimbabwe in the group stage. Kapil not only recovered team India from a miserable position of 17 for 5 but also took India to a mammoth total of 266. The next highest score in the innings was 24. Kapil’s knock gave a message to whole cricketing world cup and that message was flamboyance. Till then Team India were perceived as a team who could win with their grit. But Kapil showed that he had the flair to fight fire with fire. It was this attitude of him that made India win over the mighty West Indies in final.

9. 1987 Allan Border leadership

I can’t pick up a one single moment from this World Cup as Australia’s 1987 World cup win was a total team effort. There were McDermott‘s 5 for spell, Boon’s final match batting and contributions from young Steve Waugh. But there was a one binding factor amongst all these performances. It was AB’s leadership, he was not just a captain of the team but infact he was a leader. It was his leadership that paved the starting point of Australian dominance.

8. 1992 Inzamam’s 60 (New Zealand v Pakistan 21 March 1992, Pakistan won by 4 wickets)

The first wow moment of this World Cup in my mind is colored clothing. Beautiful Australian grounds and colored clothing provided a new viewing experience. But apart from that there were quite a few cricketing moments too. First was from the young Inzamam Ul Haq in the semifinal game against NewZeland. Pakistan was up against a daunting task with requiring 123 runs in final 15 overs against NewZeland, but Inzy had other ideas. He smashed a 37 ball 60 and single-handedly took Pakistan into finals.

7. 1992 Akram’s 3 for 49 (England v Pakistan 25 March 1992, Pakistan won by 22 runs)

Another big moment came from Wasim Akram in finals against England. England seemed well on track with 141 for 4 while chasing Pakistan total of 249. But, when Imran threw the ball to Akram it just took 2 balls for him to turn the game in Pakistan’s favor. He dismissed Lamb and Lewis in consecutive balls. The spell is still being remembered as one of the finest spell of reverse swing in the limited overs cricket.

6. 1996 Jayasuriya thunder

Breaking the conventional wisdom and playing the game in your own style is a tuff thing to do in cricket and Sanath Jayasuriya did exactly that in 96 World Cup. Rather than building the innings at top order Jayasuriya would go berserk at that start of innings taking the advantage of field restrictions. Not only he did that successfully but became threatened setter for the years to come. His all-round performance made Sri lanka the champions in 96 and Sanath earned Man of the tournament.

5. 1999 Aus vs SA Semifinals

Allan Donald Is Run Out And The Game Is Tied Between Australia And South Africa ( Image Source : © Getty Images)

My moment from 1999 World cup is not an individual performance but an entire match. The moment is the game between Australia and South Africa the 2^nd semifinal of the World Cup. While batting first Australia scored a modest 213. South Africa lost quick wickets in the chase but the lower middle order kept South Africa in the hunt. South Africa kept losing wickets and game went down to the wire. Needing 9 of the last over Lance Klusner smashed two boundaries of the first two balls from Damien Fleming breaking the hearts of Australians. But destiny had some else in store. Allan Donald managed to get run out of 4^th ball of the over and Australia went to the finals as they had defeated South Africa in league stage. This game is remembered as one of the most thrilling ODI games ever.

4. 2003 Sachin’s 98 (India v Pakistan 1 March 2003, India won by 6 wickets)

Again from 2003 World Cup I have two moments. The First one is from Sachin Tendulkar 75 ball 98 against Pakistan in a league game. What do you need if you have Akram, Waqar, Saqlain, Shoaib and Razzaq in your bowling unit? I suppose some support from your batting unit That’s it. But no, all that armory might not be enough if the opposition has Sachin Tendulkar. That what exactly happened in this 2003 World Cup game. Pakistan scored a good 273 in a pressure game with the help of a beautiful ton from Saeed Anwar. It seemed quite a challenging total but Tendulkar went on rampage from ball one and put whole of Pakistani bowling unit under pressure. India scored 50 in just 5 overs. Pakistan picked up 2 wickets in a single over but that did not deter Tendulkar. When Tendulkar got out India needed less than 100 with more than 22 overs in hand. This knock of Sachin is being remembered as one of the all-time greatest knocks against one of the best bowling attacks of its time.

3. 2003 Ricky Ponting’s 140 (Australia v India 23 March 2003, Australia won by 125 runs)

Second moment came from Ricky Ponting’s bat in finals against India. Being an Indian fan, it was heart breaking to see it but it was the knock of highest quality. Australia got to an excellent start with 100 runs on the board in 14 overs but lost two quick wickets. When Ricky came to batting he did not try to build the innings rather continued to butcher young Indian attack and scored 140 off 121 balls with 8 big sixes. Australia went on score 359 and pushed Indian dream of World Cup trophy out of the reach.

2. 2007 Gilchrist’s 149 (Australia v Sri Lanka 28 April 2007, Australia won by 53 runs D/L method)

In my memory 2007 was one of dullest World Cup and it’s not just because of India’s first round exit but in terms of quality of games for viewers. Still, there is one moment which I will pick up from this World Cup. If it was Ricky Ponting in 2003 finals against India and now it was Adam Gilchrist against Sri Lanka in 2007. Gilchrist had poor run in World Cup but in the finals he smashed Sri Lankan bowlers all round the park. Gilchrist in typical batting style scored 149 in 104 balls which took Australia to 281 in 38 overs. Rain interrupted several times in the match and finals had a real poor finish nearly in dark. But Gilchrist knock was of the highest quality.

1. 2011 MS Dhoni’s 91*(India v Sri Lanka 2 April 2011, India won by 6 wickets)

This moment is a favorite of all Indian fans. I don’t need to explain the moment as it is still as fresh as anything in the mind and hearts of Indian fans. I would like to narrate an incident to all the viewers. Once Sri Lanka scored 274 from 50 overs with an excellent knock from Mahela Jayawardene scoring 103 of 88 balls and in reply India was reduced to 31 for 2 in 7^th over I got a phone call. It was my elder brother who said “So, dude what do you recon about India’s chances”. My reply was “India need a miracle now and miracles don’t happen in World Cup finals”. Thankfully, I was proved wrong and wishes of Indian fans came true by an immensely calculated knock from Indian Captain MSD. Dhoni did not had a great run in World Cup 2011 and despite that he promoted himself up the order against the in from Yuvraj Singh. India was 114 for 3 when Dhoni arrived on crease and stayed till the end to lift the World Cup for India. I can still remember this guy who went on play a cut to Muralitharan’s first ball in 2007 World Cup and found that the ball was a Doosra and was trapped leg before first ball. 4 years later, he again found Murali in World Cup final but this time he had all the answers to whatever challenge the legendary spinners threw at him. If Ponting knock in 2003 finals and Gilchrist knock in 2007 was an aggressive knock , MSD’s knock was an aggression of another level. He showed by his knock, aggression does not only mean smacking the ball all round the park, but mastering the situation and smacking it at the right time is another level of aggression.

MSD reminds me of Rocky Balboa, fictional boxer who will absorb all the punches from opponents and only after that he will strike the opponent to knock him out. MSD will absorb all the pressure and will strike only after opponent has ran-out of all the options. It is not just defeating its like making the opponents concede defeat before you actually defeat them.