One Man Shows in World Cup History: Top Five Individual Performances in World Cup

Cricket is a team game. All the eleven members of the team have to perform well to make the team win. But sometimes the team fails and one of two players help the team win singlehandedly. Here are such performances in the history of World Cup.

Mumbai: Team India lost the 2003 World Cup in an instant. The team delivered impressive performance with ball and bat in group stage. It won a group match against England by 82 runs. In this match, Asish Nehra recorded fifth best bowling figures in the history of World Cup. India scored 250/9 in the first innings and because of Nehra, England lost all its wicket for 168 runs.

Australia reached the finals of 1975 World Cup and all rounder Gary Gilmore played a key role in this. Gilmore claimed 6 wickets by giving only 14 runs to England team in the semi final match. England scored only 93 runs. Chasing the small target set by England, Australia lost six wickets for just 39 runs. At This stage Gilmore and Waltors added 55 unbeatable runs to the seventh wicket. Even in the final match against West Indies, Gilmore claimed five wickets but Australia lost the finals by 17 runs which disappointed them.

Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup by defeating the England team. Pak lost its openers for just 24 runs in the final match. At this stage, Imran Khan shouldered the responsibility of brining the team’s batting on track. He added 139 runs to third wicket along with Miandad. Imran scored 72 valuable runs in this match. Pakistan’s score was 249/6. England only scored 227 runs and thus Pakistan won the match by 22 runs and won the World Cup for the first time.

Kevin O’Brien’s performance in 2011 World Cup was the highlight of the tourney. England and Ireland played a group match in this tourney in which England scored 327 runs. Everyone thought that Ireland will lose the match. As expected, Ireland lost half of its wickets for 111 runs. At this stage O’Brien literally grabbed the match from the hands of England with his superb innings. He scored 113 in 63 balls with 13 fours and six sixes. O’Brien and Alex added 162 runs to the seventh wicket and defeated England.

In 1983 world cup Kapil Dev took his team to semifinals with a historical innings of 175 not out. In a match against Zimbabwe, Kapil Dev scored 175 not out and also added 126 runs along with Sayeed Kirmani to the ninth wicket.