5 Indian legends who deserved a World Cup win

The biggest event in the game of cricket only happens once in 4 years, and it is every cricketer's dream to achieve that World Cup glory at least once in their career. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar had to wait for 22 years to attain an elusive World Cup win to his name.

There are plenty of budding Indian cricketers who take up cricket as their profession after watching their heroes lift the Cup. But the real challenge for a cricketer in India is to sustain himself for a long time as there are many who want a piece of the same cherry.

There are some legends who achieved everything in their careers playing for India but for the World Cup, which always seemed to have eluded them. Here are some of those who didn't win the Cup in their illustrious career.

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Honorable Mention: VVS Laxman

Laxman didn't feature in a single World Cup for India

VVS Laxman will be long remembered as one of the best middle order batsmen in the history of Indian cricket and as a part of the famous Fab 4 of the same. His strokeplay is immaculate and he is one of the greatest players in the 4th innings of a Test Match with a history of match-winning performances.

Laxman is one of the few players who has dominated the potent Australia pace attacks single-handedly. He has achieved many things in his career as a Test player but one thing he will look back with disappointment is his ODI career for India. Laxman has featured in 86 limited overs matches for India scoring 2338 runs but none in a World cup. He is one of the greatest Test match players who has not represented his nation in the mega event even once.

#5 Javagal Srinath

Arguably India's greatest fast bowler

Javagal Srinath was probably India's fastest bowler in the 1990s. He was the leader of the Indian pace attack and was the lone warrior for them in red-ball cricket after the retirement of Kapil Dev. He was also the fastest Indian to reach 100 ODI wickets and the first one from the country to breach the 300 wickets mark in the limited overs format.

But the one thing that has eluded the now-Match Referee is a World Cup glory. Srinath has represented India in as many as 4 World cups and is the joint leading wicket-taker along with Zaheer with 44 scalps for them as far as the mega tournament is concerned, but failed to win a single one.

He has found success in the longer format too with 236 wickets from 67 Test matches where he has represented India.

#4 Anil Kumble

The former Indian Coach

Anil Kumble is the leading wicket-taker in both the Test and the ODI formats of the game for India, but was never a World Cup winner. Kumble had the ability to run through batting lineups throughout his career and has found tremendous success, but like many other legends, he too had an indifferent World Cup career.

He represented India in 3 World Cups but failed to lift the Cup on each occasion, with the 1996 edition proving to be his personal best in which he snapped 15 wickets in seven matches.

Kumble, throughout his career, has created many records ranging from being the third highest wicket-taker in the history of Test Cricket, to being only the 2nd player to take all 10 wickets in a single Test innings. He has done it all except for a World Cup win.

#3 Mohammad Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin has had a career with many ups, and downs. He has a distinction of leading India in as many as 3 World Cups (an Indian record) but didn't have enough to go all the way in winning them the tournament. He has captained India in 174 ODIs, and 47 Test matches. He was also the first player in the history of the game to feature in more than 300 ODIs and was 1 shy of representing 100 Test matches for India.

Till date, Azharuddin is the only cricketer with the distinction of scoring a century in each of his first three Tests. He did this in his debut series against England. He is also one of the 4 cricketers to score a century in his first and his last Test matches.

With all being said, Azharuddin would have hoped for a World Cup win but it was not be in his 4 attempts.

#2 Rahul Dravid

The Wall

Rahul Dravid was branded as a Test match specialist for so long when he entered the International arena, but the 1999 World Cup proved to be a turning point in his career as an ODI batsman. He scored 2 centuries in that tournament and ended up as a leading scorer in that edition of the Cup.

He and the Indians were within touching distance of lifting the Cup in the 2003 edition but were dominated in the finals by a ruthless Australian team. In the 2007 World Cup, he led the team but were shown the door in the group stages of the tournament.

Dravid is one of the few players in the world to have crossed the 10,000-run mark in both the Test and ODI format and is one of the greatest of all time. He has been a thorough gentleman and a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer.

#1 Sourav Ganguly

Dada

During his playing career, Ganguly established himself as one of the world's leading batsmen and also one of the greatest captains of the national cricket team. He is one of the most controversial figures ever to play the game in India. He was one who brought out the fighting spirit among Indians in overseas conditions.

While batting, he was especially prolific through the off side, earning himself the nickname 'God of the off-side' for his elegant strokeplay through the covers. Along with Tendulkar, he formed one of the most feared opening pairs in the history of ODIs.

Ganguly led the Indian team to the finals of the World Cup in the 2003 edition but what followed was a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the Aussies. The person who taught India to play fearless cricket was deprived of a World Cup win.