CWC 2015: The five best stories of the tournament

The ICC World Cup is the ultimate stage of the game of cricket. The first-ever World Cup was played in the year 1975 in England. Since then, eleven editions of the mega-tournament have been playing at every four years. The ICC World Cup 2015 was the 11th edition that was combinely hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Australia won that tournament, defeating the other host New Zealand in the final.

The World Cup 2015 was full of exciting cricket. Many records were made and many broken. There were sentiments galore after the results of the matches. In the heat of the intense competition, sledging moments occurred among players.

In this article, we are going to recollect 5 famous stories from the CWC 2015. Let's have a look at those.

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#1 Unstoppable Sangakkara records four consecutive centuries

Kumar Sangakkara was in great form.

Kumar Sangakkara's brilliance with the bat was the famous story in the CWC 2015 as the former Sri Lankan captain went on to score four centuries on the trot, something that had never done before by anyone. Sangakkara plundered 541 runs in just 7 innings with four centuries. He was only behind Martin Guptill for the most runs in the tournament, but Guptill had played two innings more than Sangakkara.

Sangakkara started his incredible show with a 76-ball 105 against Bangladesh at Melbourne, followed by 86-ball 117 against a helpless England at Wellington and a gritty 107-ball 104 against Australia at Sydney. He then smashed 95-ball 124 against Scotland at Hobart to make it four in a row.

In the quarter-final against South Africa, Sangakkara stood tall amidst a batting collapse but could not save Sri Lanka from a defeat. With that, Sangakkara's World Cup journey ended without winning it. He announced his retirement from ODI cricket after the quarter-final match against South Africa.

#2 Wahab Riaz versus Shane Watson

Wahab Riaz teases Shane Watson.

Wahab Riaz was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan at the CWC 2015. He was the highest wicket-taker for his team with 16 scalps. In the quarter-final against Australia, Wahab was at the peak of his powers, throwing thunderbolts at the Australian batsmen.

During the course, Wahab Riaz targetted Shane Watson with his fierce bowling, powered by some verbal attacks. After every ball, he kept taking on Watson. Though Watson, undeterred by all this, maintained his cool and had the last laugh as he took his team through to the semi-finals.

In that match, Wahab bowled 27 deliveries to Shane Watson. Out of those 27, 19 were dot balls, on other 8 balls, Watson scored 19 runs with one six and one four.

Though the things would have been different if Watson was not dropped off Wahab's accurate bouncer. His bowling in this match was called as one of the best spells in the history of Cricket World Cup.

#3 Bangladesh knocks out England

Bangladesh players celebrate their victory.

England's failure to make it to the knock-out stage was the serious talking point from the last World Cup. It was one of the poorest shows from England as they could only defeat Scotland and Afghanistan. In an all-important group match, Bangladesh had beaten England by 15 runs. Chasing a target of 276, England got all-out for 260 in 48.3 overs.

With this win, Bangladesh had ensured that England, alongside Scotland and Afghanistan, will be the third and last side to eliminate from pool A. Mahmudullah had scored a brilliant century for Bangladesh, while Rubel Hossain was the star with the ball, picking up four wickets.

It was the famous story from that tournament because it was also the first time when Bangladesh qualified for the knock-out stage at the World Cup. Though Bangladesh could not go much ahead as India defeated them easily in the quarter-final at Melbourne.

#4 South Africa win its first-ever knock-out match at the World Cup

South Africa won their first-ever knock-out match at the World Cup.

South Africa is always criticized for its inability to sustain crucial encounters. They are called as chokers due to getting choked in knockout matches of any multinational tournament.

They have an unforgettable history about that, with a failure to win the semi-final of 1999 World Cup being the extreme of it. In 1999, they played a tie with Australia but could not qualify for the final because Australia had finished higher than them in the Super Sixes.

Before the quarter-final of CWC 2015, South Africa had played five knockout matches at the World Cup and lost all of those. In 2015, they won their first knockout game at the World Cup as they comprehensively defeated Sri Lanka by 9 wickets. Batting first, Sri Lanka could only score 137 runs and were bundled over by JP Duminy's hattrick, and South Africa chased that easily on the back of a 57-ball 78 by Quinton de Kock.

#5 Sad faces all around as South Africa lose a thrilling semi-final

Morne Morkel could not hide his tears.

After South Africa's win over Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, it looked like that the Proteas had left the ghosts of knockout behind. They faced New Zealand in the first semi-final of the CWC 2015 at Auckland. In a rain-curtailed match, South Africa posted 281/5 in 43 overs, with the highest contribution from Faf Du Plessis (82). Implementation of the Duckworth Lewis rule extended the target for New Zealand to 298 in 43 overs.

NZ captain Brenden McCullum started with a bang, smashing 59 off just 26 balls. But quick wickets brought South Africa in the hunt before NZ went ahead again on the back of 103 runs partnership between Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson.

NZ needed 12 runs in the last over; shortly it got to 5 off 2 balls. The second last ball of the match, Dale Steyn bowled a length ball and Eliott slammed it over long-on for a six.

South Africa's defeat created a mournful atmosphere as most of the African players were seen in tears. Steyn fell flat on the pitch after delivering that ball. The haunts of floundering at a crucial stage were back.