CWC History: India's best players in each edition from 1975-2015

India v Sri Lanka - 2011 ICC World Cup Final
India v Sri Lanka - 2011 ICC World Cup Final

#9 2011- Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj's career zenith was the 2011 WC
Yuvraj's career zenith was the 2011 WC

The 28-year wait spanning over two generations reached a beautiful culmination when India lifted the coveted trophy once again at the Wankhede stadium, clinically defeating a persistent Sri Lankan side. Moreover, it was the perfect send-off for a generation of cricketers who infused the fighting spirit into the home-track bullies and Sachin Tendulkar realizing his dream in a record sixth World Cup appearance.

The man of the tournament was the warrior - Yuvraj Singh who delivered stellar performances while fighting his personal battles against cancer. His story of persistence and survival became the beacon of hope for millions suffering from the dreadful disease. Yuvraj lit up the tournament with an all-round performance.

While he scored 362 runs with a century against the Windies and four half-centuries, he also returned 15 wickets with a fifer against Ireland. He boasted of a stupendous average of 90, courtesy his three unbeaten half-centuries against the Netherlands, Ireland, and Australia, the first two coming off successful chases, and a healthy strike rate of 86.

He was also economical in his bowling, with runs given at a shade above 5 per over.


#10 2015 - Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav

India's destructive pace battery
India's destructive pace battery

It was difficult to choose between the two - as they were equally destructive, attacking, and persistent from both sides of the opening bowling, cleaning out opposition lineups in all matches except the lost semifinals.

Travelling Down Under in search of a successful title defense, India stitched together a few gritty performances in a brilliant run in which they steadily sorted out their shortcmings to emerge as solid tournament favorites.

The opening duo was instrumental in those powerful performances. Umesh Yadav returned 18 wickets with two back-to-back 4-fers, in the knockouts whereas Mohammed Shami returned 17 wickets with one four-wicket haul against arch-rivals Pakistan with an average and economy slightly better than Yadav, though both figures were below 5 runs per over, in a tournament that regularly saw 300+ scores being chased down.

For the first time after Kapil's times, India had a team which could be proud of the bowling exploits, as much or even more than their rock-solid batting.

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Edited by Aditya Joshi
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