World Cup: Players who won the title without playing a single game

1979

Larry Gomes, Faoud Bacchus and Malcolm Marshall

The great Malcolm Marshall did not get a game in 1979 but was a terror in 1983

If only India had not done what was not expected of them in 1983, the triplet of West Indies' Larry Gomes, Faoud Bacchus and the devastating Malcolm Marshall could have told their children that they did not just win a World Cup medal without playing even a single match in an entire tournament.

The mighty force that the team from the Caribbean was in those days, they hardly faced any competition before steamrolling India, New Zealand and Pakistan on their way to the finals of 1979 where they went past hosts England to retain the title.

And thus they played an unchanged XI throughout the tournament, leaving left-handed batsman Gomes, right-handed batsman Bacchus and Marshall waiting for four more years to play a World Cup match.