5 greatest individual tournament performances in World Cup history

In the world of team sports, cricket stands apart. The grand old game often tends to distil down to little pockets of individual performance which coalesce into the performance of the collective. Whether it be a bowler running in, a fielder picking up a ball or a batsman pacing on his crease, every individual gets an opportunity to do their bit and showcase their talents on the world stage. In the condensed pressure situations that is limited overs cricket, the stage doesnt get bigger than the World Cup. The best teams in the world, the best players in the world facing off against each other in the ultimate battle of cricketing skill. The ten cups the world has witnessed up until now has seen their share of sporting brilliance. Here’s a look back at five of the greatest individual performances in the history of the tournamentNote – the views expressed here are the author’s own. The isn’t exhaustive, would love to see your favourites in the comments!

#1 Kapil Dev, India, 1983

Kapil Dev (C) lifitng the World Cup at Lords

Under the typically overcast English skies at the Nevill Ground, Royal Tundbrige Wells, India stood facing the mother of all shellackings, after one of those batting collapses that sub-continent teams seem to specialize in when touring the Old Blighty, against an inspired Zimbabwe. It was the third edition of the limited-overs World Cup, and India were on the verge of elimination. They needed to win this match.

With Peter Rawson and Kevin Curran in the midst of the spells of their lives, India had collapsed to 17/5 when Kapil Dev Nikhanj walked in to try and salvage the situation. The captain took the match to Zimbabwe with arguably the most spectacular display of attacking batsmanship ever seen under such immense pressure; his 175* off just 138 balls was a breathtaking assault on the fine sensibilities of the cricket watchers of the day.

Riding on the coat-tails of Kapil’s magnificence, India closed their innings on 266/8: an exceptional score considering the circumstances. Fittingly, it was Kapil who ended Zimbabwe’s reply at 235, catching John Tracois off his own bowling as India started on an epic run of victories. After beating Australia in another do-or-die duel, India would go on to thrash England in the semis to set up a final date with the two-time defending champions and arguably the greatest cricketing side assembled under the sun: Clive Lloyd’s West Indian juggernaut.

The match followed the script early on as the fearsome Caribbean attack of Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding ripped through the Indian batsmen, but a bout of resistance from the tail helped India scramble to a relatively decent 183. It was surely not going to be enough, though. Not with Vivian Richards on the other side.

Striding onto the pitch with the air of an emperor survey his kingdom, Richards grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck – as was his wont – and proceeded to 33 off 28 balls. It seemed like it was all over for the plucky Indians.

Just then, Kapil pulled off what must surely be the single greatest moment in modern Indian sports history: the moment that would prove to be the turning point in not just that match but for all that followed in Indian cricket, as well. With his back to the ball, he ran a good 20 yards to pull off a spectacular catch that ended Richards’ stay at the crease. The inspired Indians would fight with everything they had and would bowl the might Windies out for 140. India were World Champions.

The man himself ended the tournament with one of the greatest all-round performances: 303 runs (avg. 60.6), 12 wickets (20.41) and 7 catches (in 8 matches)

#2 Martin Crowe, New Zealand, 1992

Martin Crowe taking apart the uber talented Pakistani attack

Multi-coloured uniforms, white balls, black sightscreens: cricket was entering into a new era when the World Cup rolled around in all its might and fancy in 1992. Ironically, the team that lit up the whole shebang with their pyrotechnics were clad in what was without a doubt the most boring looking uniform in the tournament: a light grey number that wouldn’t have set many ramps in Milan on fire.

The blandly clad New Zealand team made up for that, though, with some incredibly innovative cricket on the field. Captaining the co-hosts was their batting legend, Martin Crowe. He had been in a rich vein of form coming into the tournament, scoring 299 against Sri Lanka in a Test the year before, and he carried that sparkling form right into the World Cup, hitting a magnificent unbeaten century against the defending champions and co-hosts Australia in the opening match of the tournament.

It was when they took to the field, though, that Crowe came into his own. Pulling a fast one over the Aussies, Crowe introduced off-spinner Dipak Patel in the second over. No one in cricket had ever seen something like this before, not in a match of this magnitude anyway. The move had its desired effect; stunning the Aussies with disciplined bowling backed up by some very athletic fielding, the Kiwis won quite easily in the end.

Crowe wasn’t done with innovating there and, in the third match of the series, sent in Mark Greatbatch to open. He had replaced an orthodox opener in Rod Latham with a pinch hitter, who was given a clear mandate to hammer everything that was thrown at him. Four years before Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya popularized the notion of fast scoring opening batsmen, the Kiwis had started it with tremendous success.

An off-spinner opening the bowling! A pinch-hitter opening the batting! Crowe was giving the prudish Old Guard of the game heart attacks with his totally unorthodox captaincy, but it was working. Crowe himself was on another plane as a batsman and batted through the tournament with the certainty of an old Don.

New Zealand cruised through to the semi-finals as the team to beat, their 14 points putting them way ahead on top of the rest after the pre-knockout round-robin stage. In the semi-finals, the Kiwi winning machine would be upended by the uber-talented mavericks of Pakistan. Although Crowe had scored a magnificently paced 91 off 83 balls to set up the Kiwis with a very good total of 262/7, his heroics would be overshadowed by a 37-ball 60 from a portly young kid from Multan named Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Crowe would be named the Man-of-the-Series for his heroic performances with the bat – he scored 456 runs in 9 matches at an average of 114 and strike rate that was a shade over 90 – and his inspirational captaincy.

#3 Lance Klusener, South Africa, 1999

Adam Gilchrist (R) watches on as Lance Klusener takes apart Australia with trademark violence

"...this will be out surely – oh it's out, it's gonna be run out...oh, that is South Africa out – Donald did not run, I cannot believe it. Australia go into the World Cup Final – ridiculous running with two balls to go. Donald did not go, Klusener came – what a disappointing end for South Africa."

Tragedy. Chaos. Madness. A tournament that had started so brightly for South Africa and their premier all-rounder would end so disappointingly against their old foes Australia in the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup.

The irony was that it was chaos and madness that had got them there in the first place. Not within them obviously, but, everywhere South Africa went that long English summer, one man spread panic rushing through the ranks of everyone who stood in their way. Drafted into the team three years ago as a fiery pace bowler with a particularly sadistic mean streak, Lance Klusener had learnt to take that mean streak along with him to the crease when called upon to bat.

Brandishing a mammoth bat (the size of a small car) with the ferocity of Bhima wielding a mace in battle, the man they called ‘Zulu’ decimated bowling attacks throughout the tournament; he affected every match the Proteas played with at least one of bat or ball, if not both. While batting, he came in lower down the order, playing his part by upping the tempo of the match with the suddenness of a defibrillator. When bowling, he was the fifth bowler, terrifying batsmen who were hoping for some respite after facing the fiery venom of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Co. with his pace and incredible accuracy.

The statistics back him up: he scored 281 runs in nine matches at a phenomenal average of 140.5 and a strike rate of 122 while also picking up 17 wickets at a brilliant average of 20.58. Sure he may not have scored the most runs or picked up the most wickets (Rahul Dravid and Shane Warne respectively), but he was truly a colossus on the field for the duration of the tournament and was rightly named Man-of-the-Series

It is sad, therefore, that his brilliant tournament had to come to such a farcical end, many remembering him for his part in that tragi-comic choke of a run-out more than the absolutely brilliant 31 runs he scored of just 16 death over balls against the world’s best bowling attack to bring the match to a tie in the first place.

Zulu may have lost the match, but he had won a lot of hearts with his heroic displays with both bat and ball.

#4 Sachin Tendulkar, India, 2003

Sachin Tendulkar (L) smashing Shoaib Akthar out of the park

March 1, 2003. A young, arrogant tearaway quick from the great assembly line of Pakistani fast bowlers had promised to instill fear in the hearts of every single Indian batsman who would be lining up to face him and his senior statesman, the still fearsome and the extremely wily Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. Shoaib Akhtar hadn’t really accounted for one man, though.

Batting first and inspired by a magical Saeed Anwar century, Pakistan had posted a more than challenging 273 in their 50 overs. From then on, one man took center stage. The one man young Akthar hadn’t accounted for. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar played one of those innings he tends to embark on, where he breaks every strain of sanity in a bowler. Five years ago, Shane Warne had been at the receiving end of a nightmare inducing hiding. This time Tendulkar’s calculated assault had Akthar asking his senior partners to ball in his stead.

Using the basic laws of physics, Tendulkar used Akthar’s (as well as Waqar’s and Wasim’s) pace against him as he took the attack straight to the fast bowlers. He unveiled a tremendous shot in Akthar’s first over, upper cutting a fast, wild delivery straight over backward point for six. Pakistan never really recovered from that physical and psychological savaging and would go on to lose the match by six wickets. Tendulkar’s 98 off 75 balls would go down in history as one of the greatest ODI knocks of all time.

As was his wont, Tendulkar kept scoring throughout the tournament, smashing another near century against Sri Lanka as India marched on to the semi-finals where he took apart the under-dog Kenyan attack along with his long-time partner-in-crime Sourav Ganguly. Sadly, his one big failure came against his old enemy Glenn McGrath and Australia in that traumatic (for him and India) final loss.

For his herculean batting efforts through the Cup, Tendulkar was named Man-of-the-Series: he had scored 673 runs at 61.18 and had even taken two vital wickets (top scorers Steve Tikolo and Collins Obuya in that semi-final win over Kenya).

#5 Yuvraj Singh, India, 2011

Yuvraj Singh celebrating India’s victory over Australia

What goes into the making of a truly great superhero?

Overcoming a potentially life-threatening ailment? Check. Channeling a volatile personality to fulfill immense potential? Check. Beating back the self-doubt and vicious critics to become a World Champion? Check.

In a script that would have made DC proud, Yuvraj Singh battled an as yet undiagnosed cancerous tumour in his lungs to emerge as the outstanding performer of what was arguably the greatest World Cup of all time.

Even if we keep aside the extreme breathing difficulties and the bouts of throwing up blood (!) that Yuvraj endured, his accomplishments stand apart on their own just in a pure sporting sense. Batting with the princely arrogance he has always seemed to possess, the southpaw combined flair with steely determination as he performed wonders with both bat and ball. Against West Indies, he scored a magnificent ton on a tough Chepauk pitch and broke the middle of their batting line-up with his innocuous looking off spinners.

In the quarter-final against the mighty (three-time) defending champions Australia, India’s pursuit of the Aussies’ respectable total was meandering along until Yuvraj came along and grabbed the chase by its horns to smash India to a comfortable victory. He did fail against Pakistan with the bat, but he chipped in with a couple of vital wickets to aid India’s tremendous semi-final win.

The final turned out to be the MS Dhoni show; fittingly, though, it was Yuvraj who was with him at the end as India ended their epic World Cup campaign in the most convincing of styles. The Indian prince, however, had taken his rightful place on the pantheon of World Cup greats with a stunning all-round performance, which saw him score 362 runs at an average of 90.5 and taking 15 vital wickets at 25.13 in 9 matches.

India had their superhero.