Best innings ever in the World Cup facing the top West Indies pace attack?

[Harsh Thakor]

The most lethal attack in terms of pure pace in the history of world cup cricket was that of the mighty West Indies.In the history of the game no pace attack brutalised or intimidated opponents more literally grounding them to the size.In 1979 ,1983 and partially 1987 they were virtually a terror.Imagine facing the likes of Roberts,Holding,Garner,Marshal,Croft etc all together and later Walsh,Gray and Paterson.Reminiscent of a bomber raiding an airbase.A batsmen would have to play right out of his skin to dominate them like a counter-attack of an army batallion .It put almost every batting line up into the depths of despair.In this list below I am ranking in order of merit the best innings in a world cup against the great Calypso pace quartet.

Best innings in cricket world cup against great West Indies pace quartet ranked in order of merit..

1.Gundappa Vishwanath's 75 at Edgbaston in 1979


2.Zaheer Abbas's 93 at the Oval in semi-final in 1979


3.Mohinder Amarnath's 80 at the Oval in 1983


4.Mohsin Khan's 70 in semi-final at the Oval in 1979.


5.Majid Khan's 81 at the Oval in semi-final.


6.Krishnamachari Shrikanth's 38 in final in 1983 lat Lords.


7.Alan Lamb's 67 at Gujranwala in 1987


8.Yashpal Sharma 89 in 1983 at Old Trafford


Placed Vishwanath's 75 at the top considering the situation of the game,the nature oif the wicket and the level of domination.Artistry at it's supreme height.

Zaheer Abbas's innings was simply poetry in motion taking the Calypso pace battery to the sword in a 166 run partnership with Majid Khan.Placed below Vishy's 75 as it was scored on a very flat track ,perfect for batting.


Mohinder Amarnath played the role of alone warrior when defying the West Indies at the Oval ,hooking and driving with great precison.Supreme mastery.


Mohsin Khan revealed technical skill in regions of the sublime when scoring 70 out of 184 on the fastest of tracks.Resembled a surgeon performing an operation.


Majid was overshadowed at the Oval by just a shade but neverthless played agreat innings in his own right.

Krishnmachari Shrikanth missed out on a 50 but displayed some of the most dazzling nad exquisite strokes ever displayed in a world cup or any ODI tournament final.Above all won the cup for India.


Alan Lamb revealed his supreme crafstmanship in a run chase steering his team home to a 3 wicket win .Earlier England were were in dire straits with 91 required of the last 10 overs with 4 wickets left and 34 of the last 3.Improvisation at it's ultimate zenith combined with great mental resilience.


Yashpal Sharma displayed nerves of steel enabling India to be the 1st ever team to upset West Indies in the history of the world cup.Thus contributed to making history.

 

[IAJ]

Good post. We need more of this [MENTION=132062]Harsh Thakor[/MENTION] so we can learn some cricketing history as the majority of us haven't watched cricket in 70s and 80s. So if People agree with your ranking or not, they should come up with similar analysis themselves.

 

[MMHS]

I think, Mohsin’s 70 was in 1983 SF.

GR Vishi’s Innings indeed was a great ODI knock (not only in this criteria), but I’ll put Zaheer’s innings at top - probably only time in that period a batsman genuinely scared WIN pacers of failing to defend a above per total.

Rest are more or less agreed.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Please come back here pp members.Particularly [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] @Freelance cricketer
[MENTION=133315]Hitman[/MENTION] @Just crazy

 

[Harsh Thakor]

I think, Mohsin’s 70 was in 1983 SF.

GR Vishi’s Innings indeed was a great ODI knock (not only in this criteria), but I’ll put Zaheer’s innings at top - probably only time in that period a batsman genuinely scared WIN pacers of failing to defend a above per total.

Rest are more or less agreed.

Very good analysis on Zaheer 93 where he was virtually on the verge of pulling off a great run chase-What would have been a record one.Very sorry for error on Mohsin which was in 1983 semi-final.I knew it but typed mistakingly .

 

[Hitman]

Please come back here pp members.Particularly [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] @Freelance cricketer
[MENTION=133315]Hitman[/MENTION] @Just crazy

Didn't watch any of those innings, so can't really comment. Scoring runs against the West Indies back then was hard enough for batsmen in Tests. Add to that when SR became a factor added to the burden of scoring runs (ODI cricket), batsmen found it even more tough against the West Indies back then.

No wonder you couldn't list a single batsman scoring a century in your list. Probably no batsman did so against the West Indies in the 75', 79', 83', and 87' World Cup.