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Greatest ODI team of your country to not win a World Cup?

Ab Fan

Senior Test Player
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Alright, this should be a fun exercise. The criteria is player should have played atleast 1 World Cup match.

I will start with India. You can post the XI of your nation as well as any other nation you like.

Here is India’s greatest ODI XI to not win a World Cup:

1. Rohit Sharma*
2. Shikhar Dhawan
3. Saurav Ganguly
4. Mohammad Azharuddin
5. Rahul Dravid+
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Ravindra Jadeja/Irfan Pathan
8. Anil Kumble
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Mohammad Shami
11. Jasprit Bumrah
 
SHami is the unluckiest guy thanks to batsmen and captaincy ( for dropping him in 2019 semi final). Had 3 gun world cups in a row. Yet couldn't lay hands on a world cup.
 
SHami is the unluckiest guy thanks to batsmen and captaincy ( for dropping him in 2019 semi final). Had 3 gun world cups in a row. Yet couldn't lay hands on a world cup.
Yeah pretty unlucky. Should have played 2019 semis. The conditions would have helped him.
 
I think BD's 2019 team had the best batting while current team have the best bowling.

Again, I am saying in relative to BD's low standard. By world standard, it is obviously not very high quality. :inti

Here is BD's best ODI team that could've done well in a hypothetical ODI WC:

Tamim
Ashraful
Litton
Shakib
Mushfiq (wk)
Mahmudullah
Miraz
Mohammad Rafique
Mashrafe (c)
Taskin
Mustafiz
 
Shaun Marsh
Usman Khawaja
Ian Chappell
Greg Chappell
Cameron White
David Hussey
Matthew Wade/Ian Healy
Nathan Hauritz
Terry Alderman
Geoff Lawson
DK Lillee
Marsh khawaja d hussey hauritz. Did they play Odi world cup.. I dont think so
 
Shaun Marsh
Usman Khawaja
Ian Chappell
Greg Chappell
Cameron White
David Hussey
Matthew Wade/Ian Healy
Nathan Hauritz
Terry Alderman
Geoff Lawson
DK Lillee

If there’s a World Cup of all these non winners, these Aussies might still emerge victorious from this group too.
 
Bit of a cruel thread this and not an inclusive one. If as a player you have won any ICC tournament, then it shouldn’t held against you that you didn’t win a CWC.

Ganguly, Malik, Lara, Babar, Dravid etc have all won the Chanpions Trophy. Jadeja and Rohit have won 2 of them. They’ve all been world champions.

Also 1985 World Series (India), 1989 Nehru Cup (Pakistan) were also champions trophy level tournaments.
 
I'm including T20 WC wins in this one, Just to make it more challenging for myself to choose a squad otherwise my team will likely be the same team as that of the thread starter. A T20 WC is rated highly too. And probably will be the only world cup worth winning after the ODI's are increasingly made redundant. Also not including any current players.


Dhawan
Navjot Singh Sidhu
Ganguly
Dravid (w)
Azharuddin
Ajay Jadeja
Robin Singh
Agarkar
Srinath
Shami
Kumble
 
Nathan Lyon
Jason Behendroff
Lyon averaged 46 with the ball. Hauritz was better with ball and a better batsman as well

There's a case for removing Lawson though. Now that I think of it, Bollinger, Len Pascoe and a couple of others who were better.
 
If there’s a World Cup of all these non winners, these Aussies might still emerge victorious from this group too.
Even if they had competed against other World Cup winning sides, this group would even challenge some of those teams.

They've always had ridiculous depth for ODI cricket.
 
Even if they had competed against other World Cup winning sides, this group would even challenge some of those teams.

They've always had ridiculous depth for ODI cricket.

It’s the mindset.
Almost all Australian players have a minimum 2-4 years peak period where they contribute to winning trophies. The way they play, the mentality is like that. All it takes is 2-3 players to step up in a big way on a given day and they manage it better than anyone else. Over 10-15 years time they end up having similar stats like other nation players but for 2-4 years time minimum they’re trophy winning performers. Talk about Watson,
Mitch Marsh, Wade etc like players. Overall the record isn’t all that but for a brief period they have been trophy deciding performers.

A lot to learn from for some of our guys like Rahul, Pant etc who were more gifted at their peaks but didn’t express themselves fearlessly when it mattered.
 
Pakistan’s 2023 World Cup team

According to the “experts” at pro sports, this was Pakistan’s golden generation of players just like Spain Football’s golden generation with Xavi and Iniesta
 
Salman Butt
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Inzimam ul Haq
Shoaib Malik
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Shoaib Akhtar
Mohammad Asif
Rana Naveed

This was supposed to be Pakistan’s starting XI they were building towards for the 2007 World Cup. Phenomenal ODI side!

All the backwas BTS ruined everything!
 
Team India 2007 World Cup

Ganguly
Uthappa
Sehwag
Sachin
Dravid (c)
Yuvraj
Dhoni (wk)
Harbhajan
Agarkar
Zaheer
Munaf

A balanced side with lot of floaters, part timers. Couldn't even cross the 1st round.
 
Team India 2007 World Cup

Ganguly
Uthappa
Sehwag
Sachin
Dravid (c)
Yuvraj
Dhoni (wk)
Harbhajan
Agarkar
Zaheer
Munaf

A balanced side with lot of floaters, part timers. Couldn't even cross the 1st round.
I dont think thats what OP means. They mean a team with players who have never won the world cup ever. Sachin, Dhoni, etc have all won a world cup
 
I dont think thats what OP means. They mean a team with players who have never won the world cup ever. Sachin, Dhoni, etc have all won a world cup
I thought he meant teams for a particular competition that should have won it.

Pakistan's 2007 world cup team or what should have been the team on paper was stronger, experienced and more balanced than the 1992, 96 (maybe not sure), 99, 2003 and 2011 sides.

The 2015 team was a joke by then.
 
1999 Pakistan team for sure. That team had everything; good batsmen, quality all-rounders, one of the best ODI spinners in the world, world-class pace attack. I mean, freakin' Waqar Younis was on the bench.

1987 Pakistan side was also very good.
 
If looking for the strongest squad to not win a world cup for India. It has to be the 2023 world cup squad. Won every match and simply failed where it counted.
 
1999 Pakistan team for sure. That team had everything; good batsmen, quality all-rounders, one of the best ODI spinners in the world, world-class pace attack. I mean, freakin' Waqar Younis was on the bench.
Just Pakistan's bad luck that they had to reckon with two other strong teams that world cup. Australia and South Africa.
 
Just Pakistan's bad luck that they had to reckon with two other strong teams that world cup. Australia and South Africa.
I think South Africa was probably the strongest overall side in that tournament. Australia were very good, but not one of the best sides. I believe Australia had lost their first few games and even lost to Pakistan in the Super Sixes.

Then they went on an incredible run and won all their remaining matches.
 
All-time I think it's easily India in 2023.

West Indies not winning in 1983 was also a big upset but that team had already won 2 World Cups at that point so not the same.
 
Lets make Akhtar the team captain of this team. Kahi tou uda deydo becharay ko
 
I think South Africa was probably the strongest overall side in that tournament. Australia were very good, but not one of the best sides. I believe Australia had lost their first few games and even lost to Pakistan in the Super Sixes.

Then they went on an incredible run and won all their remaining matches.
Just a very strong three teams which went heading into that world cup. The strongest team would probably win because of the Aussies and their habit of picking up the game when it mattered most.
 
Just a very strong three teams which went heading into that world cup. The strongest team would probably win because of the Aussies and their habit of picking up the game when it mattered most.
Aussies don't have to be the best team. Their state of mind and ability to handle pressure is just above other teams. 2023 is probably the best example.
 
I think if you make it no ICC trophies won Pakistan have a very strong team.

Saeed Anwar
Waqar Younis
Zaheer Abbas
Shoaib Akhtar
Mohammed Yousuf
 
I think if you make it no ICC trophies won Pakistan have a very strong team.

Saeed Anwar
Waqar Younis
Zaheer Abbas
Shoaib Akhtar
Mohammed Yousuf
Saqlain too.

Rizwan and Shaheen amongst current players.

I think biggest Indian player to never win an ICC title is Azhar.
 
I think South Africa was probably the strongest overall side in that tournament. Australia were very good, but not one of the best sides. I believe Australia had lost their first few games and even lost to Pakistan in the Super Sixes.

Then they went on an incredible run and won all their remaining matches.
South Africa should have won that World Cup, easily the best ODI team from 1996-1999.
 
All country combined:-

Rohit Sharma ( still active)
Saeed Anwar
Zaheer Abbas/ Brian Lara
AB de Villiers
David Miller
Andrew Flintoff
Lance Klusener
Shaun Pollock
Saqlain Mushtaq
Curtly Ambrose
Allan Donald
 
England XI :-

Marcus Tescrothik
Graham Gooch(c)
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Allan Lamb
Andrew Flintoff
Alec Stewart(wk)
Ian Botham
Graeme Swann
Darren Gough
James Anderson
 
If this post is asking for a TEAM that didn’t win a world cup, then that has to be the West Indies 1983 WC finals team:

Gordon Greenidge
Desmond Haynes
Viv Richards
Clive Lloyd
Faoud Bacchus
Larry Gomes
Jeff Dujon
Malcolm Marshall
Andy Roberts
Joel Garner
Michael Holding
 
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