48 years of world tournament witness many great individual performances. These 13 editions of world cup saw many high quality knocks and spells by some of the finest cricketers of all time.
Let's make a team of best performing world cup XI of all time ;
1. Sachin Tendulkar
| 1992-2011 | 45 | 44 | 4 | 2278 | 152 | 56.95 | 2560 | 88.98 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 241 | 27 |
No cricket XI is complete without great Sachin Tendulkar. This great batsman from India is the highest run scorer of the world cups, with most number of 50 plus scores. He is the only batsman to top score two separate world cups.
2. Rohit Sharma
| 2015-2023 | 27 | 27 | 2 | 1528 | 140 | 61.12 | 1462 | 104.51 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 162 | 51 |
It was tough to select between Warner and Sharma, but i went with Sharma due to his slightly better record. He has most hundreds in world cup history.
3. Ricky Ponting
| 1996-2011 | 46 | 42 | 4 | 1743 | 140* | 45.86 | 2180 | 79.95 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 145 | 31 |
Second most prolific run scorer in world cups, Ponting won two cups with his captaincy. He is also captain of this XI. His knock in 2003 final is probably the best ever in the history of the event.
4. Viv Richards
| 23 | 21 | 5 | 1013 | 181 | 63.31 | 1191 | 85.05 | 3 | 5 | - | 84+ | 22+ |
Richards was ahead of his time. Look at his average and strike rate, Just unbelievable ! His world cup final century against England in 1979 was stuff of legends. He was also the first player to score 1000 world cup runs.
5. Shakib Al Hasan
| 36 | 36 | 4 | 1332 | 124* | 41.62 | 1619 | 82.27 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 128 | 12 |
| 36 | 36 | 1808 | 301.2 | 3 | 1551 | 43 | 5/29 | 36.06 | 5.14 | 42.04 | 1 | 1 |
Now, this can create some controversy. Shakib is 7th highest highest run scorer along with 11th highest wicket taker in world cups. This should enough to include him in the team as batting allrounder. His stats are too good to ignore.
6. A.B. de Villiers
| 23 | 22 | 3 | 1207 | 162* | 63.52 | 1029 | 117.29 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 121 | 37 |
He is the wicketkeeper of this side. He was unlucky not to win the trophy, but his legendary world cup performances deserves wide acclaim. Strike rate of 117 in middle and lower order is dream for any captain.
7. Lance Klusener
| 14 | 11 | 8 | 372 | 57 | 124.00 | 307 | 121.17 | - | 3 | - | 31 | 16 |
| 14 | 100.5 | 7 | 605 | 487 | 22 | 5/21 | 22.13 | 4.82 | 27.50 | 1 | 1 | - |
Klusener played only two world cups, but he made his mark on the tournament. His performance in 1999 world cup was one of the best individual performance in history of tournament.
8. Mitchell Starc
| 26 | 26 | 1339 | 223.1 | 9 | 1165 | 59 | 6/28 | 19.74 | 5.22 | 22.69 | 3 | 3 |
Though he is struggling in the current tournament, no one can ignore his heroics in previous tournaments. He was top wicket taker in consecutive world cup events. But still it was tough to select him over great Wasim Akram.
9. Mohammad Shami
| 17 | 17 | 828 | 138.0 | 12 | 697 | 54 | 7/57 | 12.90 | 5.05 | 15.33 | 4 | 4 |
Best bowling average, best strike rate, most fifers and four wicket hauls. Best ever figure in knock out match. Fastest to 50 world cup wickets. Stats made him the greatest ever world cup bowler.
10. M Murlitharan
| 40 | 39 | 2061 | 343.3 | 15 | 1335 | 68 | 4/19 | 19.63 | 3.88 | 30.30 | 4 | - |
Like Tendulkar, there are very few world XIs where Murali doesn't feature. He took most wickets by any spinner in the world cup history. He played three world cup finals.
11. Glenn McGrath
| 39 | 39 | 1955 | 325.5 | 42 | 1292 | 71 | 7/15 | 18.19 | 3.96 | 27.53 | - | 2 |
Probably the best ever bowler in the history of tournament. Player of tournament in the 2007 world cup, he performed equally well in all three world cups he played in. A true legend!
So, this is the team ;
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Rohit Sharma
- Ricky Ponting (Capt)
- Viv Richards
- Shakib Al Hasan
- AB de Villiers (WK)
- Lance Klusener
- Mitchell Starc
- Mohammad Shami
- Glenn Mcgrath
- M Murlitharan
Thoughts !!
