5 Indians with highest batting averages in World Cups
Two-time world champions India are one of the most dominant forces in world cricket at the moment, both in terms of administration as well as the quality of cricket. India are currently the top-ranked Test side in the world, and sit at the second spot in both ODIs and T20s. This supremacy in world cricket is not an overnight success though. The event which can be attributed to have changed the scenario of cricket in India forever is the 1983 World Cup victory, which inspired generations to take up the game and also made the game immensely popular among Indian public.
Since then, not many teams have performed better than India in any World Cup or other ICC tournaments. Barring the 1992 and 2007 World Cup debacles, India have a more than decent record in the period after the 1983 victory. 3 times semifinalists, one time runner-ups and the champions in 2011, India have had their World Cup heroes, some being consistent ones like Sachin and Dravid, while others sparkling in the single tournament they were part of, like Gambhir.
Here we look at 5 Indian players with highest batting averages in World Cup history:
5. Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu, India's opener in the 1987 and 1996 World Cups, stands fifth in the list of batsmen with highest batting average by Indians in World Cups. Dubbed a strokeless wonder at the start of his career in 1983, Sidhu returned with vengeance at the 1987 World Cup, scoring four fifties in a row. His 93 against Pakistan in the 1996 quarter-finals remains the highlight of his World Cup career.
A career spanning 136 games, Sidhu finished with 4413 runs in ODI cricket at an average of 37.08 and a strike rate of 69.73. He had 6 hundreds and 33 fifties to his name in ODIs with a best score of 134.
In 10 World Cup innings, Sidhu scored 454 runs at an average of 45.4 and a strike rate of 78.82. He had 7 fifties in World Cups, including 4 consecutive fifties at the 1987 World Cup and had a best of 93 at Bangalore in 1996 against Pakistan. He had two semifinal appearances in both the World Cups he was a part of.