Cricket World Cup History: The greatest Indian ODI XI that never won the World Cup
India is one of the most successful teams in the history of the ICC World Cup. They have won the tournament on two occasions in 1983 and 2011. Much of this success has been due to the presence of some of the greats of the game.
It is never easy to win a World Cup because the format is such that one bad game can shatter your dreams. So even you have some great players in the squad you can't be guaranteed to win the tournament. There are some great Indian players who were not able to win the prestigious tournament in their careers.
These players were simply unlucky to not be part of consistent Indian ODI teams. So we have made a playing XI of the Indian players who were never able to win a World Cup in their career:
#1 Openers: Sourav Ganguly and Navjot Singh Sidhu
Sourav Ganguly is one of the most destructive players in the history of the game. The left-handed batsman had the ability to score big in the World Cup, as he conjured up four centuries on the biggest stage.
He scored runs at an average of more than 55 in World Cup games which is simply incredible. He came close to winning the tournament in 2003 when he led the team to the finals of the tournament before coming up short against the mighty Australians. Sadly, this was the closest he came to winning the tournament.
Navjot Singh Sidhu came close to winning World Cup twice as he played a big role in India reaching World Cup semi-finals twice. The opener scored four half-centuries in the 1987 World Cup but India lost the semifinal to England. In 1996, he won the man of the match award vs Pakistan in the quarterfinal but India once again came up short in the semifinal vs Sri Lanka.
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