5 batsmen who shrugged off poor form by excelling in a World Cup
The World Cup is the grandest stage for cricketers to showcase their talent. No matter how well one does in other matches, a good performance in the World Cup always tends to hold greater value in a cricketer's career.Going back a bit into the game's history will show you that most of the best batsmen or bowlers across the past couple of generations have outperformed in World Cup cricket. There are also several examples of cricketers, who were struggling prior to the event, but took their game to a different level in the World Cup.We are witnessing glimpses of this in the ongoing T20 World Cup as well. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi had been in poor form leading up to the tournament; however, he made a blazing start to the tournament with a game-changing 49 against Bangladesh. The 50-over World Cup has seen many more such instances compared to its younger cousin.Let's take a look at 5 great batsmen who recovered from poor form with a riveting performance in a World Cup:
#5 Martin Guptill - 2015 World Cup
Avg. in 10 prior innings - 27.44
Avg. in World Cup - 68.37
The most recent example of a player getting over poor form at a World Cup was that of Martin Guptill striking it rich at the 2015 event. The Kiwi opener ended up being the highest run scorer of the tournament with 547 runs and an average in excess of 68.
Guptill was not in the best of form before the start of the 2015 World Cup as he had scored a mere 247 runs at an average of 27.44 in his previous 10 innings. But his fortunes transformed as soon as the World Cup began and he went on to play a crucial role in helping New Zealand reach their first ever World Cup final.
The highlight of Martin Guptill's incredible performance was an unbeaten 237 against West Indies in the quarter-final, which is the highest score in a World Cup match. The tall Kiwi batsman came up with a fine example of raising the bar when the stakes are high.