ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: The Heartbreakers

Even a rival fan would never fail to admire certain performances that bring out the true essence of cricket. Low scoring thrillers, one man army, match-winning centuries - This world cup has seen all of these along with some performances that turned out to be heartbreaking as they ended up on the losing side. Adding more spice to it, includes almost the same number of performances by the ’minnow batsmen’ in comparison with the batsmen from the ‘big’ nations.Here are the top such performances in this edition of the biggest tourney of cricket so far:

#1 Shaiman Anwar

United Arab Emirates might have lost all their league stage matches, but if they managed to make some of them look competitive, it is largely due to their middle order batsman Shaiman Anwar.

In the match against Zimbabwe on February 19, Anwar's quick-fired 67 ensured UAE of their highest ODI total – 285; however, their bowlers weren’t able to restrict the opposition’s batting line-up. 

Six days later, Anwar continued his efforts against Ireland at the Gabba. After a decent start, wickets tumbled and UAE were struggling at 131-6 before Shaiman Anwar joined hands with A Javed. The 107-run stand saw the Irish bowlers getting whacked for runs around the park.

Anwar went on to score a brisk 106, gifting UAE a healthy score of 278. The bowlers from the middle east bowled their hearts out but Gary Wilson and Kevin O’ Brien took the game away from UAE as Ireland edged a win by two wickets, overshadowing Shaiman’s knock.