5 Legends Who never won Cricket World Cup

Winning a World Cup event will be one of the head dream of every cricket player. The World Cup event has been scheduled in 11 occasions from 1975 to 2015. Australia has been the most successful team in the tournament with 5 championships. New Zealand, South African team are the ill fated teams in the list with no titles in the event. To win a Cricket World Cup event, each and every player in the team should contribute to the score card either by runs or wicket. 

There are many players whom lost the well deserved title in many occasions. That would be either because of poor team performance or it can be bad luck. This article catalogue the greatest cricket players whom never reached the World Cup triumph.   

AB de Villiers

South Africa has been the most unfortunate team in ICC events. Except the inaugural Champions Trophy success, Protease hasn't won any ICC events. South Africa is the only major cricket team whom hasn't reached the finals of the event. 

The South African team produced some greatest cricket players and AB de Villiers will top in the list. The right hand batsmen was known for his unorthodox shots in the sports. He has done everything in the cricket ground, other than a World Cup triumph.

No cricket lovers will forget the 2015 World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand. In an nail biting match, de Villiers and team once again part of the semi final curse. ABD's eyes after the match will be an unforgettable memory for every cricket follower.   

Mr 365 was part of 3 World Cups from 2007 to 2015.  In these 3 World Cups, ABD played 23 matches and scored 1207 runs, which is highest by any South African cricketer. In his overall ODI career de Villiers scored 9558 runs from 228 ODI appearances.

An unexpected retirement from the International cricket made ABD an unlucky cricketer whom never won a World Cup. But his heroic performances will remain in the heart of every game freak. 

Brian Lara

Of course, it would be a shock to see Brian Lara in the list. Because West Indies was one of the greatest teams of Cricket World Cup in the past. Lara was compared with stars like Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards whom was part of World Cup winning West Indies team in 1975 and 79. But the Windies team wasn't able to win the event after that, although the team had Brian Lara, whom was considered as one of the greatest players in 1990s. His short selections were considered as one of the best by a left hand batsmen and many coaches used it as a tutorial for their students.

The left hand batsmen was part of 5 World Cup occasions(1992-2007), which is one less than the master blaster and scored 1225 runs from 35 matches. In his first World Cup, Lara's team was eliminated in the group stages and the 1996 semi final appearance was the best performance by West Indies team when Lara was in the squad. His last World Cup was a total disaster as West Indies had to go out from the Super 8.  

Brian Lara played 299 ODI matches for the West Indies side and scored 10,405 runs with an average of 40.48. Lara is of course an epic player in the game of cricket and he surely deserves a World Cup achievement like Sachin Tendulkar whom finally won the well deserved tournament in 2011. But Cricket is all about team work and luck. West Indies team has never witnessed a resurgence in cricket after their downfall in the 1980s.

Kumar Sangakkara

A Wicket keeper batsmen like AB de Villiers whom was unable to part of a World Cup winning team. Kumar Sangakkara played 4 World Cups for the Sri Lankan team. Out of these Sri Lankan team reached finals twice along with a semi final entry in 2003. Although Sangakkara was part of 2014 T20I World Cup winning Sri Lankan team, ODI World Cup was remained as a dream for the left hand batsmen.

Sangakkara played 37 World Cup matches and scored 1532 runs which is highest by a Sri Lankan batsmen and stays 3rd in the overall list. Sangakkara holds the record of 4 consecutive tons in World Cup event, is highest by any cricketer. Sangakkara placed in the second position of highest number of dismissals in the event of 54, behind Adam Gilchrist.  

Sangakkara made 404 ODI outings and scored 14,235 runs at an average of 41.98. Jayawardene-Sangakkara duos were one of the best batting combinations of ODI cricket, which both created many match winning partnerships. Sangakkara captained Sri Lankan team in the 2011 World Cup and also was a great saver behind the stumps.

As mentioned, Sangakkara was part of 2 World Cup finals,2007 and 2011. In their final against Australia in 2007, Sangakkara performed his level best by adding a 57 runs, but it wasn't enough to help the team from defeat.  In the 2011 edition Sri Lanka was once again unfortunate to win the title as Dhoni and Gambhir literally thrashed the opponents. Sangakkara deserved a ODI World Cup success as he can be included in the list of greatest batsmen's. 

Sourav Ganguly

The cricketer whom recovered the struggling Indian team from betting controversies, Sourav Ganguly didn't had any World Cup trophies in his stat. Nicknamed "Dada", Ganguly played 3 World Cups for team India from 1999 to 2007. In his first World Cup Indian team was disappointed with Super 6 elimination and later the team faced match fixing scandal issues.

The team was in a real trouble as most of the star players were involved in it. This caused Ganguly to take the captains cap and had to build a new team with young talents. Dada was successful in it and produced a great team for the 2003 South African World Cup. Although team reached finals, Ganguly's team was failed to reach the triumph. The 2007 World Cup was Dada's last World Cup and ended up in a disaster.

Ganguly played 21 World Cup matches and scored 1006 runs for the side. His 183 run performance against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup is highest by any Indian player in the event. Ganguly played 311 ODI matches for team India and scored 11,363 runs at an average of  41.02. 

Ganguly is one of the most World Cup deserved player in the list. But luck, form was against him in important matches. His role was crucial in molding the 2011 World Cup winning Indian team. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh was contribution from Dada. But his heroic performances will remain in every Indians heart.  

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid known for his exceptional defending techniques. The right hand batsmen debuted in the year 1996 and became a vital part of Indian team. Dravid was placed in the top order batting line up and had the duties of building partnerships in the middle overs. Dravid was capable of leading the team single handedly in the front and favored the match for his side in many occasions.

Despite having many records in his custody, Rahul Dravid was a humble human being and respected on the field and also off the field. Dravid displayed his coaching skills by training the U 19 Indian team and the youngsters were successful in lifting the trophy.

After Sourav Ganguly's poor captaincy in ODIs, Rahul Dravid was given with the captaincy cap and was successful in the beginning. But 2007 World Cup invited a lot of criticisms for the right hand batsmen. Although had a well built team line up, Dravid and squad failed to qualify from the league stage. After that, Dravid's opportunities with the Indian team began to fade. Dhoni's promotion to the captaincy and T20I World Cup success sided senior players from the team, including Rahul Dravid.

Dravid played 344 matches in ODIs and scored 10889 runs. Along with this Dravid played 3 World Cups from 1999 to 2007 and played 22 matches. 860 runs was his contributions throughout the event. 2003 World Cup final journey would be his best World Cup moment. An orthodox cricket player with amazing striking abilities, this would be the definition for Rahul Dravid. He scored above 10000+ runs in both the formats. Defensive playing detached him from T20Is. A batsmen with these records deserves a World Cup title. But Dravid wasn't a great performer at the World Cup events which may be a reason for this mishap.