5 Cricketers who deserved a World Cup but never got one

A lot of legendary players have graced the sport on the cricket field over the years. It was only Test cricket earlier but in the second half of the 20th century, ODI cricket became extremely popular and in 1975, the first ever World Cup took place. 

Since then 13 editions of ODI World Cup have been played while since 2007, a plethora of T20 World Cups have also took place. However, a few of the legendary cricketers have had to retire from the sport without winning the World Cup even once. Here are five of them:

1. Jacques Kallis

Jacques Kallis is arguably the greatest ever all-rounder to ever grace the sport. To score 11579 runs and pick up 273 wickets in ODI cricket is not a joke and Kallis did it alone for South Africa. He batted at number three more often and also bowled 10 overs of medium pace bowling to help his team win a lot of matches. However, even after playing 328 matches and around five World Cup editions, he never lifted the trophy with South Africa choking in crucial moments.

2. Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly took team India’s captaincy when things weren’t really great. He also led from the front a lot of times, especially in ODIs and went on to amass 11363 runs in 311 matches at an average of 41.02. Ganguly also picked 100 wickets with his medium pace bowling but unfortunately, he couldn’t lift the World Cup. He led India to the final of the 2003 edition but lost to Australia and in 2007, India got knocked out of the league stage itself.

3. AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers and World Cup were never meant to be. South Africa got so close to winning a semifinal finally in 2015 but they choked in the dying moments with De Villiers himself missing a run-out chance that cost them the game. He played three edition of the World Cup and surprisingly retired from international cricket in 2018 without ever lifting the glittering trophy.

4. Brian Lara

More often than not it happened for West Indies that Brian Lara played a great knock and they ended up losing the clash. It was a one-man show most of the times for the Caribbean side and Lara, despite scoring 10405 runs in 299 ODIs at an average of 40.5 with 19 centuries and 63 fifties, never won the World Cup. West Indies underperformed in the World Cups, especially after winning the first two editions and Lara’s dream never realised.

5. Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch couldn’t have done much in his career to win a World Cup but he could never lift the trophy. He played three finals for England including the one in 1992 when he was the captain. 

But Gooch ended up on the losing side every time leaving him heartbroken. His century against India in the semi-final of 1987 World Cup is still regarded as one of the best knocks for England. But alas, after playing ODI cricket for 19 years from 1976 to 1995, Gooch’s dream remained a dream.

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