Left arm pacer Sunil Valson became the first player to win a World Cup without even featuring in a single game. Valson was selected in the Indian squad for the 1983 World Cup, but he never got a game in the tournament. He was never picked for India again.
In ODI Cricket World Cup History, till 28th February 2015 :p
- Srilanka has never defeated Pakistan
- Pakistan has never defeated India
- South Africa never won any World Cup
India is the only team to win 60 overs, 50 overs and 20 overs world cup, a proud moment for India where people stop their work for hours to watch cricketers do their work.
England, the inventor of the Gentleman’s game has never won any ODI WorldCup. Errr not so proud moment for England.
Haven’t you always heard that home conditions or home ground are generally considered favourable for every team in cricket. Even the statistics prove it. Yet only once out of 10 tournaments, the World Cup was won by the country hosting the finals. Only India won the 2011 world cup playing a match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India.
Australia have won the world cups in all continents except in Australia. Will they win the 2015 world cup adding the continent of Australia in the list too?
Out of the 10 World Cup held, Australia has reached the finals 6 times, winning 4 and losing 2 of the total. All the teams reaching the world cup finals have won the cup atleast once. England being the only exception who did not win the world cup even once despite reaching the finals 3 times.
Ireland is one of the associate nations who has been doing fairly well since the last 2 editions of the World Cup and this one included.
- Ireland Cricket Team has chased a score of 300+ 3 times in the World Cup, highest by any Team in the World Cup till now.
Ireland they have pulled upsets by :
- Beating Pakistan in 2007 and kicking them out of the tournament in the very 1st stage.
- Beating England in 2011.
- Beating West Indies in 2015 very comfortably
An achievement by the team that played its 1st one day international in 2006 and is still a non test playing nation.
The ICC Cricket World Cup Tournament this year is played between 14 teams and still referred as “World” cup.
Interestingly, ICC board is planning to reduce the number of teams to 10 for the ICC world cup 2019 tournament. Ohh the best part, Nations with Test cricket status automatically qualify for the World Cup. So goodbye Ireland even after pulling upsets and showing great talent in the world cup.
Could not resist to add this one, 600 balls, 8 hours can decide a country’s pride for the next 4 years!
Feel free to comment any other irony you may know.
