5 Indians who won more than one World Cup and played two World Cup finals

Winning the world cup for his nation is the dream of every aspiring Indian cricketer. It doesn’t matter whether it’s T20 World Cup or ODI World Cup. Every player has wish of winning this marquee trophy once during his career. India has won the ODI World Cup two times including the first one in 1983 and the second title came after 28 years in 2011.

Advertisment

Apart from that, when T20I World Cup was introduced by the governing body of cricket, India won their only World Cup title in the shortest format of the game. There is no Indian player since 1983 who has won more than one ODI World Cup due to a long void of 28 years between the two title triumphs.

So, keeping that in the back of the mind, here we’ll have a look at five Indians who were in the playing XI of the final of the 20-20 World Cup 2007, and later on, they also played the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup against Sri Lanka. These were the only players who won more than one World title.

S. Sreesanth

Advertisment

S Sreesanth: (Image Source: Twitter)

Sreesanth didn’t deliver up to the expectations in the final of the 20-20 World Cup 2007 against Pakistan. He could scalp only one wicket by conceding 44 runs in his quota of four overs. Apart from this, his most memorable and historic moment for India in that match arrived when he took the catch of Misbah-ul-Haq in the final over of the match by Joginder Sharma. This catch made India the inaugural champions of the World T20.

Speaking of his appearance in the ODI World Cup of 2011, then Sreesanth was benched after the first match against Bangladesh. Although, he got a chance when senior pacer Ashish Nehra got injured and skipper MS Dhoni opted to go with three pacers in the final against Sri Lanka. Sreesanth failed again to impress in the final of the World Cup, he went wicketless in eight overs conceding 52 runs.

Advertisment

Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh (Image Credit : Twitter)

It was an off day for Harbhajan Singh in the 2007 20-20 World Cup final, he was on the target of Misbah-ul-Haq. Turbanator couldn’t scalp any wicket and registered the number of 3-0-36-0 in the title clash of the tournament.

Four years later in the World Cup final of 2011, he failed again and could scalp the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan after bowling all the overs of his quota. Singh was very expensive as he conceded 50 runs in 10 overs.

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh (Image Credit : Twitter)

The showman of the knock-out round in the 20-20 World Cup 2007 failed to come up with the same performances as in super-8 against England and in the semi-final against Australia. Yuvraj Singh fell prey to senior Pakistani pacer Umar Gul in the 14^th over of the match and could score only 14 runs off 19 balls with only a boundary.

In the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh emerged as the real triumph card for India as he stunned everyone with his stellar performances in the tournament both with the bat and the ball. He also proved his worth with the ball as he scalped two wickets in the final of the tournament in his quota of 10 overs. He also went unbeaten with skipper MS Dhoni and was also there in the middle when Dhoni smashed a historic six to win the world cup for India after 28 years.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir (Image Credit : Twitter)

The man of the big events of World Cup finals, Gautam Gambhir came to open the innings against Pakistan in the final of the 20-20 World Cup 2007. He played a match-defining knock of 75 runs off 54 balls for India. This knock helped India to post a decent and winning total of 157 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Later on, time kept moving and the day arrived when India was locking horns with Sri Lanka in the final of the ODI World Cup 2011. Gambhir came to bat at number 3 and played another match-winning knock of 97 runs. He managed to balance the Indian innings after the early dismissals of openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar only on a total score of 31 runs.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The skipper to be remembered for generations to come won three major international tournaments for India as captain. Dhoni was named as the captain of the young brigade which went to play the inaugural edition of the 2007 20-20 World Cup. He amazed everyone with his leadership skills and took India through to the final of the tournament.

Although, he could score only six runs with the bat in the final against Pakistan his gamble of assigning the last over to Joginder Sharma is still remembered even after 15 years. Sharma was supposed to defend 13 runs in the 20^th over. He felt nervous and started with a wide and his next ball was smashed to a six by Misbah but on the third ball of the over, Misbah happened to play a scoop that found Sreesanth’s hands in the short fine-leg region.

Four years later in 2011, Dhoni’s remarkable knock of 91 runs in the final against Sri Lanka played a crucial role in the World Cup victory of India after a long wait of 28 years since 1983.