World Cup started from 1975, but it was only in 1992 World Cup when ICC decided to create an award for Player of the Tournament. Since then 7 players from 4 countries have won the award. Here is a sneak peek into the award winning performances. So far the World Cup award for Player of the Tournament has only been given twice to bowlers, Aussies being the winner on both the occasions. Check who has won the award in the past, and how was their performances during that edition.
World Cup 2015: Schedules and Results
Statistics for Player of the Tournament
- 2 awards went to batsmen (Martin Crowe and Tendulkar)
2 awards went to bowlers. (McGrath and Starc)
3 awards went to allrounders. (Jayasuriya, Klusener, Yuvraj)
2 players each from India and Australia have won the award.
2 players got the award without their teams entering the final. (1992 and 1999)
3 players got the award without their teams winning that World Cup. (1992, 1999, 2003)
1 captain has got the award. (Martin Crowe)
1992: Martin Crowe
- The first recipient of the award was Martin Crowe. Till the end of 2015 World Cup the player from New Zealand is the only Captain to earn the award. He played 9 innings of 9 matches. With 456 runs he was the highest scorer of the tournament. He remained unbeaten on 5 occasions scoring a World Cup century and 4 50s. His average read 114 at the end of the tournament where he hit 45 4s and 6 6s and had the strike rate of 90.83, which was the highest among the players who aggregated 200+ runs during the 1992 World Cup.
1996: Sanath Jayasuriya
He was driving force behind Sri Lanka’s first and only World Cup win till date. Originally selected as bowler for Sri Lanka, Captain Arjuna Ranatunga had asked him to open the innings. Rest is all folklore. In 1996, he scored 221 runs and grabbed 7 wickets playing 6 matches. He scored two 50s with 82 as his highest. His 221 runs included 29 4s and 8 6s scored with a strike rate of 131.54 and average of 36.83. With 7 wickets he was the joint highest wickettaker of Sri Lanka, with Muralitharan. He bowled 51 overs and the destructive 3/12 vs India in the semifinal at Eden Gardens was his best performance.
1999: Lance Klusener
Popularly known as Zulu, Lance Klusener was the most allround player a World Cup edition has probably ever seen. He has almost brought South Africa to the door of their first final, but unfortunately a fairy tale run out of Allan Donald got his team knocked out in semifinal. He scored 281 runs and grabbed 17 wickets. Coming to bat at No. 8 for his team, his 281 runs were the 12th highest aggregate of the edition, third best for South African team behind Gibbs (341) and Kallis (312). Out of the 8 innings from 9 matches he played, he remained unbeaten in 6 matches, including the semifinal. Unbeaten 52 runs was his highest and he hit only two half-centuries. But he had the strike rate of 122.17 and average of 140.50 hitting 26 4s and 10 sixes, the highest number of sixes hit by any player in the tournament.
With 17 wickets in 9 matches, he was the joint 4th best bowler of the tournament, and the best bowler of South Africa. He bowled 75.5 overs and had second best strike rate of 26.7 among the top ten bowlers. 5/2` was his best performance and had bowled 5 maidens too.
2003: Sachin Tendulkar
The God of Cricket played the maximum 6 editions and aggregated 400+ runs in more than one edition. But it was only in 2003 World Cup when he earned the Player of the Series as his team finished Runners up and he scored 673 runs, still a world cup record for one edition. He batted in 11 innings and scored 6 50s with his only century where he scored 152 runs. He has hit a world cup record 75 4s and 4 6s at had an overall average of 61.18 and a strike rate of 89.25. He was also part of 4 century partnerships, including the highest partnership fo 2003 World Cup of 244 runs for 2nd wicket with Ganguly, who was the second highest scorer of the tournament.
He also grabbed 2 wickets. In the semifinal vs Kenya he took the wickets of Kenyan Captain Tikolo (56) and CO Obuya (29). Tikolo was bowled and Obuya was Lbw as Sachin had 2/28 in 6 overs.
Sachin also bowled against Netherlands (0/9 in 4), New Zealand (0/20 in 5) and Australia in final (0/20 in 3).
2007: Glenn McGrath
In 2003, the God of Batting earned the award, while in 2007, the God of World Cup bowling, Glenn McGrath earned the award. He grabbed World Cup record 26 Wickets in 11 matches bowling 80.5 overs with 5 maidens at an average of 13.73, economy of 4.41 and strike rate of 18.6. His best performance was 3/14 vs Scotland in the first match. He also earned Player of the Match against Bangladesh, Ireland and South Africa (semifinal).
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Group Stage: 3/14 in 6 overs vs Scotland, 2/33 in 8 vs Netherlands and 1/62 in 9 vs South Africa.
Super 8: 3/31 in 8 (West Indies), 3/16 in 5 (Bangladesh), 3/62 in 9.5 (vs England), 3/17 in 7 (Ireland), 2/48 in 9 (vs Sri Lanka), 2/25 in 4 (vs NZ)
Semis and Final: 3/18 in 8 vs South Africa, 1/31 in 7 vs Sri Lanka in final.
2011: Yuvraj Singh
He got a surprise call for the World Cup and then on his shoulder took India to its second much awaited World Cup wins. He was the 8th highest run scorer of World Cup 2011 aggregating 362 runs and and joint 4th highest wicket taker grabbing 15 wickets in 9 matches. He was also part of a century partnership, with Kohli. Only Wahab Riaz (Pakistan) could get him on duck.
His 362 runs included a century (113 vs West Indies) and 4 half-centuries with 39 4s and 3 6s. He had the average of 90.50 and strike rate of 86/19 remaining unbeaten in 4 of his 8 innings.
His 15 wickets came from 75 overs he bowled in 9 matches. 5/31 (vs Ireland) was his best and had taken wickets at an average of 25.13, economy 5.02 and strike rate of 30.0.
MOMs: vs Ireland (5/31 and 50*), Netherlands (2/43 in 9 overs, 51*), Australia (2/44 and 57*)
2015: Mitchell Starc
Aussies were not looking that strong at home. But Mitchell Starc started a spell of bowling for 6 weeks that resulted in their record 5th World Cup Title. Starc created a new World Cup record with an average of 10.18 and overall economy of 3.50. He also had a strike rate of 17.4. He was the joint highest wicket taker of the World Cup, with Boult. In 8 matches he bowled 63.5 overs to take 22 wickets wit 6/28 (vs New Zealand) as his best. He with Boult were the only bowlers to have grabbed 4+ wickets twice in the World Cup 2015.
Except England (2/47 in 9 overs with a maiden) none of the teams could hit him for more than 4 runs an over. In fact against most of them he had the economy of less than 3.50 and also was very quick to respond.
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