50 fascinating facts about World Cups - Part 5

During the 2003 World Cup, ever since India changed their opening partnership after their group game against Australia, Virender Sehwag took strike for three successive matches. However, when India took on arch-rivals Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar thought Wasim Akram would have too many tricks up his sleeve for young Sehwag and told him that he will take strike. Eventually, Tendulkar hit a couple of lovely boundaries in the very first over to set the tone for a convincing Indian victory.

Before the start of Zimbabwe's opening match against Namibia in the 2003 World Cup, the likes of Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands "mourning the death of democracy in Zimbabwe."

McGrath turns into Nostradamus

Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf has the best bowling average (0.00) in World Cup history. Yousuf took the wicket of Zimbabwe's Christopher Mpofu with the very first ball he bowled in the 2007 World Cup. Contrastingly, New Zealand off-spinner John Bracewell has the worst average. Featuring in two World Cups (1983, 1987), Bracewell played seven matches, conceded 310 runs and picked up just 1 wicket, meaning he had an average of 310.

Zimbabwe's black armband protest

During his knock of 52 against the Netherlands in the 2003 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar surpassed Javed Miandad (1083) to become the highest run-getter in World Cup history. Eventually, Tendulkar finished with 2278 runs in World Cups.

Brothers in arms

Dayle Hadlee, Richard Halee and Barry Hadlee all played for New Zealand in the inaugural World Cup in England

The Youngest World Cup winner

Aged 22 years and 3 months, Piyush Chawla was the youngest to taste World Cup success when MS Dhoni's devils defeated Sri Lanka in Mumbai in 2011.

Father-Son combo

Donald Pringle played for East Africa in the inaugural World Cup, while his son Derek Pringle represented England in the 1987 and 1992 World Cups.

The fury of Botham and Gooch

Ian Botham and Graham Gooch caused a stir by walking out of the 1992 World Cup final official pre-match dinner after being far from impressed at Australian comedian Gerry Connolly's act. The Queen impersonator joked that the royal family was to be privatised and sponsored by Fosters.

Martyn ignores broken finger to be part of history

Australian batsman Damien Martyn batted with a broken finger and shared a match-changing 234-run stand with Ricky Ponting in the 2003 World Cup final. Martyn finished unbeaten on 88.

The best and worst bowling average

When Indian captain Sourav Ganguly called the right side of the coin during the toss in the 2003 World Cup final and said that his side would bowl first, Australian pacer Glenn McGrath made cheeky comment in the dressing room saying, "Well, that's the first mistake."

Tendulkar's clever strategy

Highest run-getter in World Cups