The game has many faces which makes the audience more
thrilled and happy. Those are the matches which are called as Thrilling
finishes. It makes the players more tensed that ends up in losing a game near
to the victory. Now let us see some of the top thrilling finishes of the World
Cup’s. There is no ranking or rating for
a thrilling finishes as every match made the audience worth watching.
England VS Pakistan – 1979
The match was played between England and Pakistan at Headingley,
Leeds on the 16th of June 1979. The toss was won by the Pakistan
team and choosing to field first in a bowling friendly wicket. England lost two
wickets within a span of two over that gave the Pakistan team some confidence.
England started to have some partnership in the center. They had 47 runs partnership
for the third wicket to save the team from a disaster. Some partnerships in the
middle helped them to take the score to 165 runs losing nine wickets in 60
overs. Pakistan was happy on restricting the England team less than 200 runs on
board. Pakistan started their chase by losing some wickets early in the
innings. They were reduced to 86/7 and needed another 80 runs to win with 4
wickets in hand. The Pakistan team was in good position to win the match till
the wicket of Asif Iqbal after scoring 51 runs off 104 balls. It was very much
a thrilling match as they had around 5 over to score 20 runs. But they lost
wickets and were all out for 151 runs in 56 over spell. England won the match
by 14 runs with 4 overs remaining.
New Zealand Vs England – 1983
England won the toss and chose to bat against the New
Zealand at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The English openers Fowler and Tavare gave
them a good start with a partnership of 63 runs. Inform Botham could not give a
big score in the crucial match. He was dismissed for 12 runs of 13 balls with a
four and a six. DI Gower continued to play steady cricket by taking singles and
pushing the score card. He remained unbeaten on 92 runs from 96 balls with 9
fours and 4 sixers. The English team ended scoring 234 runs losing all the
wickets in 55.2 overs. Chasing a target of 235 runs to win the match and gain 4
main points the Kiwi’s had a bad start losing both the openers for three runs
on board. Some good partnerships helped the team to reach 200 runs. The New Zealand
team needed another 35 runs with 4 wickets in hand. But two wickets fell early
and went to thrilling finish as they won the match with a ball to spare.
India Vs Australia – 1987
The fourth World Cup match was hosted by India and played
the first match against the Australian team at MA Chidambaram stadium, Chennai.
Indian captain Kapil Dev won the toss and elected to field first in a good batting
pitch. DC Boon and GR Marsh opened the innings for Australia and gave them a
good start with a partnership of 110. Boon missed his half century by a run
falling trapped LBW of Ravi Shastri’s bowling. Marsh and Jones continued to
score runs for the team before Jones dismissed for 39 from 35 balls with 2
fours and 2 six. But after that there were no big partnerships and the team
ended their innings at 270/6 in 50 overs. Indian team needed 271 runs to win
the match and have a good start to the tournament. Sunil Gavaskar started well
with some good shorts to the boundary scoring 37 runs from 32 balls with 6
fours and 1 six. K Srikkanth continued to play his natural game after the fall
of Gavaskar. NS Sidhu making his debut in World Cup’s played a brilliant
innings of 73 runs hit 5 six and 4 fours. Then India had a collapse that made
the game more thrilling. India needed another 16 runs to win with 4 wickets in hand.
The team could score on 14 runs and losing all the remaining 4 wickets. The
team collapsed for 269 runs with a ball remaining.
Australia Vs India – 1992
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first in a good
pitch to bat. Kapil Dev picked two wickets to reduce the Australians to 32/2
and putting Indian in front foot. DC Boon and DM Jones again showed their class
by scoring runs with a partnership of 71 runs for the third wicket. There were
some small partnerships in the middle to take the team scoring 237 runs losing
9 wickets. Prabhakar was the other bowler to pick three wickets. Chasing a
target of 238 runs to win the match lost the wicket of Srikkanth for a duck.
The team was going very well till the 44th over of the match with 39
runs to win from six over and five wickets remaining. Some careless running between the wickets took
the Indians out of the game with the Australians winning the match by 1 run due
to the revised target.
West Indies Vs Australia - 1996
This match was the semi finals of 1996 World Cup played at
Chandigarh, India. Mark Taylor won the toss and chose to bat first in a good
pitch to bat. It was a collapse start for the champion team reduced to 15/4 under
10 over of the match. SG Law and MD Bevan played a classic game to take the
team to a collapse to a competitive total of 207 runs. Law made 72 and Bevan
scoring 69 runs. West Indies with the strong batting line up had a good chance
of entering the finals after 1983. Needing 208 runs to win CO Browne was
dismissed early in the innings. Lara joined Chanderpaul to have a partnership
of 68 runs for the second wicket. The West Indies were going good and were
nearing to win the match easily under 45 over. After the dismissal of
Chanderpaul after scoring 80 runs, the wicket started to fall and was a
disaster with last seven wickets falling for 38 runs. They were bowled out for
202 runs with 3 balls remaining.
Australia Vs South Africa- 1999
The semi finals of the 1999 world cup match was played
between Australia and South Africa. South Africa had a big chance to play the
finals of a world cup for the first time after their entry in the world cup
1992. South African captain won the toss and elected to field. The start from
the Australian team was not better as the wickets fell early in the innings. In
the middle it was the captain S Waugh and MG Bevan playing a good innings for
the country to set a good target for the South African’s. But again wickets
started to fall like a tracer bullet in the last over to end the innings at 213
runs in 49.2 overs. South African team
started to chase with a partnership of 48 runs for the first wicket between
Kirsten and Gibbs. But after the first wicket next three wickets fell quickly.
New Zealand was reduced to 61/4 in the 22nd over of the match. There
were some twist and turn in the match as they were 144/4 in the 41st
over of the match. Rhodes was dismissed after a good 43 runs in 55 balls. But it
was Klusener who took the match to the last over of the match requiring 1 to
win from 3 balls. The tension went in favor of Australia as Donald was run out
that made the match a tie. Due to the run rate the Australian team entered the
finals.
Zimbabwe Vs Ireland – 2007
The toss was won by the Zimbabwe captain won the toss and
elected to field first. The present captain of England, Eon Morgan was the
Ireland player in the tournament and scored 21 runs for the team before
dismissed for 21 runs in 27 balls. Jeremy Bray was the only batsman to take the
teams total to 221 runs in 50 overs losing 9 wickets. HE made a century and
remained not out. Chasing a target of 222 runs to win the match Visu Sibanda
and Terry Duffin opened the innings for Zimbabwe and had a partnership of 26
runs. The second wicket partnership of 66 runs between Chibhabha and Sibanda
took the team total to 92 runs in the 21st over. Stuart Matsikenyeri
was the batsman for Zimbabwe to take to score near to the target. But the
problem was that they could not win the match but tie the match as it was a
thriller finish that went to the last ball. The last ball run out changed the
result to a tie.
West Indies Vs England – 2007
The West Indies team was sent into bat after the England
captain winning the toss. Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith opened the innings for
the West Indies team giving them a good start with a first wicket partnership
of 131 runs for the first wicket in the 24th over of the match. Then
small partnerships helped the team to register a score of 300 runs in 49.5
over. Michael Vaughan was the pick of the bowlers for the team by picking three
wickets giving away 39 runs in 10 over. Chasing a target of 301 runs to win the
match England lost two quick wickets early in the innings. M Vaughan made 79
runs from 68 balls before he was run out. Peterson was the next player to help
the team to reach 250 runs. He was dismissed after scoring 100 runs that took
the teams total to 269 runs. But after the dismissal the match became crucial at
the end as Nixon was dismissed after scoring 39 runs. Finally they scored the
winning run in 49.5 over with 1 wicket remaining.
England Vs India – 2011
Indian captain won the toss and elected to bat first in a
good Batting pitch at Chinnaswamy stadium against England. V Sehwag started the
innings by scoring quick runs. He scored 35 runs off just 26 balls with 6
fours. Gambhir was next to come after the fall of Sehwag of Bresnan. Sachin and
Gambhir put on 134 runs for the second wicket putting India in good position.
Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni played their part before losing their wicket to Yardley
and Bresnan respectively. India ended the innings at 338 all out in 49.5 overs.
Sachin Tendulkar’s 120 was the highlight of Indian innings that helped them to
set a big total. Pietersen and Strauss opened
the innings for England as they had a partnership of 68 runs for the first
wicket. Ian Bell and Strauss continued to play well after the wicket of Trott
for 16 runs. They were close to the target and going good till the wicket of
Strauss who fell after scoring 158 runs. It was a thrilling last over as
England was close to winning the match but ended in a tie.
New Zealand Vs Australia – 2015
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first against the strong
New Zealand team. Australia started with A Finch and D Warner giving them a descent
start. They lost the first wicket at 30 runs in just 2.2 over. Watson and
Warner played well for their 50 runs partnership for the second wicket. Then everything
went wrong for Aussie as Boult came to ball his second spell. His spell just
changed the instance of the game. The Australian team collapsed from 80/2 to
106/9 with Boult picking five of those giving less runs. Brad Haddin scored 43
runs in the end to take the total to 151. Chasing a target of 152 to win the
match they started well with a wide four of the first ball and six in the
second ball. The first wicket fell at 40 runs in 3.5 overs. The match changed
after the wicket of McCullum who scored 50 runs off 24 balls before being
dismissed by Pat Cummins. Then a disaster in the end took the match to a
thrilling finish as the Kiwi’s were reduced to 146/9 with only one wicket
remaining. It was a shocking scene for the New Zealand team as they lost three
wickets for just one run being added to the score card. Pat Cummins was the
bowler and Williamson batting at 39 runs. Need another six to win for New
Zealand and one wicket for Australia came to deliver the ball and Kane just hit
it over the bowlers head and finished the game for the New Zealanders. A
thrilling victory for the black caps.
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