Playing in a World Cup put a lot of pressure on any player as one bad innings from a batsman can prove to be disastrous for a team and probably also takes the team out of the tournament. This pressure gets even more if it’s a World Cup final, the moment every team waits for, for 4 years. But there are some players who like playing in under pressure as that brings out the best out of them, while there are others who can’t handle it to.
In today’s stat we will take a look at players who batted extremely well in the final of a World Cup match and helped the team to take home the World Cup:
| Player | Runs | Inn | Opposition | Ground | Match Date |
| Adam Gilchrist (Aus) | 149 | 1 | Sri Lanka | Bridgetown | 28 Apr 2007 |
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 140* | 1 | India | Johannesburg | 23 Mar 2003 |
| Viv Richards (WI) | 138* | 1 | England | Lord’s | 23 Jun 1979 |
| Aravind de Silva (SL) | 107* | 2 | Australia | Lahore | 17 Mar 1996 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 103* | 1 | India | Mumbai | 2 Apr 2011 |
| Clive Lloyd (WI) | 102* | 1 | Australia | Lord’s | 21 Jun 1975 |
| Gautam Gambhir (Ind) | 97 | 2 | Sri Lanka | Mumbai | 2 Apr 2011 |
| MS Dhoni (Ind) | 91 | 2 | Sri Lanka | Mumbai | 2 Apr 2011 |
| Damien Martyn (Aus) | 88* | 1 | India | Johannesburg | 23 Mar 2003 |
| Collis King (WI) | 86 | 1 | England | Lord’s | 23 Jun 1979 |
Stat updated till the end of 2011 World Cup final
The record of Adam Gilchrist for his innings of 149 against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final is the highest ever World Cup score in the final of the World’s biggest Cricketing tournament. Gilchrist scored 149 in just 104 balls, an innings that immediately took Sri Lanka out of the competition. We can also note that no player has ever scored 150 or more runs in a World Cup final.
Next in the list is Ricky Ponting for his 121 ball 140 against India in the 2003 World Cup final held in Johannesburg, South Africa. So far in the history of World Cup finals, 6 centuries have been scored and 5 out of 6 times the player who scored a century has taken home the World Cup. The only time it didn’t happen was when Mahela Jayawardene scored 103 against India in the 2011 World Cup final, which India won thanks to some useful batting by Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni currently on 7th and 8th in the list.
The list of players to score a century in a World Cup final are Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards, de Silva, Jayawardene and Clive Lloyd.