Sachin Tendulkar to Ricky Ponting: 5 legends who played their last World Cup in 2011

It's difficult to forget captain the victory lap with Sachin Tendulkar on the shoulders of Indian players. It was a tribute to the Sachin as it was the last World Cup of his career. But he wasn’t the only great of the game who entered the competition with a dream of lifting the trophy.

World Cup 2011 is engraved deep in the hearts of Indian cricket fans of this era. Those who were born in the late 90s had only heard the stories of Kapil Dev lifting the World Cup at the Lord’s Balcony in 1983. But April 2, 2011, was the day when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men-in-blue made us realise how a World Cup win feels like.

Sachin Tendulkar

For an ardent cricket fan, it’s impossible to forget captain Dhoni’s winning shot and the victory lap with legend Sachin Tendulkar on the shoulders of Indian players. It was a tribute to the Master-Blaster as it was the last World Cup of his career.

But he wasn’t the only great of the game who entered the competition with a dream of lifting the trophy. There were several others for whom the 2011 marquee event marked the final world cup in their illustrious careers.

Let’s have a look at those 5 names who played their last World Cup in 2011:

Sachin Tendulkar: Our very own Master Blaster provided an unending dosage of entertainment in almost every game India played in the World Cup 2011. Though the quest of his 100th international ton remained unfinished, he came out as the 2nd highest run-scorer of the tournament with 482 runs, including 2 centuries and as many half-centuries. He couldn’t do much in the final clash against Sri Lanka at his home ground but his skipper – MS Dhoni – presented him with a valuable gift at the end of the day – the World Cup trophy which he missed in 2003.

In 2012, Sachin called it quits from ODIs and played the last Test of his career at Wankhede in 2013 to end his 24-year-long journey with 15921 runs in Test cricket and 18426 runs in ODIs.

Ricky Ponting: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting had a decent tournament as he scored 206 runs from 7 games and scored a century against India in the quarterfinal clash. However, the two-time World Cup-winning skipper missed out on the third title as India defeated Australia in the quarterfinal by 5 wickets. He drew curtains on his international career in 2012 with 27,483 runs (13378 in Tests, 13704 in ODIs, 401 in T20Is) to his name.

Shoaib Akhtar: The legendary paceman from Pakistan – also known as the Rawalpindi Express – had announced during the tournament that he will quit international cricket after the World Cup. He featured in two games and picked up three wickets before missing out on the semi-final clash against arch-rivals India which Pakistan lost by 29 runs. Akhtar ended his magnificent career with 178 wickets in 46 Tests, 247 wickets in 163 ODIs and 19 wickets in 15 T20Is.

Muttiah Muralitharan: The spin magician from Sri Lanka played the last World Cup of his career in 2011. Muralitharan scalped 15 wickets from 9 matches in World Cup 2011. The final face-off against India on April 2, 2011, was the last ODI match of his long career. He has 800 Test wickets (the most by any bowler in the world) and 534 scalps in ODIs. He also has 13 wickets to his name in T20Is.

Brett Lee: The spearhead is another Australian on the list who played his last World Cup in 2011. Brett Lee featured in 7 games and scalped a total of 13 wickets at an average of 18.07. He registered his best figures – 4/28 – against Pakistan but ended up on the losing side. He retired from international cricket in 2012 with 310 and 380 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively. Lee continued to play in T20 leagues across the globe until 2015 and finished with 109 scalps to his credit.