5 Players Who Have Played More Than 100 Test Matches But Haven't Won A Single World Cup

World Cup is among the biggest cricket tournament in the ODI and T20I format. The tournament witnessed a quest among all the top cricket-playing nations. The team that wins a World Cup gets the tag of World Champions. So far, there have been 11 editions of ODI World Cups and 6 editions of the T20I World Cup.

In ODI WC, Australia have won the tournament most 5 times. England are the defending champions who won the tournament in the 2019 edition. In T20I WC, West Indies have won most 2 times and they are the defending champions as they defeated England in the last edition in 2016.

Winning a World Cup is like a dream come true for a cricketer. However, there are many players who had a long career in international cricket but were never able to win any World Cup title. Here we talk about 5 players who have played more than 100 Test matches but haven’t won a single World Cup.

5 Players Who Have Played More Than 100 Test Matches But Haven’t Won A Single World Cup

Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook is the first player in this list. The former England skipper has played more than 161 Test matches and scored 12,472 runs in the format at an average of 45.35. He has smashed 33 hundreds in Tests. However, during his active international career from 2006 to 2018, the left-handed batsman never managed to win a World Cup as he was never part of the tournament.

When England won the T20I WC in 2010, Alastair Cook was omitted from the squad. He was going to lead the England team in ODI WC 2015, however, Eoin Morgan was nominated as the skipper of the team in ODI format.

 VVS Laxman

Former Indian cricket VVS Laxman is another player who has played more than 100 Tests but never won a World Cup. The right-handed batsman played 134 Tests in his career and scored 8781 runs at an average of 45.97. He also smacked 17 centuries.

Although Laxman was an outstanding ODI batsman, smashing 2338 runs with 83 innings with 6 centuries and 10 half-centuries, he was never selected for the Indian squad for ODI WC.

In ODI WC 2003, Laxman was expected to make it into the squad but Dinesh Mongia was inducted into the team instead of him. Laxman never played a T20I game for India so he wasn’t part of any T20I WC either.

Colin Cowdrey

Late Colin Cowdrey was a former English cricketer who played for England from 1954 to 1975. He was the first player to play 100 Test matches. The right-handed batsman played 114 Tests and scored 7,624 runs at an average of 44.06. He hit 22 hundreds and 38 fifties in Tests.

However, he never won a World Cup since he only represented England in one ODI match in January 1971 against England, in which he scored 1 run. He did not feature in the first edition of the ODI WC in 1975.

 Justin Langer

Justin Langer is a former Australian cricketer who played 105 Test matches for his country. The left-handed batsman scored 7696 runs at an average of 45.27. The opening batsman also smashed 23 hundreds and 30 half-centuries in the longest format of the game. Langer only played 8 ODI games for Australia from 1994 to 1997 in which scored only 160 runs.

He was active in Test from 1993 to 2007 but was never picked in the squad for an ODI World Cup tournament. During his active international career, Australia won three ODI WC titles in 1999, 2003, and 2007 but Langer never managed to be part of the WC winning squad.

Ishant Sharma

Indian pacer Ishant Sharma is another player in the list. The right-arm pacer is a permanent member of the national team in the Test format. He has played 101 Test matches so far and picked 303 wickets at an average of 32.27. Sharma has played 80 ODI games for India in which he picked 115 wickets at an economy of 5.72.

However, he never got the privilege of playing in the ICC ODI WC in 2011, 2015, and 2019. He also played 14 T20I matches between 2008 to 2013 but was not part of any T20I WC during the period.