ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Greatest Moments: Semi-finals
The quarter-final is now in the rearview mirror and we are down to four spectacular moments from previous World Cups with two match-ups drawn up for you to vote and decide the winner.
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India were crowned the World Cup champions for only the second time in their history on the back of a monstrous six, which came off the willow of their skipper MS Dhoni in the 49th over. The shot was a culmination of a successful home campaign, and was marked by Ravi Shastri’s momentous words from the commentary box, “Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd!”
2011 CWC | MS Dhoni's match-winning six in the final against Sri Lanka
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India were eyeing the crucial wicket of Viv Richards during the World Cup final. The West Indies batter had already slammed a quickfire 33 and was taking the game away from India.
When he pulled a Madan Lal delivery towards the mid-wicket region, India skipper Kapil Dev ran all the way back from infield to rush in and take a sensational catch to leave West Indies without their prime batter at 57/3. Within the next 20 runs, the Men in Maroon had lost more than half their side to an inspired India. Kapil's side went onto win the match by 43 runs.
1983 CWC | Kapil Dev's running catch to dismiss Viv Richards in the final
A topsy-turvy thriller, between two of the finest cricketing teams of the 90s, boiled down to the final over, in which South Africa needed nine runs with one wicket remaining. South Africa had their talismanic finisher Lance Klusener on strike while Australia’s skillful seamer Damien Fleming held the ball. At the non-striker’s end was Allan Donald.
Two balls later, South Africa effectively had one leg in the final after Klusener had hit back-to-back fours. The next ball was a dot, but the Proteas still needed just one off three balls.
Klusener then hit one directly down the ground, but the ball was intercepted by the fielder. However, the all-rounder had taken off even as Donald was caught ball-watching. The latter was run out, and Australia got through by virtue of finishing at a higher place in the Super Six stage.
1999 CWC | Klusener-Donald run-out in the semi-final against Australia
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Pakistan were searching for quick runs while chasing a revised target against South Africa. Inzamam-ul-Haq lifted the Pakistan scoring rate with his brisk knock. In the 31st over, a Brian McMillan delivery hit his pads and lofted towards the point region.
Inzamam set off before realising that no run was available. He turned back for the safety of his crease. However, by that time Jonty Rhodes had already snared the ball and raced towards the stumps. He pulled out a flawless dive and stretched out his right arm to crash the stumps before Inzamam could make it.
1992 CWC | Jonty Rhodes runs out Inzamam