World Cup History: When “Minnows Turn into Sharks” - Top Six Must-watch Matches That Promise An Unexpected Outcome

Any big sporting event is always subject to some upsets and startling outcomes whether it is Wimbledon Tennis tournament, FIFA World Cup, US Open or any other big event; just because of some kind of overconfidence shown by senior or experienced participants and sometimes the extra enthusiasm/passion by junior/inexperienced members of the event. This phenomenon can hilariously be called as “Minnows Turn into Sharks”.  

The same phenomenon is true for Cricket World Cup since its inception. Every world cup edition left few good and few surprising memories in terms of results and outcomes. This type of unexpected results actually adds more thrill to the event. 

Here, I collected glimpses of few matches from the world cup history that are always remembered as the historical upsets in cricketing world:

1.    1979: Sri Lanka beat India by 47 runs

2.    1983: Zimbabwe stunned Australia on debut (Winning by 13 Runs)

3.    1996: Kenya upset the West Indies by a massive 73 runs.

4.    2003: Canada takes down Bangladesh (Winning by 60 Runs)

5.    2007: Ireland knock Pakistan out of the World Cup

6.    2007: Bangladesh knock India out of World Cup (Winning by five wickets)

In my last post I shared with you the top six world cup matches which might easily be termed as “Clash o Titans”; now I want to share other six matches which can be historical due to their unexpected outcome.

1.    Feb. 19 Bangladesh v India (d/n), Dhaka- Steve Davis and Kumar Dharmasena, Billy Doctrove (third), Asad Rauf (fourth), Ranjan Madugalle (referee)

2.    Feb 25: Australia v New Zealand (d), Nagpur - Billy Doctrove and Kumar Dharmasena, Asad Rauf (third), Bruce Oxenford (fourth), Ranjan Madugalle (referee)

3.    Mar 2: England v Ireland (d/n), Bengaluru - Aleem Dar and Billy Bowden, Marais Erasmus (third), Rod Tucker (fourth), Roshan Mahanama (referee)

4.    Mar 3: Pakistan v Canada (d/n), Colombo - Daryl Harper and Nigel Llong, Tony Hill (third), Ian Gould (fourth), Chris Broad (referee)

5.    Mar 4: New Zealand v Zimbabwe (d), Ahmedabad - Aleem Dar and Marais Erasmus, Rod Tucker (third), Billy Bowden (fourth), Roshan Mahanama (referee)

6.    Mar 4: Bangladesh v West Indies (d/n), Dhaka - Kumar Dharmasena and Steve Davis, Asad Rauf (third), Bruce Oxenford (fourth), Ranjan Madugalle (referee)