Cricket
Who is the Best All-Rounder in World Cup History? A Ranking
The role of all-rounders, especially in high-stakes competitions like the Cricket World Cup, remains valuable, even in modern cricket iterations. While specialist bowlers and batsmen are crucial, players who bridge these two areas provide extra options and can often make all the difference. In the context of cricket’s highest tier of 50-over competition, some legendary all-rounders have dominated, like Chris Gayle and Shakib Al Hasan. SportsBoom has looked at these World Cup match-winners ranked, from both a purely statistical standpoint and also through the lens of the media.
Steve Waugh /Getty Images
SB Market Index: How We Evaluate the Greatest World Cup All-Rounders
This evaluation combines a detailed statistical analysis of the greatest World Cup all-rounders, in terms of batting and bowling performances, with expert and media perception to provide a comprehensive ranking.
Industry Insights
This is a curated analysis from top 10 cricketing and sports media sources measuring how prominently each player is featured in discussions of the ‘greatest all-rounders in World Cup history’.
| Source Name | Shakib Al Hasan | C H Gayle | S T Jayasuriya | J H Kallis | T M Dilshan | P A de Silva | I V A Richards | S C Ganguly | S R Waugh | S B Styris |
| ICC Official Site – ‘Greatest World Cup All-Rounders’ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| ESPNcricinfo – ‘Team of the Tournament’ historical XIs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cricbuzz – ‘Analyzing the World Cup's Dual Threats’ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Wisden – ‘The 100 Best Players of the CWC’ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sky Sports – ‘World Cup's Most Valuable Players’ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| The Guardian – ‘Defining All-Rounders of the World Cup’ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Cricket.com.au – ‘Ranking the All-Round Greats’ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Reddit r/Cricket – ‘All-Time CWC XI’ Polls | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sportskeeda – ‘Top 5 All-Rounders in CWC History’ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| talkSPORT – ‘Cricket's Ultimate Match-Winners’ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total Mentions | 10 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
SB Score
This score is calculated based on three key World Cup career metrics: batting average (30% weightage), bowling average (30% weightage - inverted score), and a total impact score combining runs and wickets (40% weightage).
| Player | Runs | Batting Average | Wickets | Bowling Average | SB Score |
| I V A Richards | 1,013 | 63.31 | 10 | 34.50 | 1.000 |
| S C Ganguly | 1,006 | 55.89 | 10 | 30.50 | 0.908 |
| T M Dilshan | 1,112 | 52.95 | 18 | 24.83 | 0.900 |
| S B Styris | 909 | 53.47 | 17 | 32.47 | 0.864 |
| S R Waugh | 978 | 48.90 | 27 | 30.15 | 0.840 |
| Shakib Al Hasan* | 1332 | 41.63 | 43 | 36.07 | 0.803 |
| J H Kallis | 1148 | 45.92 | 21 | 43.05 | 0.706 |
| S T Jayasuriya | 1165 | 34.26 | 27 | 39.26 | 0.655 |
| P A de Silva | 1064 | 36.69 | 16 | 41.94 | 0.608 |
| C H Gayle | 1186 | 35.94 | 16 | 40.75 | 0.589 |
SB Market Index
For this top cricket all-rounders World Cup ranking, the statistical SB Score and media consensus Industry Insights have been combined to determine the final SB Market Index.
| Rank | Player | SB Score | Industry Insights | SB Market Index |
| 1 | S R Waugh | 0.840 | 10 | 8.168 |
| 2 | J H Kallis | 0.706 | 10 | 8.141 |
| 3 | S T Jayasuriya | 0.655 | 10 | 8.131 |
| 4 | Shakib Al Hasan* | 0.803 | 10 | 8.161 |
| 5 | I V A Richards | 1.000 | 6 | 5.000 |
| 6 | S C Ganguly | 0.908 | 5 | 4.182 |
| 7 | P A de Silva | 0.608 | 4 | 3.322 |
| 8 | C H Gayle | 0.589 | 3 | 2.518 |
| 9 | S B Styris | 0.864 | 2 | 1.773 |
| 10 | T M Dilshan | 0.900 | 1 | 0.980 |
The Pantheon of Greats: Waugh, Kallis, Jayasuriya & Shakib
Looking at this analysis of cricket’s greatest dual-threat players, an interesting result has seen four respective international legends topping the list.
Each achieved a perfect Industry Insights rating, emphasising their acclaim as World Cup titans, and also had a strong showing in terms of statistics.
Looking at Steve Waugh all-rounder stats, the iconic Australian skipper epitomises balance with an average of 48.90 and 27 wickets at the tourney.
Comparatively, Jacques Kallis and Sanath Jayasuriya have lower bowling and batting averages but also marked themselves as World Cup legends.
Shakib Al Hasan has also found himself in elite company in the ranking, despite the Bangladesh all-rounder hailing from a much younger generation.
Shakib Al Hasan /Getty Images
The Statistical Kings: Richards and Ganguly
Another interesting emergence in this analysis is the outstanding performance of legendary players like Sir Viv Richards and Sourav Ganguly.
They topped the SB Score due to their superior batting averages, although lower expert consensus has placed them outside the top four.
West Indies legend Sir Viv led his country to the World Cup title in 1975 and 1979, while Ganguly saw India into the 2003 final as captain.
While the broader media opinion of these two icons might not be as high as their peers, their status as ODI masters speaks volumes for them.
The Understated Performers: de Silva, Gayle, Styris, and Dilshan
Another top performer in terms of the statistical analysis is Tillakaratne Dilshan, who had the third-highest SB Score after Sir Viv and Ganguly.
The Sri Lankan icon’s figures in World Cups include an impressive bowling average of 24.83 and an equally sterling batting average of 52.95.
Likewise, Chris Gayle is another regular on top performer lists, with his pedigree at the highest level reflected in his figures as a top all-rounder.
Fellow understated legends like New Zealand’s Scott Styris and Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva also had strong cases with their performances.
Conclusion on the Ultimate World Cup Match-Winners
Summarising these Cricket World Cup records all-round, Steve Waugh, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Shakib Al Hasan recorded similar results.
SportsBoom’s SB Market Index, which heavily favours media perception, showed that these four are among the competition’s greatest combination players.
When considering debates like Shakib Al Hasan vs Jacques Kallis, success on the World Cup stage is not always indicative of an all-rounder’s standing.
Each of the men on this list, titans of One-Day International success, have each embodied excellence as double-threats at the pinnacle of the format.
Bruce Douglas has more than 12 years of experience in local news media. He has worked at all levels of print and online publication, from crime and politics to photography, newspaper layout, proofreading, mentoring, sub-editing, and leading a newsroom. He played numerous sports at the school level and enjoys keeping up to date.