ODI World Cup 2023: FLop XI of the tournament's group stages

The ODI World Cup has been a joyous ride so far the cricket fans all over the world. While some top teams Australia and India have maintained their dominance at World Cups. On the other hand, some budding teams such as Afghanistan and Netherlands have toppled some hot favourites of the tournament and made a loud statement that they are not pushovers anymore.

Where on one spectrum we have seen teams hitting 350s for fun, at the other end, we have seen top teams topple for low scores under lights. So, it’s been a roller coaster journey so far in the tournament and we have enjoyed every bit of it so far. As the tournament has reached its business end, let’s take a look at the playing XI of players who have not performed as per the standards set by them in the past.

Here is the combined flop Playing XI from the group stage of the ODI World Cup 2023:

Top Order: Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli

1) Temba Bavuma

Temba Bavuma had a stellar season before the World Cup and he was the highest run-scorer for South Africa where he amassed 1,512 runs in 36 innings. Before the World Cup, Bavuma was averaging 54.68 in ODIs with a strike rate of 91.07. But in this World Cup, he has an average of 20.71 with a low strike rate of 75.12. 

2) Johnny Bairstow

The dynamite opener from England was expected to set up the World Cup on fire but he hasn’t been able to live up to his expectations and has scored only 215 runs in the 9 matches of the ODI World Cup which has been one of the key contributor in England’s dismal World Cup campaign.

3) Babar Azam

The Pakistan skipper was the top ODI batter coming into this World Cup and was expected to be among the highest run-getters of the World Cup but the stylish batter wasn’t able to convert starts into big scores and scored only 340 at an average of 40.

Middle-order:

4) Joe Root

It has been one of the most forgettable World Cups for Joe Root. He has only been able to score 276 runs in 9 matches and has been one of the main reasons for England’s poor show with the bat in this World Cup.

5) Steve Smith

Smith Smith being one of the members of Fab4 scored 268 runs at an average of 41.66. Though it is a good average with a batter of Smith’s caliber expectations are quite high and a big innings can be on the cards from Steve Smith in the semi-finals.

6) Ben Stokes

Though Ben Stokes scored 304 runs in this World Cup in 6 matches it didn’t help England much because a majority of his runs came in the last 3 matches and till then the World Cup was over for England.

All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Shakib al Hasan

7) Liam Livingstone

The explosive all-rounder from England is someone who can change the tide of the match on his own and can deceive the opposition with leg and off spin. But he has been a complete failure in this year’s World Cup and has scored only 87 runs and took 3 wickets in the 5 games he played in the World Cup.

8) Shakib al Hasan

Bangladesh’s captain and one of the World’s best all-rounders Shakib al Hasan had an average World Cup. This was his last World Cup and given the Asian conditions it was expected that he would go with a bang but it didn’t turn out what was expected from him and it resulted in Bangladesh’s ouster from the World Cup’s league stage.

Bowlers: Maheesh Theekshana, Pat Cummins, Haris Rauf

9) Maheesh Theekshana

Maheesh Theekshana is considered one of the most prominent finds of Sri Lanka in recent times and given his IPL performances and injuries to Sri Lanka’s prominent players, Theekshana was expected to play a major role for Sri Lanka but he managed to take only 6 wickets which resulted in Sri Lanka finishing at the 9th position in the league stage.

10) Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins is Australia’s captain and has been leading the side very well but his performance in the limited format overs in the recent past has not been up to the mark which has been the case in this World Cup too which is why Australia has not been able to take wickets with the new ball quite often in this tournament.

11) Haris Rauf

Haris Rauf has been the biggest letdown for Pakistan in this year’s World Cup. He hasn’t been able to replicate his T20 performances in the ODI format. He has been expensive both with the new and old ball and has conceded a record 500 plus runs in this World Cup which has been one of the main reasons for Pakistan not qualifying for the knockout stages.