Best XI of WC 2019 that might not feature in T20 World Cup 2020

With three formats in place, there is always an ICC event around the corner. The next 24 months will see back-to-back T20 World Cups. While the first one will be held Down Under in October 2020, the succeeding event will take place in India on September 2021. All the teams will be gearing up for the World Cup next year first and are building a team for the same. A lot of T20 Internationals will be played in the next 15 months or so and the fans will witness some of the breathtaking action in the shortest format. The 2019 World Cup was the most thrilling of all with the top 10 teams playing and it was the last mega event of the few of the experienced cricketers. They were expected to call it a day after the tournament. Some of them did it but few are still around but are not expected to hang in till the T20 World Cup next year. Here we bring you the best XI of the 2019 WC players who will not feature in T20 WC 2020: 1. Chris Gayle Chris Gayle. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images,) No one can predict what the Universe Boss will do or say. The former West Indies captain announced earlier this year that he would be retiring from international cricket after the end of 50-over World Cup. However, he took a U-turn at the very last moment and went on to play in the succeeding ODI series at home against India. The final ODI looked like his farewell game when he hung his bat over his helmet after playing a typical Gayle innings to thunderous applause by the crowd. But the southpaw made a U-turn again when asked about his retirement after the game. No one knows what will happen next year but considering Chris Gayle did not play in the T20Is against India, it might be safe to predict that the all-time leading scorer in the shortest format of the game might just give the tournament a miss. The southpaw recently became the first batsman in the history of Twenty20 cricket to notch up more than 13,000 runs. 2. Hashim Amla Hashim Amla. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images) His opening partner, on this list, does not have that unpredictability murking around him. An extended slump in form followed by a disappointing World Cup following prompted Amla to bid adieu to the game from all formats of the game. The right-hander featured in 44 T20Is for South Africa where he scored 1277 runs at an average of 33.61 and a strike-rate of 132.06. Besides that, he also played in 16 IPL games in which he racked up 577 runs at an average of 44.38 and a strike-rate of 141.77 which also included two centuries. Amla was one of the mainstays for South Africa for so many years and created a lot of records. South Africa will definitely miss his class at the top of the order across the formats. 3. Mohammad Shahzad Mohammad Shahzad. (Photo Source: Twitter) Mohammad Shahzad was the talk of the town last year. His ‘larger in life’ frame, his demeanour both on and off the field and off-course his precocious talent of hitting a cricket, made him a familiar face in the cricketing folklore. Shahzad was expected to play a crucial rule in the 2019 World Cup but a combination of poor form, fitness, and off-field issues resulted in his premature ouster from the side midway through the tournament. With Afghanistan looking to inject fresh blood in the side, it looks difficult that we will see Shahzad in Afghan colours next year. He has been banned by the board for a year for breaking the code of conduct and the road looks tough for him to make a comeback. Shahzad has 1860 runs to his name in the T20 Internationals and has scored at a strike-rate of 134.01. But his fitness could prove to be a hindrance for him to return and with Rahmanullah Gurbaz opening the innings in the ongoing tri-series, Afghanistan seems to have moved on from Shahzad. 4. Faf du Plessis Faf du Plessis. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) The future of Faf Du Plessis is not decided either. Du Plessis has earlier expressed his desire to finish his career with next year’s T20 World Cup but given the fact that South Africa are looking at the likes of Quinton de Kock to lead their white-ball teams and with the former skipper not selected for the T20I series against India, it looks like du Plessis might give the tournament a miss next year. Though it is still not sure whether he will make a comeback, Cricket South Africa (CSA) looks keen on injecting some fresh legs in the team ahead of T20 World Cup. Du Plessis though isn’t a bad T20 player and has been playing in the IPL consistently as well. The South African Test captain, who currently plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, has featured in 44 T20Is where he scored 1363 runs at an average of 35.87 which includes eight half-centuries and a three-figure score. 5. JP Duminy JP Duminy. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images) JP Duminy retired from all formats of the game after a rather disappointing World Cup in England. The left-hander was one of the key members of the Proteas middle-order, especially in T20I cricket, who along with Miller won his side a plethora of games from the No 5. or No.6 position. The lynchpin of the South African middle-order for a better part of this decade, Duminy turned up for 81 T20Is for the Proteas. He racked up 1934 runs at an average of 38.68 and a strike-rate of 126.24 which include eleven 50+ scores. With the next T20 World Cup just a year away, a herculean task falls on the shoulders of the South African team-management and selectors to blood in new talent in the middle-order. In the absence of Duminy, the onus will fall on David Miller in the middle-order to give some stability to the innings along with the youngsters. 6. Dinesh Karthik Dinesh Karthik. (Photo Source: ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images) Well! Such is life. 12 months ago, Dinesh Karthik was the talk of the town in Indian cricket. He had just pulled up a Javed Miandadesque last-ball heist during his stonewalling, swashbuckling, ruthless, whatever adjective you might want to attach, 8-ball-27 in the finals of the Nidahas Trophy at the expense of Soumya Sarkar and Bangladesh. The innings had made Karthik an instant hero. Some said it was the renaissance of the man, who has forever stayed in the shadow of MS Dhoni. Editorials were being written as to how DK forged his way back into the national reckoning. And, such was the impact of that knock that it paved way for his return to the ODI and Test set-up. 12 months later, Dinesh Karthik has played a Test series in England, has batted at No.5 in the World Cup semifinal, and here I am writing about why he may not make it to next years T20 World Cup, a format that helped him forge his way back into the other forms of the game. Karthik was one of the casualties of India’s unsuccessful 2019 World Cup campaign and the wicket-keeper was dropped from both ODI and T20I sides for the West Indies tour and now in the home series against South Africa, indicating that it might be the end of the road for the KKR skipper, as far as international cricket is concerned. In all, Karthik played 32 T20Is for Team India in which he scored 399 runs at a strike-rate of 143.53. 7. MS Dhoni (c & wk) MS Dhoni. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images) MS Dhoni is here. Dhoni is also there, besides the fact that the former Indian captain is neither here nor there. But despite having not featured in any game since the World Cup, Dhoni has always dominated the stories and speculations revolving around his impending future. He hasn’t been rested- that was in the West Indies. No one can dare utter the word ‘drop’, making it one of the mysteries, much-like the mystery that India had around their middle-order before the 2019 World Cup. If it does happen though, it will be the first ICC event since the 2004 Champions Trophy that Team India will feature without a certain MS Dhoni. It will also be the first T20 World Cup where the Men in Blue will be led by a man not called MS Dhoni. Dhoni has till now led India in all of the six T20 World Cups he won once while reaching the finals [2014] and semi-finals [2016] on two separate instances. In all, MSD has featured in 98 T20Is for Team India in which he has scored 1617 runs at an average of 37.6 and a strike-rate of 126.13. 8. Mehidy Hasan Mehidy Hasan. (Photo Source: Twitter) It hasn’t been a great few months for the Asian spinners. After what turned to be an unproductive World Cup, the majority of them have faced the axe from the side. Mehidy Hasan Miraz did not have a great World Cup and with the sides opting for other options in the series succeeding the World event, it looks like a long road back for the off-spinner. Hasan, who had a poor outing during Bangladesh‘s 0-3 loss against Sri Lanka, has been dropped from the white-ball set-up during the ongoing T20I tri-nation series between the hosts, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, with the selectors taking it as an opportunity to test the fringe players. In all, Mehidy has featured in 13 T20Is for his country in which he has picked up just 4 wickets at an average of 82.5 and an economy rate of 9.17. His economy rate in the shortest format and with a plethora of talent coming through BPL, the selectors might not go back to him now. 9. Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images) No! This can’t happen. Surely not! I mean think about it. Kuldeep Yadav? Out of the T20 World Cup in Australia? The Chinaman? The bowler who was the apple of the eye of the team-management a short while ago? The bowler who has 35 wickets in 18 T20Is at an average of 12.97. Yep! 12.97. The bowler who bamboozled the likes of Taylor, Maxwell, du Plessis, Miller, Root, Bairstow, Babar, you name it, the who’s who of International cricket. But, and this is a big BUT, he can’t bat. He can’t contribute with the bat in the lower-order. But, the question is if a guy can nip you out wickets at regular intervals; if he can run through the sides with his precocious skills ensuring that you eventually get a low target, why would he be required to bat then? That’s the equivalence of asking the likes of Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan to bowl in a game. Yep! It’s an added advantage if you can have bowlers contributing with the bat at the backend of the innings but it shouldn’t be a criterion of selection for a bowler. For, if that were the case the specialist bowlers of the past like Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh or Curtly Ambrose wouldn’t have been selected in the team anyway. Virat Kohli, in his press-conference, alluded to the fact that they needed more contribution from the lower-order while explaining the reasons for the omission of Kuldeep and Chahal. Wrist-spinners could be vital on the big grounds of Australia and ignoring them for bowlers who can bat a bit, could prove to be catastrophic for Team India. 10. Jason Holder Jason Holder. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Its been a difficult few months for Jason Holder. After an appalling performance by the West Indies in the World Cup and the succeeding series against India, he was stripped of the captaincy duties from ODI cricket. And with him having not played the recently concluded T20I series against India, it is safe to say that the defending champions are looking at other options for the quadrennial event next year. Holder hasn’t been a part of the national sides’ T20 set-up since the series against England in February this year. The former ODI skipper, who did not play in the T20I series against India has featured in 11 T20Is in which he has scored 60 runs besides taking nine wickets at 33.78. Having said that, the all-rounder can prove himself with his performances in the ongoing CPL and force his way back into the side for the mega event next year. 11. Mashrafe Mortaza Mashrafe Mortaza. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Another captain, who led his side in this year’s World Cup and is expected to miss the T20 event in 2020 is Bangladesh’s skipper Mashrafe Mortaza. Mortaza is 39 years of age and while he has not retired from ODI cricket post the World Cup, he last played a T20I for Bangladesh against Sri Lanka in 2017. With Bangladesh looking to blood in new talent under the leadership of Shakib Al Hasan, it looks increasingly unlikely that the fast bowler will feature in the plans. In all, Mortaza featured in 54 T20Is for Bangladesh, during which he took 42 wickets at an average of 36.38 and an economy of 8.05. He has been regarded as one of the legends in Bangladesh cricket and the board will surely seek his advice for the tournament. However, as of now, it seems that Mortaza won’t be featuring in the T20 World Cup 2020.

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Best XI of WC 2019 that might not feature in T20 World Cup 2020

These players have either not played T20Is for a long time or they've retired.

11. Mashrafe Mortaza

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