ODI World Cup 2023: Flop XI of Fifth Week

Cricket World Cup 2023 completed its fifth week with England’s 160-run victory against the Netherlands in Pune. After the week, India are on the top of the table with eight out of eight wins and became the first side to qualify for the semi-finals. Following the hosts, South Africa and Australia are also through to the knockouts with their six wins apiece. Following the fifth week, cricket fans have got three semi-finalists, and for the fourth spot in the knockouts, Pakistan and New Zealand are in the heated race. Witnessing the cricketing action in the last seven days, it’s time to prepare the flop XI of the World Cup's fifth week. Here is the flop XI of the tournament’s fifth week 1. Travis Head Travis Head made his World Cup debut with a bang, hitting a scintillating century against New Zealand in Dharamshala. His 109-run knock against the Trans-Tasman rivals also helped the Aussies clinch an intriguing five-run win. Following the match-winning innings, Head was expected to dominate bowlers with his spunky batting attitude. In the crucial encounter against the arch-rivals England at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Head failed to provide a fierce start to his side, getting dismissed on 11 off 10. Against Afghanistan, the Aussies were chasing 292, and Glenn Maxwell played an unprecedented knock of 201 off just 128 to snatch the victory for his team from the jaws of defeat. Before Maxwell’s legendary innings, the Aussies were in trouble with seven down at a score of 91 in 18.3 overs. Head, who kicked off the chase with his opening partner David Warner, went back to the pavilion with a two-ball duck. 2. Jonny Bairstow Jonny Bairstow has looked out of colour in this tournament. The right-handed England opener has scored only 156 runs in eight matches at a disappointing average of 19.50. In the fifth week, his struggle with the bat continued as he failed to provide anything solid to his side against the Aussies and the Netherlands. Against the Pat Cummins-led side in Ahmedabad, the English team registered a 33-run defeat. Chasing 287 runs, Bairstow fell to Mitchell Starc on the first delivery of the innings. The 34-year-old walked back to the dugout on a duck which grabbed his critics’ eyeballs. The veteran opener accumulated another failure with his bat against the Dutch team in Pune. This time, off-spinner Aryan Dutt hoaxed the star batter, getting him caught at the hands of Paul van Meekeren, who was deployed at the short-fine leg. 3. Joe Root Noting Joe Root’s reputation and experience, he was expected to do big for England in the tournament but the 32-year-old has completely failed to reinforce his team’s top order. Batting at number three, he has scored only 216 runs with two fifties in eight matches, at an ordinary average of 27.00. In the fifth week, England clashed with Australia and the Netherlands. With five losses in six games and a horrendous net run rate, the defending champions were out of the semi-final contention but they had a chance to shake Australia’s campaign, winning the Ahmedabad contest. Pursuing 287 runs, England lost Bairstow early in the first delivery of the innings and from here, Root’s responsibility was to stand at the crease and support Dawid Malan to help the team recover from the early damage. However, the veteran also became the victim of Starc after scoring 13 runs. 4. Aiden Markram Aiden Markram has performed incredibly in this tournament, racking up 371 runs in eight matches at a magnificent strike rate of 118.15. However, in the fifth week, South Africa clashed with India at the iconic Eden Gardens, and Markram got the task of chasing 327 runs in their 50 overs. After the early departure of both openers Quinton de Kock and captain Temba Bavuma, Markram came to the crease. With the fall of two batters at a score of 22 in 8.3 overs, the 29-year-old was expected to hold his nerves and bring his side back into the match. Confronting India’s quality bowling unit, things weren’t going to be easy for the Protea side but Markram’s presence was giving relief. However, at the time of crisis, the vice-captain also crumbled under pressure as he capitulated in front of Mohammed Shami after scoring nine runs. 5. Jos Buttler (C) & (WK) Jos Buttler is going through a dry run as he is consistently failing to produce solid knocks for his side in this World Cup. The England skipper has amassed only 111 runs in eight matches at a terrible average of 13.87. As a skipper, he has completely lacked confidence and the English team’s position on the points tally corroborates the fact. England won their second match of the tournament in the fifth week, registering a humongous 160-run win over the Dutch team in Pune. Ben Stokes hit his maiden World Cup ton and received the Player of the Match award for guiding his team to the scintillating triumph. Buttler threw his wicket on five in this game against Paul van Meekeren. Earlier in the week, the wicketkeeper batter flopped against the Aussies in Ahmedabad. England didn’t succeed in chasing the 287-run target and Buttler fell prey to Adam Zampa after scoring only one run. 6. Angelo Mathews Angelo Mathews has replaced Matheesha Pathirana in Sri Lanka’s World Cup 2023 squad. Considering the veteran’s experience and all-round skills, Sri Lanka team supporters were expecting some excellent numbers from him in all departments of the game. However, the 36-year-old hasn’t done wonders for his side with both bat and ball. As a batter, he has piled up only 35 runs in three innings of four matches at a below-par average of 11.66. With the ball, he has been economical but hasn’t proven himself as a wicket-taking option. The fifth week began with Sri Lanka’s 302-run defeat at the hands of India at the Wankhede Stadium. The massive loss went into the record books as Sri Lanka’s heaviest World Cup defeat (by runs). Following 358 runs at the iconic ground, the 1996 champions got bundled out on 55. Mathews, the senior player in the squad, was also unsuccessful in rescuing the team, chipping in with only 12 runs. 7. Marco Jansen Marco Jansen has looked sensational in this World Cup. As an all-rounder, he has made a vital contribution to the team. However, in the clash against India at Eden Gardens, the lanky pacer took KL Rahul’s wicket but emerged as the costliest bowler in the match, splurging 94 runs in his 9.4-over spell. After failing with the ball, he was expected to be effective with the bat in the lower-middle order. The 23-year-old walked into the middle when the Protea side was five down at a score of 40. He looked completely nervous during the chase and gave his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav. The youngster scored only 14 runs in the contest after facing 30 balls. South Africa will face the Aussie team at Eden Gardens in the second semi-final and they will expect their efficient all-rounder to turn out against the Men in Yellow aggressively in the marquee encounter. 8. Dushmantha Chameera Dushmantha Chameera has got three games from Sri Lanka but the pacer has picked up only one wicket at an economy of 6.43. Against India in Mumbai, Dilshan Madushanka delivered a brilliant start to his side but he didn’t get enough support from Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha. Chameera bowled a 10-over spell in the match and gave away 71 runs with KL Rahul’s wicket. Despite the speedster’s sub-par performance, captain Kusal Mendis continued with Chameera in the team’s playing XI against the Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The Bangla Tigers crushed the Sri Lankan Lions by three wickets and with this loss, Mendis and Co. were knocked out of the semi-final race. Chameera recorded 0/54 figures with the ball, in his eight-over spell. 9. Ish Sodhi In the huge game against Pakistan at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, New Zealand inducted Ish Sodhi into their playing XI to bolster their spin-bowling unit. Along with Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips, Sodhi’s job was to trap Pakistan’s batters with spin bowling and save a huge total of 401 runs. Riding on Rachin Ravindra’s superb 108-run knock and skipper Kane Williamson’s 95-run innings, the Black Caps gave a massive target to the Men in Green. Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman showcased spunk while chasing the total and took Pakistan home with his unbeaten 126 off 81. In the rain-curtailed contest, the Green Army hoarded 200 runs in 25.3 overs and bagged a convincing 21-run win (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method). Sodhi splurged 44 runs in his four-over spell and became the costliest bowler in the match. He went back to the pavilion wicketless. 10. Kasun Rajitha Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling unit has looked completely out of rhythm. Kasun Rajitha, a vital member of Sri Lanka’s pace attack, has been completely ineffective in this competition. In six outings, the paceman has grabbed only eight wickets at a disastrous economy of 6.85. Rajitha failed to cause any damage to the hosts India at the Wankhede Stadium and also leaked 65 runs in his nine overs. Against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka failed to defend 280 runs but Madushanka again stepped up with the ball, dismissing Tanzid Hasan and Liton Das early. Mathews couldn’t do much with the bat in the contest but tried his best with the ball in the second innings to bring his team back into the match. Rajitha, who bowled four overs in the match, went away wicketless and also gave away 47 runs. 11. Fazalhaq Farooqi Afghanistan have impressed cricket supporters with their amazing performance in the tournament. Their batters and spin bowlers have done a great job to help them achieve success against quality sides in this competition. However, their pacers have lacked discipline which has ended their chances to qualify for the knockouts. Farooqi has played six matches in the tournament, in which he scalped only six wickets at an economy of 5.70. Afghanistan hammered the Dutch side by seven wickets in Lucknow. Except for Farooqi, all other bowlers did tight bowling to restrict the Orange Army to 179 runs. The paceman bowled five overs and didn’t get any wickets. He also leaked 36 runs in his short spell. Noting his non-performance, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi replaced Farooqi with Naveen-ul-Haq in the massive game against Australia at Wankhede Stadium.

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ODI World Cup 2023: Flop XI of Fifth Week

Witnessing the cricketing action in the last seven days, it’s time to prepare the flop XI of the marquee tournament’s fifth week.

2. Jonny Bairstow

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