ODI World Cup 2023: Rating of Captaincy Performance in Second Week

The second week of the ODI World Cup 2023 from October 12- October 19, saw some big upsets happening in the tournament. New Zealand and India continued their winning run despite playing two matches each this week. On the other hand, Australia ended their losing run this week. For Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and England, it was a week to forget. Especially for England as they lost to Afghanistan for the first time in ODIs. South Africa had a mixed bag of sorts as they defeated Australia, but were ambushed by the Netherlands and were left shocked. Much of the credit for the wins and blame for the defeats should go to the team, but it is shared by the captains as well. They are the ones leading their teams, making decisions in the field and the batting order. Sometimes, some decisions give results like goldmines, and sometimes they come back to bite hard. With this in mind, here is how the captains have been rated in the second week of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023: 10. Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan)- 5/10 Hashmatullah Shahidi. (Photo Source: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images) Hashmatullah Shahidi had a mixed bag in both leadership and ideas in two matches Afghanistan played in the second week of the ICC World Cup 2023. Afghanistan caused an upset by defeating England and then lost to New Zealand in Delhi and Chennai, respectively. Defending 284 against England, Shahidi cleverly had Rashid Khan, his trump card kept back as pacers and Mohammad Nabi picked early wickets. Rashid along with Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman ran through the England middle order to give a big win to Afghanistan. Against New Zealand, Shahidi had them 110/4 but once again kept Rashid Khan back and this time the ploy backfired. Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips took the game away from them and Shahidi’s decision proved to be fatal for Afghanistan. 9. Jos Buttler (England)- 4/10 Jos Buttler(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) The second week of the ODI World Cup 2023 was not a good one for England as they faced Afghanistan in Delhi and suffered an upset loss. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 and 58 from Alikhil was enough for Afghanistan to post 284 runs. Jos Buttler faltered in reading the pitch and his field placing lacked conviction. Chris Woakes and Sam Curran leaked runs and while spinners did a good job, Buttler couldn’t compensate for the pacer’s follies. 8. Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto (Bangladesh)- 5/10 Shakib Al Hasan (Photo Source: Twitter) Bangladesh played two games in the second week, against New Zealand and India and lost both. They were captained by Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto, respectively, after Shakib suffered an injury during the New Zealand game. Against New Zealand, Shakib and co. were defending 245 runs and even got an early wicket. But on the Chennai track, that supported spin, Bangladesh failed to bind the Kiwi batters. Their spinner couldn’t stop Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, and Devon Conway from creaming runs at will. Bangladesh only picked two wickets and Williamson had to retire hurt. Against India, somehow Bangladesh managed to post a good total in Pune, making 256 runs. Najmul Shanto backed his spinners to do the job as Rohit Sharma tore into the pacers in the powerplay overs. But Shanto’s inexperience was on show as Virat Kohli, first with Shubman Gill and then with KL Rahul, milked singles and doubles at will and won the game for India quite easily. 7. Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka)- 5/10 Kusal Mendis. ({Photo Source: ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images) Ahead of their match against Australia in Lucknow, Sri Lanka lost the services of Dasun Shanaka due to a thigh injury. Kusal Mendis took over as captain. Batting first, Sri Lanka posted a meagre 209 runs with Kusal Perera scoring 78. The total was not a big one and Dilshan Madushanka gave Sri Lanka two early wickets as well. But Kusal Mendis couldn’t build enough pressure via his spinners. His bowlers just didn’t have the skills needed and his captaincy lacked the aggressive factor. Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis hit fifties and then Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis finished the game in 35 overs to give their side a big win, their first in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. 6. Babar Azam (Pakistan)- 5/10 Babar-Azam-and-Shreyas-Iyer. (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images) Babar Azam faced his biggest test in this World Cup 2023, as Pakistan faced off against India in Ahmedabad. The pressure showed on Pakistani players from the start as Babar Azam was booed by more than 1,30,000 fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Azam did well, scoring 50 and Mohammad Rizwan scored 49 runs. But Pakistan was bowled out for 191 in a poor display of batting. And then when the famed Pakistani bowling turned up to defend the total, Rohit Sharma took them apart scoring 86 runs and giving a flying start to India. Babar Azam looked bewildered as his set plan was ripped apart. He looked out of ideas as soon as pressure was put on his bowlers and performed poorly as a leader. 5. Temba Bavuma (South Africa)- 5/10 South Africa played two matches in the second week. Their first match was against Australia in Lucknow and South Africa did well to post 311 runs with Quintin de Kock scoring a century. Then Proteas bowlers did the trick and captain Temba Bavuma led well with his field placings and bowling changes as Australia was bowled out for 177 runs. Temba Bavuma captained well for around 40 overs when Netherlands batted first in Dharamshala. But then Scott Edwards took the game away from Proteas and Bavuma was caught off-guard as captain, as runs leaked at crazy pace. His fielding changes didn’t work and bowlers went for runs as Netherlands posted a fighting total, that was enough for them to beat South Africa. 4. Pat Cummins (Australia)- 6/10 Pat Cummins Pat Cummins had a hard day in the office against South Africa in Lucknow. Quinton de Kock made a century and Aiden Markram made 56. At this point of time, it looked like South Africa would make more than 350 runs. But Cummins with his bowling and captaincy managed to keep it to 311 runs only. One big headache for him in Lucknow was Adam Zampa, his star spinner going for runs. In the next match, which was against Sri Lanka, Cummins showed very good leadership. Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka put them under pressure at the start in Lucknow, but then Cummins removed both of them. The Australian captain then used the spinners well to build pressure on Sri Lanka. Adam Zampa, hitting form took 4 wickets and helped pacers keep Sri Lanka to 209 runs. 3. Scott Edwards (The Netherlands)- 7/10 Scott Edwards. (Photo Source: Getty Images) The Netherlands played just one match in the second week of the tournament and provided one of the biggest upsets in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. This was an amazing match by the Dutch team as they not only came back with the bat after losing early wickets, they bowled to a brilliant plan. Netherlands was 110/5, but then captain Scott Edwards made 78*, and contributions from Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt propelled them to 245/8. Then Edwards played a huge gamble and opened with spinners and South African batters just fell like 9 pins. Netherlands registered a morale-boosting 38-run win. 2. Tom Latham and Kane Williamson (New Zealand)- 7/10 Tom Latham. (Photo Source: Getty Images) New Zealand played two matches in the second week of the ODI World Cup 2023. They defeated the Netherlands in Hyderabad and then took care of Bangladesh in Chennai. Tom Latham captained the side against the Netherlands and defended 322 runs well. Micthell Santner was used as a primary weapon and he took 5 wickets. Latham has been impressive as captain in this World Cup and looked sure of his plans. But in the next match against Bangladesh, Kane Williamson returned to lead. Williamson was stoic as ever and kept the Bangladeshi batters in check. He smartly used his pacers on Chennai wicket and none of them went for over 5.80 runs per over. 1. Rohit Sharma (India)- 8/10 Rohit Sharma had the best week of all captains as he led India to wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh. Both the wins were quite dominating and showed his captaincy acumen as well. First, India faced Pakistan in Ahmedabad and Rohit utilized the crowd to his advantage. Though Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan formed a partnership, Rohit made wonderful bowling changes, by bringing his pacers back on and he was rewarded with wickets. He switched to spinners to get the lower order out. Also Check: List of Rohit Sharma international & IPL centuries Against Bangladesh, it was a similar story, with Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan going after the pacers. So Rohit Sharma brought on the spinners and got them out. After that, Rohit mixed pacer and spinners wonderfully well. Despite losing the services of Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur going for runs, Rohit managed to keep Bangladesh under 280 runs.

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ODI World Cup 2023: Rating of Captaincy Performance in Second Week

Here is how captains of all the ten teams fared in the second week of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.

4. Pat Cummins (Australia)- 6/10

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