Flop XI of World Cup 2015 Group Stage

Flop XI of World Cup 2015 Group Stage: The ongoing World Cup has thrown many surprises in group stages. Some players like AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Brendon McCullum, David Warner have lit up the tournament with their batting while Tim Southee, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc have done the honors from the bowling perspective. But for some, the tournament has been just a constant test and trial of finding their form and trying to score some runs or take some wickets. (Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and it is not an official ICC XI) 1. Dwayne Smith (West Indies) Chris Gayle’s opening partner Dwayne Smith looked totally out of sorts in the group stage. (Photo Source:AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 93 | HS. – 31 | Avg. – 15.5 Chris Gayle’s opening partner Dwayne Smith looked totally out of sorts in the group stage. He did got some starts in matches but didn’t go on to make a big one out of those starts. The highest he managed was 31 against South Africa, but got out in a vague attempt to hit Imran Tahir out of the ground with his team in trouble. And he got out for a duck against Zimbabwe in a match where Chris Gayle hit the first ever double hundred in World Cup, he is sure missing a chance for a century himself in that game. His bad form continued against India and even UAE. It will be interesting to see whether West Indies continue with him or bring in Johnston Charles to replace him against New Zealand for the QF game. 2. Quinton de Kock (South Africa) (W/K) Quinton de Kock has made just 27 runs from 4 innings at the start of this World cup opening with Hashim Amla. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 41 | HS. – 26 | Avg. – 6.83 Dismissals – 7 Quinton de Kock has made just 27 runs from 4 innings at the start of this World cup opening with Hashim Amla. South Africa gambled on De Kock, picking him instead of Ryan McLaren for the 2015 World Cup. As said, AB de Villiers could have easily kept wickets for South Africa and Rilee Russouw who had such a successful opening pairing with Hashim Amla in the series against West Indies could have been a better choice, the Proteas think thank has not given up on the 22 year old De Kock. The further 3 games didn’t do any good to him making 1, 0 and 26 against Ireland, Pakistan and UAE respectively. With the quarterfinals coming up against Sri Lanka, South Africa should abandon this experiment and go with Rilee Rossouw instead of De Kock. He is our designated wicket keeper. 3. Nasir Jamshed (Pakistan) / Rohit Sharma (India) Pakistan brought in Nasir Jamshed to replace Younis Khan as their opener along with Ahmed Shehzad. (Photo Source:AFP) Matches – 3 | Innings – 3 | Runs – 5 | HS. – 4 | Avg. – 1.66 Pakistan brought in Nasir Jamshed to replace Younis Khan as their opener along with Ahmed Shehzad. But he couldn’t make any significant contributions, making scores of 0, 1, and 4 in the three matches he played. All the 3 dismissals have been exactly the same, trying to force pace into the innings and getting out to a mistimed shot. Pakistan abandoned him in place of Sarfraz Ahmed who made a 50 and hundred in the last 2 games he played in to take Pakistan into QFs against Australia. Rohit Sharma has been really in a bad form against big side in this world cup. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 159 | HS. – 64 | Avg. – 31.8 Rohit Sharma was in red hot form in the tri-series, and scored a 150 against Afghanistan in the practice match, but as soon as the main tournament began, his form hid himself somewhere only to peek its head against associate nations. Against big teams like South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and even Zimbabwe, he scored 0, 15, 7 and 16 runs respectively. He did score 57* against UAE and 64 against Ireland. Such scores against weaker opponents have done no good to his reputation of unfulfilled talent. He is the latest addition to our Flop XI. 4. Eoin Morgan (England) (C) The current state of English team is even sorrier than their neighbours Scotland. (Getty Images) Matches – 6 | Innings – 5 | Runs – 90 | HS. – 46 | Avg. – 18 Wins As Captain – 2 The current state of English team is even sorrier than their neighbours Scotland. Scotland is atleast putting up a fight, whereas England are surrendering meekly in every department. Batting is working in pieces, bowling is not working at all and Eoin Morgan as a batsman and captain is presenting a sorry state. England literally surrendered and was humiliated against New Zealand and Australia while they won a game against Scotland, Sri Lanka made a mockery of their attempt to bounce back. Morgan himself has scored 0, 17, 46 and 27 runs in the 4 matches making him the captain of our Flop XI for 2015 World Cup. Well his humiliation was completed when England was knocked out of the World Cup losing their match against Bangladesh, in which he made, as you guessed a 0. He leads our Flop XI of group stage. 5. Ross Taylor (New Zealand) Well you cannot do much when Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson are doing all the batting for your team, but when you get your chance, at least contribute heavily. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 109 | HS. – 56 | Avg. – 27.25 Well you cannot do much when Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson are doing all the batting for your team, but when you get your chance, at least contribute heavily. That’s the reason Ross Taylor features in our infamous list. Scores of 14, 9, 5* and 1 suggests that he might not have got enough balls to make a big impact, but he failed to make even a small one. Total dependence on McCullum, Williamson, and Anderson might prove to be fatal on an important day and Taylor also doesn’t fire, like against Australia. He did score 56* against Bangladesh but it doesn’t mean that his failures in the early part of the group stages saves him from our Flop XI. Let’s see how he does against West Indies in the QFs. 6. Shane Watson (Australia) Shane Watson might be the only player in the world of cricket to be dropped from their side in middle of an on-going World Cup. (© Getty Images) Matches – 4 | Innings – 4 | Runs – 114 | HS. – 67 | Avg. – 28.5 Wickets – 2 Shane Watson might be the only player in the world of cricket to be dropped from their side in middle of an on-going World Cup. Poor form with both bat and ball has caused Watson to be dropped for the team mid tournament. He scored 0 and 23 and did not picked up any wickets in the World Cup and Australia decided to replace him with James Faulkner. But he made a comeback of sorts for with 67 against Sri Lanka but he still makes our team of Flops XI because of not utilizing his talents in full. 7. Younis Khan (Pakistan) / Kevin O’Brien (Ireland) Younis Khan had criticized the Pakistani selectors for not naming him in the probables for the World Cup 2015. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches – 3 | Innings – 3 | Runs – 43 | HS. – 37 | Avg. – 14.33 Younis Khan had criticized the Pakistani selectors for not naming him in the probables for the World Cup 2015. But after being selected in the team he managed the scores of 6 and 0 in 2 matches against India and West Indies, where Pakistan collapsed for 4 wickets to 1 run. Pakistan dropped him for the next match against UAE and won the match. Younis Khan came back into the team against West Indies and made another duck and scored 37 against South Africa, a match Pakistan managed to win thanks to their bowlers. But Pakistan dropped him for the crucial and must win match against Ireland. Pakistan won the match and made it into the QFs where they will face Australia, but it will be next to impossible to see Younis playing that match. Kevin O’Brien started his World Cup 2015 on high making scores of 50, 48 against UAE and South Africa. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 131 | HS. – 50 | Avg. – 21.83 Wickets – 6 Kevin O’Brien started his World Cup 2015 on high making scores of 50, 48 against UAE and South Africa. But his failure to score runs or contribute with the ball in crucial matches against India and Pakistan caused Ireland to get knocked out of the World Cup 2015. This puts him in our list of Flop XI. 8. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) Shahid Afridi has not made the kind of impact that was expected of him. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 5 | Runs – 93 | HS. – 28 | Avg. – 23.25 Wickets – 2 Shahid Afridi has not made the kind of impact that was expected of him. He desired to get his record of fastest century back before retiring from cricket after the World Cup. He has made 25 odd runs in matches against India and West Indies but did not pick a single wicket against them. He managed to pick only 2 wickets against UAE. If not with the bat, he was supposed to be the strike bowler for Pakistan, picking up wickets, reigning in flow of runs. His failure to make both runs and take wickets puts him in our Flop XI. 9. Dale Steyn (South Africa) The best ODI bowler in the world has looked tired and fatigued from all the work load he has to shoulder for South Africa over the past 2 years. (Photo Source : AFP) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Wickets – 9 | Best Bowling Figure – 3/30 | Econ. – 4.75 The best ODI bowler in the world has looked tired and fatigued from all the work load he has to shoulder for South Africa over the past 2 years. He has taken 9 wickets in the group stages, but has not made the impact he tends to make in big tournaments. Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott and Imran Tahir have been the more impactful and wicket taking bowlers for South Africa rather than Steyn who was left playing second fiddle to them rather than being the leader of the pack. 10. Stuart Board (England) Stuart Board recently admitted that he is affected by the bouncer that hit him in the India test series by Varun Aaron. (© Getty Images) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Wickets – 4 | Best Bowling Figure – 2/66 | Stuart Board recently admitted that he is affected by the bouncer that hit him in the India test series by Varun Aaron. That might be the reason for him not performing in this World Cup. He picked just 2 wickets against Australia and kept giving away runs in heaps since then. The other wickets he picked up were against Afghanistan and in the game against Bangladesh, which knocked England out of the World Cup. A total of just 4 wickets despite being one the strike bowlers rightly grant him a place in our Flop XI. 11. Jason Holder (West Indies) Poor Jason Holder got stuck leading a second string West Indies team in 2015 World Cup. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Wickets – 9 | Best Bowling Figure – 4/27 | Econ. – 5.50 Poor Jason Holder got stuck leading a second string West Indies team in 2015 World Cup and then ran into a rampaging South Africa where AB de Villiers hit him for 64 runs in his last 2 overs and Holder gave away 104 runs in his 10 overs. Though he did made 56 while batting, he is not here to bat. Given his inexperience in leadership qualities, he is a hard-working cricketer who is just stuck in a very difficult situation, but makes him an ideal candidate for our list. He also hit another 50 against India bettering his highest score with 57 runs. Jason Holder somehow managed to take West Indies to the QFs with a win against UAE taking 4/27 in the process, but overall personal and overall performance has inducted him into our flop XI. (Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and it is not an official ICC XI)