Team composition in the World Cup 2015 and how it has changed leading into World Cup 2019

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is just a few months away but the fever is already on and the carnival’s venues, matches, format have already been announced. The fixtures were announced on 26th April, 2018 and it is set to commence from 30th May and last till 14th of July.

There have been teams who have become cricketing powerhouses since the last World Cup while for the other teams, their fate has turned entirely upside down and struggling since. Certain teams may start as the favourites to lift the title, however, in the biggest stage of them all, each and every team remains in contention to spring up surprises.

Here we take a look at how every team’s composition has changed over the course of the last two years:

10. Afghanistan

Afghanistan have been one of the fastest growing cricketing nations in the world cricket. They played their first ever World Cup in 2015 and the game was against Bangladesh which resulted in a 105-run defeat. Their solitary win was against Scotland in the multinational tournament. 

Post the event, Afghanistan clinched a historic one-day series victory against Zimbabwe. Afghanistan are currently ranked 10th in ICC ODI rankings. Their impressive performances also helped them to score a win against another full-member in Sri Lanka and tie a match against the Indian cricket team in the Asia Cup 2018.

The rising Asian team has got some high impact players like Mohammad Shahzad, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, however, their inexperience in dealing with pressure matches can lead them to implode. Nevertheless, they have the ability to create some huge upsets in the upcoming World Cup as they are going to be one of the toughest teams to get past.

Probable squad for the World Cup: Mohammad Shahzad(wk), Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shenwari, Asghar Afghan(c), Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dawlat Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Aftab Alam, Karim Janat, Noor Ali