The ICC World Cup 2019 was an extravaganza of the best of the best cricket players showing off their talent and skills for the fans of the great game of cricket. England finally fulfilled their dream of becoming world champions and New Zealand suffered another heartbreak at the world stage.
However, while some players made the most of the stage and performed exceptionally well, some of the cricketers couldn’t live up to the standards set by themselves and perform as per expectations of the team and the fans and flopped. For many of the players, this was their final World Cup and despite the need for them to perform, they failed badly and couldn’t say goodbye on a big note.
Team COC presents to you the Flop XI of the ICC World Cup 2019
The openers for this CWC Flop XI will be Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill. The 39-year-old Jamaican had announced that he would like to sign off from World Cup stage by making a century; he managed just 2 fifties with a best score of 87 and amassed just 242 runs in the 8 matches he played.
Guptill, on the other hand, flopped even badly with just 186 runs in 10 matches with the highest score of 73*. Quite a big fall for a batsman who smacked 237* in the 2015 World Cup. He will be remembered for his two throws in the semis and final itself. One got rid of dangerous MS Dhoni and sent Kiwis into the final, while other helped England tie the final and then Guptill himself was runout, which put the Super over on equal runs, handing the trophy over to England.
Hashim Amla (203 runs), Glenn Maxwell (177 runs) and Shoaib Malik (8 runs) were major flops for their teams. Much was expected from the Proteas great, but he couldn’t get any form going into the tournament and South Africa’s gamble to keep playing him, didn’t pay off. Maxwell was picked as a finisher by Australia, but couldn’t do much in the tournament. And Malik was given chance after chance by Pakistani team, but he just couldn’t do it.
Sarfaraz Ahmed was touted as an equivalent to Imran Khan given that Pakistan’s journey in 2019 World Cup mirrored that of the 1992 winning team. However, he became more famous for his yawn during the crunch match against India, his decisions in those match haunted the team. With the bat, he couldn’t do much with just 143 runs in 8 matches.
Rashid Khan picked just 6 wickets in 9 matches and Adam Zampa picked 5 wickets in 4 matches. Much was expected from both leg-spinners by their respective teams, but they failed to deliver results.
Mashrafe Mortaza had dreamt of playing in the semi-finals of the World Cup, and though he inspired his team, he could not lead them from the front with either the bat or ball. He picked just 1 wicket and struggled throughout with his fitness. Hassan Ali was all over the place and despite that, Pakistan gave him chances to improve, but he could only manage 2 wickets in 4 matches.
Kagiso Rabada picked 11 wickets in 9 matches, but an average of over 36 proves that he wasn’t quite successful as South Africa would have liked, given that he was their premier strike bowler with injuries hampering Ngidi and ruling out Steyn.
Flop XI of ICC World Cup 2019:
Chris Gayle, Martin Guptill, Hashim Amla, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C&WK), Shoaib Malik, Rashid Khan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Hassan Ali, Kagiso Rabada, Adam Zampa
