3 cricketers who were unlucky to miss out on the ICC Men's ODI team of the year
The International Cricket Council has just announced the ICC Men's ODI team of the year for 2018. The award takes into consideration the performances of the players in 2018 for their respective nations and it is not a surprise that the team is dominated by Indian and English players with 4 representatives each, given the kind of year India and England have had in the 50-over format.
Apart from the Indian and English players, New-Zealand, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh also managed to have 1 representative in the ODI team of the year.
ICC Men's ODI Team of 2018: Rohit Sharma (India), Jonny Bairstow (England), Virat Kohli (India) (C), Joe Root (England), Ross Taylor (New Zealand), Jos Buttler (England) (WK), Ben Stokes (England), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav (India) and Jasprit Bumrah (India)
The team is selected by a panel which consists of match officials, ICC members, and Media members. While there is no doubt that each and every player who has made it to the team of the year has had a fantastic year, there are still some unlucky players who make a strong case of making it to the team of the year.
Here are the 3 cricketers who were unlucky to not make it to the ICC Men's ODI team of the year.
#1 Adil Rashid (England)
Adil Rashid has been the best-limited overs bowler for England for the past 2 years. He is one of the major reasons why England are the Number 1 ODI team in the world right now. Playing at home or away. The spinner was so good against India in the ODI series that he got a call up for the test series against India without even playing domestic red-ball cricket.
Adil Rashid took 42 wickets in 24 matches for England in 2018. He finished the year being the 3rd highest wicket-taker in the 50 over format, only behind Kuldeep Yadav and Rashid Khan.
The most impressive thing about Rashid's numbers is that most of the wickets were taken in English conditions which does not offer much help to the spinners. A genuine wicket-taker who provides timely breakthroughs, Adil is very unlucky to miss out on the ODI team of the year.