CWC 2019: Ranking the wicket-keeper batsmen of the tournament
The twelfth edition of the biggest tournament in the world cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup is set to kick off from 30 May in England and Wales. All the teams have at least one reserve wicket-keeper in their 15-member World Cup squads except Afghanistan, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa.
A specialist wicket-keeper batsman has many roles to perform for his team - with the bat, behind the stumps and he is also the captain's main man while referring for DRS. Albeit, batting and wicket-keeping are the main aspects of a wicket-keeper batsman but the aspect 'batting' is clearly more important than the later especially in the white-ball format.
While Jos Buttler has shown the way towards being a modern day wicket-keeper batsman, the likes of MS Dhoni, Mushfiqur Rahim and others also play vital roles for their sides. We have mentioned about the first choice wicket-keeper batsman of each team and also ranked them on the basis of their performance in recent years rather than relying on their much-talked reputations.
#10 Alex Carey
Alex Carey who debuted in 2018 is the least experienced wicket-keeper batsman among all the first-choice wicket-keeper batsman in this World Cup. Averaging about only 30 with the willow, the 27-year-old batsman has scored only 429 runs with just one 50+ score.
Carey is the only wicket-keeper batsman in the 15-member World Cup squad of Australia. The Kangaroos will be worried in the ICC World Cup if the southpaw fails to step up for the team in the big event.
#9 Sarfraz Ahmed
The Pakistani skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed has performed poorly with the willow like his team in recent times. The 32-year-old batsman has managed to hit only one century post World Cup 2015.
The right-handed batsman has the ability to play the anchor role and rotate the strike. The Pakistan skipper who led Pakistan to the Champions Trophy 2017 triumph doesn't have an attacking game. However, he has played many matches (50 innings below the No. 5 position in his ODI career) and as a finisher, which has also affected his batting performance.
Also read - Tied world cup matches