CWC 2019: Top 3 wicket-keepers to watch out for
The mega cricketing event - ICC Cricket World Cup is at the doorstep once again. The event will be hosted by England & Wales from 30 May to 14 July. From Lord's to the Rose Bowl, we will witness fierce matches being played out between the best players in the world.
The teams have started out the preparations for the tournament. The squads have been announced and the boards are now busy preparing the players. The warmup matches will take place between May 24 and 28. Each team is scheduled to appear in two games to suit with the English conditions.
All eyes will be on current champions Australia, coming to England with dreams of defending the title. India will be another title contender at the twelfth edition of the World Cup.
The World Cup will be a platform where individual performances will have a big role to do. Both with bat and ball, there have to be match-winners for any team to win the championship. Talking of individual contributions, wicket-keepers will play a vital role in the field. With the bat and later behind the stumps, they will have to be on point.
Here, we take a look at three wicket-keepers to watch out for in the upcoming World Cup.
#3 Jos Buttler (England)
Jos Buttler has been offering England a pair of safe hands behind the stumps for a while now. The 28-year old will be the hosts' first-choice wicket-keeper at the World Cup. Buttler has played 127 ODIs for England and scored 3387 runs at a strike rate of 118.
He has been in tremendous form recently - both for England in ODIs and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. The keeper-batsman had a 150-run innings against West Indies in February this year. For RR, Buttler has scored 311 runs from 9 games at a strike rate of over 150. With the gloves on, he has a total of 183 dismissals in the national colours. In IPL the tally extends to 26 dismissals in 4 seasons.
The player will become even dangerous when the game shifts to his home soil. In the familiar pitches of England, Buttler should be a batsman to look out for. The solid performance at the middle of the batting order and the quick finishes when needed makes him a keeper to watch out for.