ICC World Cup 2019: 5 players who could be the Man of the Tournament
The ICC Cricket World Cup is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the cricket history. The mega event will kick off in 2019 from 30th May with the host England taking on the Proteas in the tournament opener.
In the initial editions of World Cup, only Man of the Match award was handed out to players for their best performance in each match. The Man of the Tournament award started off from 1992 edition. The player who performs consistently throughout the tournament wins this award.
Since then Martin Crowe, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Yuvraj Singh and Mitchell Starc have been Man of the Tournament in the history of all World Cups.
Let us find out these players who will be key for their teams and could win this prestigious award.
#5 Kagiso Rabada (South Africa)
Kagiso Rabada, the number one Test bowler in ICC Test rankings, has been the star of this Proteas bowling line-up. At Cricket South Africa's annual awards, he picked up as many as six awards including the ODI player of the year.
The African speedster will be the go-to bowler going into next year's mega event. He bowls with fiery pace consistently clocking around 150 Kmph, and his ability to swing the ball conventionally makes him a lethal bowler. Toe-crushing yorkers and deceptive bouncers are also his strength which he often uses in death overs.
In 48 ODIs, Rabada has picked up 75 wickets at an economy of 5.11. In his ODI debut against Bangladesh, he picked up 6 wickets for 16 runs including the famous hat-trick.
Rabada is an unstoppable force, and with the English conditions suitable to his bowling style, he would look to pick up a heap of wickets and could make a strong case for Man of the Series award.