One player who flopped badly in each 2023 World Cup team ft. Jos Buttler
The 2023 World Cup saw a lot of players step up for their teams when it mattered the most. Be it Travis Head for Australia in the semi-finals and finals or Ibrahim Zadran for Afghanistan against Pakistan and Australia, a lot of stars were created in the 2023 World Cup.
However, there were also some players who failed to perform up to par. These are players who delivered for their countries in the past but did not play very well in the recently concluded tournament.
Here is a list of one player from each 2023 World Cup team who flopped.
#1 Afghanistan - Mohammad Nabi
Mohammad Nabi is arguably Afghanistan's greatest cricketer ever. The veteran all-rounder is the second-highest run-scorer as well as the second-highest wicket-taker for Afghanistan in ODI cricket. However, he failed at the 2023 World Cup.
Nabi scored just 55 runs in six innings. He was better with the ball, but he failed to pick up wickets against India, Australia, and New Zealand, all of whom reached the semi-finals. Overall, he registered eight wickets in around 60 overs.
#2 Australia - Marcus Stoinis
Australia's 2023 World Cup triumph was the result of a collective team effort by all the players. Hence, it is hard to pick a player who flopped in the tournament. Marcus Stoinis makes this list as he was underwhelming with both bat and ball.
Stoinis scored 87 runs in five innings and picked up four wickets in 19 overs in the six matches that he played. He was expensive with the ball, conceding 7.52 runs per over. It made sense that he didn't play when all of Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, and Mitch Marsh were fit.
#3 Bangladesh - Mustafizur Rahman
Bangladesh had a tournament to forget, winning just two matches, that too against the teams below them on the points table. While a lot of their players failed to perform up to standards, Mustafizur Rahman was probably the one who flopped the worst.
The left-arm pacer has been the Tigers' best pacer for quite some time now. Fizz picked up just five wickets in eight matches, and two of those came against the Netherlands. Moreover, he had a high economy rate against England, South Africa, and Australia.
#4 England - Jos Buttler
It is surprising that it is not that hard to pick the player who flopped the most for England, considering they had a disastrous 2023 World Cup. The winners of the previous quadrennial ODI tournament won just three games and finished seventh on the table.
Jos Buttler is one of the best white-ball batters of his generation. But the England skipper scored a paltry 138 runs in nine innings, with a top score of 43 in the tournament opener. With an average of 15.33, he is arguably the biggest underperformer of the tournament.
#5 India - Suryakumar Yadav
Like Australia, India also had almost all players contributing to their success in the 2023 World Cup. Suryakumar Yadav was the only one who didn't score many runs, partly due to not facing many deliveries, as he often came in to bat with just a few overs left.
Not known for his ODI exploits, the Mumbai batter scored 106 runs in seven innings, scoring at the rate of a run per ball. The No. 1 ranked T20I batter certainly wasn't able to translate his world-class form in the shortest format of the game into ODIs.
#6 New Zealand - Tom Latham
New Zealand's Tom Latham was one of the few players who didn't leave a mark for the Kiwis in the 2023 World Cup. A regular feature in all formats for his team, Latham's performances have steadily dipped over the last few years.
The left-handed batter scored just 155 runs in eight innings in the tournament. He scored two half-centuries, but they came against the Netherlands and Afghanistan. In five of the remaining six innings, he scored less than six runs.
#7 Pakistan - Shadab Khan
Shadab Khan has established himself as Pakistan's best all-rounder in white ball since making his debut in 2017. However, he failed to perform when it mattered the most during the 2023 World Cup, which played a part in the Men in Green's failure to reach the semi-finals.
Shadab played six matches in the tournament, scoring 121 runs and picking up two wickets. His bowling was extremely poor, with both average and strike rate in excess of 110. This meant that Pakistan's spin bowling department lacked bite and was not effective.
#8 South Africa - Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma has faced a lot of criticism for his lack of runs over the years. He was the only batter who struggled for the Proteas in the 2023 World Cup.
Bavuma scored 145 runs in eight matches, at an average of 18.12 and a strike rate of 73.6. Reeza Hendricks, who played the matches where Bavuma was left out in Mumbai, scored 97 runs in two innings, including a 94 against England.
#9 Sri Lanka - Kusal Perera
Kusal Perera's international career for Sri Lanka has been filled with highs and lows. At times, he plays match-winning knocks, while on other days, he gets out early. He has scored six centuries, 17 half-centuries, and 12 ducks in 111 innings in ODIs, which just solidifies the aforementioned statement.
It was a similar story at the 2023 World Cup. The wicketkeeper batter scored two half-centuries against Australia and New Zealand. However, he failed to score more than seven runs in the other five innings. Overall, he scored 149 runs and was extremely inconsistent.
#10 The Netherlands - Max O'Dowd
The Netherlands and Afghanistan were the two teams who played out of their skins at the World Cup and caused a few upsets. While a lot of the Dutch players impressed on the big stage, Max O'Dowd had a quiet tournament.
The opener scored just 138 runs in nine outings, failing to score a single half-century throughout the quadrennial tournament. Considering he had scored ten half-centuries in 33 matches prior to the World Cup, his displays in the recently concluded tournament were poor.