Cricket World Cup History: 5 Forgotten Heroes of the 2015 World Cup 

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Starc was the best bowler of the tournament but he was ably supported by both Faulkner and Hazlewood

The ICC Cricket World Cup, the biggest spectacle of the sport, is all set to kick off with hosts England and South Africa locking horns in the inaugural encounter.

England, who were eliminated in the group stage of the 2015 edition, have undergone a comprehensive revival and played a great brand of cricket, due to which they have been labelled as favourites to lift the title. This has been possible due to the backing and developing the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes.

Similarly, other teams have also undergone numerous changes and revamped their squad, by adding match winners like Jasprit Bumrah (India), Marcus Stoinis (Australia), Shai Hope (West Indies) and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).

In this process, a number of players, who were integral elements of their World cup squads and made a crucial contribution in the previous edition of the showdown event were overlooked. Let's have a look at some of these players:

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#5 Josh Hazlewood (Australia)

Josh Hazlewood was the Man of the Match in the Quarter Final

Josh Hazlewood was one of the premier bowlers of Australia in the 2015 World Cup. He brought balance into the side by giving good support as a right-handed exponent of pace to left-arm seamers Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson.

Hazlewood was given a go in only 5 games, yet he managed to take 7 wickets in those encounters. Though he did not have his name in the share of wickets, the then 24-year old was very economical and made a good impression in each encounter.

Hazlewood's ouster came as the most shocking decision from the Australian selectors, who deemed fitness issues and a lack of match practice as the reasons behind this decision.

The former World No.1, who recovered from a back injury in January this year, missed out on a second chance to make it to the defending champions' squad as a replacement for Jhye Richardson, with the selectors giving a nod to Kane Richardson.

His stand-out performance in the 2015 edition came in the quarter-final against Pakistan, claiming 4/35 in his quota of 10 overs. Josh received the Man of the Match award for his spell in the quarter-final.

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