World Cup 2019: 7 players who were under-utilized in the tournament
After a fiercely competed final, England have been crowned as the World Cup champions for the first time in their history. But their win wasn't without its share of controversy.
People from all over the world have expressed their displeasure with boundary count being the winning margin. A boundary is a form of scoring, just like singles and doubles, and determining the winner based on that hasn't gone down well with the fans.
Cricket experts also seem to reflect the view of fans, like the great Sachin Tendulkar - who suggested a second Super Over since the first one ended in a tie. A few were of the view that the number of wickets fallen could be considered as well, much like in Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
Despite all that though, England are seen as the deserving champions after dominating the ODI format in the last four years. They have been successful because of their ability to use the resources well; all of England's players were used appropriately in the tournament. That can't be said of all the teams.
On that note, let's look at seven underutilized players in the World Cup 2019.
#7 Haris Sohail - Pakistan
Pakistan suffered a humiliating loss against West Indies in their opening encounter of the World Cup. In a bid to change their fortunes, Haris Sohail was dropped in place of Asif Ali. But the team slumped further as they suffered huge defeats against Australia and India.
When Pakistan were on the verge of elimination, Sohail was brought back into the side against South Africa. He played a blinder of an innings as his 59-ball 89 helped them secure a 49-run win.
Sohail's best knock came against New Zealand in a thrilling run chase. Chasing a modest total of 238 on a tough pitch, Pakistan were in a spot of bother with the score reading 110-3 in 25 overs. But Sohail and Babar Azam produced a match-winning partnership of 126 to keep Pakistan's hopes alive.
In both those innings, Sohail steadied the ship after a flurry of wickets in the middle. Pakistan's long-standing problem has been losing wickets in the middle overs; had Sohail been there in all the matches, his team might have got more points than they did.