World Cup 2019: Five players who deserved more chances
We're a couple of days away from the finals of the biggest cricketing tournament in the world and for the first time since 1996, the world is going to witness a new World Cup winner. As hosts England gear up to take on New Zealand at the iconic Lord's on 14th July, the tournament as a whole has been an entertaining watch for the fans except for a few rain-affected games.
There were many stunning shows with both bat and ball with Rohit Sharma, Mitchell Starc and Shakib Al Hasan dominating the charts while the captaincy of Kane Williamson or even the fight of David Warner needs to be applauded. Many opportunities presented themselves to players and while some took them, some didn't.
On that note, let's now take a look at five players who deserved more opportunities in their side and could have produced more impact had they got them.
#5 Haris Sohail (Pakistan)
Pakistan's World Cup was a mixed bag as their rampant bid to make it to the semis after a poor first half of the tournament was halted as they lost out to New Zealand by virtue of their poor NRR which took a hit in their first league game against West Indies when they were bundled out for 106.
Throughout the World Cup, this was their main issue. Barring Babar Azam and the occasional resistance from Imam-ul-Haq or Mohammad Hafeez, they lacked the presence of a player who could provide the counter-punch in the middle order.
However, Haris Sohail was the answer to that question, albeit coming late into the equation. After making just 8 runs in the opener against West Indies, he was dropped from the side. He then came back strongly and played two key knocks to ensure wins against South Africa and New Zealand to keep their hopes alive.
At the end of the tournament, Sohail had scored 189 runs from 5 innings averaging 39.60 with a good strike rate of 94.28. Had he been backed by the side for a longer time, he could have been the player who could have avoided the middle order collapses they had without him in the side.