World Cup 2019: Top 5 tournament debutants to watch out for
Cricket's biggest celebration - ICC World Cup 2019 is set to commence on May 30th. To make the tournament more exciting and intense, ICC decided to change the format from group stages to round robin and allowed only the top 10 ranked teams to compete this time, barring the associate nations.
There are the modern greats - the Fab 4s, the Steyns, the Morgans, the Cummins everyone is excited for. But the World Cup also serves as a platform for the future stars to mark their arrival in style.
The 2019 World Cup also features quite a few players who'll be playing their first 50-over World Cup. Some of these have already shown a lot of promise in their rather short careers. Here's a list of the five top World Cup debutants you should watch out for:
#1 Jasprit Bumrah
3 years is all it took Jasprit Bumrah from making his debut to becoming the leader of the Indian pace attack. In limited overs, he is captain Virat Kohli's go-to strike bowler irrespective of the stage of the game.
From the whispering bouncers to the toe-crushing yorkers and the unpickable slower ones, he has everything one could ask of a modern-day fast bowler.
2018 was a dream year for Bumrah. Not only he made it to the test squad, but also his ODI numbers were also astonishing. In 13 ODIs he played in 2018, he picked up 22 wickets at 16.63 a piece, maintaining an economy rate of 3.62 and a strike-rate of 27.5.
He currently sits as the No. 1 ODI bowler in the ICC rankings. It's rare but for the very first time, India doesn't really have any bowling woes going into the World Cup. And a lot of weight to the statement comes from the form Bumrah is currently in.