ICC World Cup 2015: 5 star players who need to step up for their team

Barring the surprise elimination of England, everything has pretty much followed the status quo as far as teams qualifying for the knockout stages are concerned. While there were a few hiccups along the way, Pakistan and West Indies eventually joined India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh into the quarter-finals of ICC World Cup 2015.The group stages of the tournament saw its fair share of heroes and villains. With the quarter-finals just around the corner, here is a list of five players who need to step up for their team in the knockout stages of the tournament.

#1 Shahid Afridi

Coming into the World Cup, Shahid Afridi was arguably Pakistan's most important player. Even though they survived a scare and have made it to the quarter-finals, one player who hasn't had much of a say in their passage to the knockouts is Afridi. The 35-year-old hasn't had much of an impact with either the bat or the ball. While his batting has always been inconsistent and consisted of fantastic performances surrounded by mediocre ones, his bowling, which has been his primary strength in recent years, has also been unconvincing so far.

While the fast bowlers have done their job, Afridi has picked up just two wickets which, for the side's premier spinner, is nowhere near enough. If Pakistan are to have any chance in the latter stages of the tournament, they need Afridi to be more consistent, if not with the bat, then at least with the ball and turn into a wicket-taking option in the middle overs.