5 big players who faltered in ODI knock-out games

Quite often it has been seen that players weave magic in the league games of major tournaments before floundering in crunch games. The knock-out matches present a much tougher challenge, more so due to the do-or-die situation of a match.

Ever since ODI came to the fore, there have been plenty of tournaments and even the World Cup has been a witness to as many as 12 editions. There are many players, whose numbers can put the best to shame. Based on their numbers, they have been stalwarts of their respective teams.

However, when it’s about the must-win matches, they, more or less, failed to break the shackles. After working hard throughout the league games, big scores have been expected off the big names. To their dismay, failures kept embracing them.

In the article, let’s take a look at five cricketers, who strained to step up in knock-out games: –

1. Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq is one of the most explosive batsmen Pakistan have ever produced. He knew how to use the long handle to good effect. A strike-rate of 81.25 in an era where run-making wasn’t all that easy, speaks volumes about his quality. But then when it came to knock-out games, the Lahore-born had his travails.

In 28 matches, the all-rounder could only get 347 runs at a dismal average of 18.26. His top score of 59 came against Australia back in 2002 during a tri-series final in Nairobi. Also, playing at a strike-rate of 63.32, he found it tough to press the accelerator.

Even with the ball, he couldn’t make significant impacts, picking up 21 wickets from 28 matches. To be more precise, in 11 matches, he couldn’t get a single wicket. His best figures of 3/3 came against the Aussies in 2005.