Women's T20 World Cup 2023: 5 star players who couldn't play as per potential

The 2023 edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup lived up to its billing as the rollercoaster ride was filled with a lot of drama, emotion, surprises and most importantly, ecstasy. The defending champions and the most successful team in women’s cricket, Australia arrived on the South African shores as the favourites and unsurprisingly once again lifted the covted title. 

For the Meg Lanning-led side, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney were sensational while South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt tried her best to get the trophy home but unfortunately failed to do so. When it comes to India, Harmanpreet Kaur led the team from the front. Sadly, the same cannot be said about some of her teammates.

When it comes to marquee tournaments, every team expects their best players to put their best foot forward to make a difference. Australia are so successful because of their incredible inconsistency and belief. Other teams often fail to replicate the Aussie model. So, which are the top five players who were expected to do well in the recently concluded Women’s T20 World Cup but couldn’t? Let’s dissect -

5. Nida Dar

The veteran off-spinning all-rounder Nida Dar is one of the pioneers of women's cricket. She has been Pakistan’s wrecker-in-chief over the years but when it mattered the most, the 36-year-old couldn’t make a statement. She was off colour during the tournament. 

In four matches that she played in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, Dar picked up five wickets and bowled at an economy of 6.73. With the bat, she looked average, scoring 71 runs at a strike rate of 94.66. She was rock solid against Ireland, though. Her knock helped Pakistan win the match comfortably. However, Dar wilted under a pressure cooker situation when she faced tougher opponents.

Overall, the cricketer has played 130 T20I matches for Pakistan and picked up 126 wickets at an economy of 5.47. With the bat, Dar has amassed 1687 runs to her name. She is considered one of the greatest cricketers to have represented Pakistan. Thus, everyone expected her to step up the gas and lead by example, especially when this can be the last time she would feature in a major tournament.

4. Marizanne Kapp

Despite doing reasonably well with the ball, South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp had a pretty tournament according to her own standards. She faced tough time in the recently concluded Women’s T20 World Cup. Batting at number three, she was expected to give South Africa a solid start but couldn’t do so in any of the matches and with that, it can be safely concluded that Kapp couldn’t prove herself in the tournament.

With the bat, the 33-year-old scored only 58 runs from six matches, which includes an innings of 11 runs against Australia in the finals of the competition. Being an experienced cricketer, she could have handled the situation better in order to help South Africa win their maiden World Cup trophy.

Even though she failed to impress with the bat, Kapp was decent with the ball, picking up nine wickets from six matches. 

3. Sune Luss

South Africa skipper Sune Luss had a very poor outing with the bat in the T20 World Cup. The 27-year-old scored only 75 runs in six matches and that wasn’t enough to help her country win their very first World Cup Trophy.

Now, when it comes to her bowling, Luss didn’t bowl a single over in the competition. She, however, was seen rotating her arms in the warm-up games and in the tri-series against India and West Indies before that, but in the tournament, Luss restricted herself from bowling - which surprise many.

Overall, Luss has represented South Africa in 102 T20I matches and has scored 1077 runs at a strike rate of 104.46. She also has 49 wickets to her name in the shortest format of the game.

2. Ellyse Perry

Star Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry had a forgetful outing in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. She is someone who’s expected to score big runs and pick a lot of wickets. That hasn’t been the case this time around.

The 32-year-old scored only 60 runs in six matches. She was equally poor with the ball, picking up only three wickets at an economy of 6.12. Despite her below par performances Australia clinched their sixth T20 World Cup title.

However, she will now hope to return to some form when she represents Royals Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

1. Katherine Sciver-Burnt

After retiring from the longest format of the game, Katherine was expected to do the heavy lifting for England's seam attack in a big tournament. However, the pacer put up a string of underwhelming performances, following which there have been rumours of her retiring from international cricket.

In the tournament, the 37-year-old picked four wickets across five matches and most importantly, failed to give England important breakthroughs as they were eliminated by South Africa in the semi-finals.

Her future is absolutely uncertain now as the seamer doesn’t play a lot of franchise cricket as well. 

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