Flop XI of World Cup 2015 Group Stage

Flop XI of World Cup 2015 Group Stage: The ongoing World Cup has thrown many surprises in group stages. Some players like AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Brendon McCullum, David Warner have lit up the tournament with their batting while Tim Southee, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc have done the honors from the bowling perspective. But for some, the tournament has been just a constant test and trial of finding their form and trying to score some runs or take some wickets.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and it is not an official ICC XI)

1. Dwayne Smith (West Indies)

Matches – 6 | Innings – 6 | Runs – 93 | HS. – 31 | Avg. – 15.5

Chris Gayle’s opening partner Dwayne Smith looked totally out of sorts in the group stage. He did got some starts in matches but didn’t go on to make a big one out of those starts. The highest he managed was 31 against South Africa, but got out in a vague attempt to hit Imran Tahir out of the ground with his team in trouble. And he got out for a duck against Zimbabwe in a match where Chris Gayle hit the first ever double hundred in World Cup, he is sure missing a chance for a century himself in that game. His bad form continued against India and even UAE. It will be interesting to see whether West Indies continue with him or bring in Johnston Charles to replace him against New Zealand for the QF game.