World Cup 2015: The Flop XI of the tournament so far

World Cup 2015: The Flop XI of the tournament so far: The ongoing World Cup has thrown many surprises in its 25 odd matches. Some players like AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, David Warner have lit up the tournament with their batting while Dale Steyn, Tim Southee, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav 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 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) Enjoy our Flop XI of the World Cup 2015 so far: 1. Dwayne Smith (West Indies) Chris Gayle’s opening partner Dwayne Smith has looked out of sorts in every game he has played so far. (Photo Source:AFP) Chris Gayle’s opening partner Dwayne Smith has looked out of sorts in every game he has played so far. He has got starts in every game, but has not gone on to make a big one out of that starts. He made 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. 2. Quinton de Kock (South Africa) De Kock has 27 runs from 4 innings.(Photo Source: AFP) Quinton de Kock has made just 27 runs from 4 innings in this World cup opening with Hashim Amla. South Africa gambled on De Kock, picking him instead of Ryan McLaren for the 2015 World Cup. As said, AB de Villiers could have easily kept wickets for South Africa and Rilee Russouw who had such a successful opening pairing with Hashim Amla in the series against West Indies could have been a better choice, the Proteas think thank has not given up on the 22 year old De Kock. He still has 3 games to prove himself, or he could lose his place to Russouw. 3. Nasir Jamshed (Pakistan) Pakistan brought in Nasir Jamshed to replace Younis Khan as their opener along with Ahmed Shehzad. But so far he has been stuck in the Groundhog Day making scores of 0, 1 and 4 in the three matches he has played. And all the 3 dismissals have been exactly the same, trying to force pace into the innings and getting out to a mistimed shot. Misbah needs to install calmness in his method, if he needs Pakistan to qualify for the quarterfinals. 4. Eoin Morgan (C/England) Eoin Morgan leads our Flop XI. (Getty Images) The current state of English team is even sorry than their neighbours Scotland. Scotland is atleast putting up a fight, whereas England are surrendering meekly in every department. Batting is working in pieces, bowling is not working at all and Eoin Morgan as a batsman and captain is presenting a sorry state. England literally surrendered and was humiliated against New Zealand and Australia while they won a game against Scotland, Sri Lanka made a mockery of their attempt to bounce back. Morgan himself has scored 0, 17, 46 and 27 runs in the 4 matches and hence is the captain of our Flop XI for 2015 World Cup. 5. Ross Taylor (New Zealand) Ross Taylor has not got many chances but has not made runs in the chances he did get.(Photo Source: AFP) Well you cannot do much when Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson are doing all the batting for your team, but when you get your chance, contribute heavily. That’s the reason Ross Taylor features in our infamous list. Scores of 14,9,5* and 1 suggests that he might not have got enough balls to make a big impact, but he failed to make even a small one. Total dependence on McCullum, Williamson, and Anderson might prove to be fatal on an important day and Taylor also doesn’t fire, like against Australia. But let’s hope that he proves us wrong, until then he is the part of our Flop XI. 6. Shane Watson (Australia) Shane Watson was dropped from the Australian side mid tournament. (Photo Source :TopSportsPlayers100) Shane Watso might be the only player in the world of cricket to be dropped from their side in middle of an on-going World Cup. Poor form with both bat and ball has caused Watson to be dropped for the team mid tournament. He has scored 0 and 23 and has not picked up any wickets in the World Cup and Australia decided to replace him with James Faulkner. 7. Younis Khan (Pakistan) Younis Khan has been disappointing all around. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Younis Khan had criticized the Pakistani selectors for not naming him in the probable for the World Cup 2015. But after being selected in the team he has the scores of 6 and 0 in 2 matches against India and West Indies, where Pakistan collapsed for 4 wickets to 1 run. Pakistan dropped him for the next match against UAE and won the match. Younis Khan will have to work very hard to regain his place in the playing XI. 8. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) Boom Boom Shahid Afridi has not fired with the bat or ball in the tournament so far. (Photo Source : AFP) Shahid Afridi has not made the kind of impact that was expected of him. He has made 25 odd runs in matches against India and West Indies but did not pick a single wicket against them. He only picked 2 wickets against UAE. If not with the bat, he is supposed to be the strike bowler for Pakistan picking up wickets. He is the all-rounder in our Flop XI. 9. Umar Akmal (WK/Pakistan) Umar Akmal has dropped 5 catches in this tournament, the most by a Pakistani keeper in a World Cup. (Photo Source: Getty Images) The majority of last 13 years have seen one or other Akmal brothers behind the stumps for Pakistan in ODI and Tests. And the common factor in all of them has been their excellent ability to drop catches with alarming regularities. Umar Akmal is keeping wickets in this World Cup for Pakistan so that Pakistan could play 5 specialist bowlers and they have paid for it because Akmal has dropped 5 catches in this World Cup. Starting with Virat Kohli against India, he continued his stint against Zimbabwe dropping 2 catches. Even with the bat, he has scored just 1 fifty against West Indies. He is the designated wicketkeeper in our XI. 10. Stuart Broad (England) Stuart Board has had a non happening World Cup so far. (Photo Source:PA Photos) Stuart Board recently admitted that he is affected by the bouncer that hit him in the India test series by Varun Aaron. That might be the reason for his no performance in this World Cup. He has picked just 2 wickets against Australia and has been giving away runs in heaps since then. A promising bowler who has both swing and pace in his sight, he has seemed out of sorts against even Scotland. 11. Jason Holder (West Indies) West Indian Captain Jason Holder is clueless about what to do. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Poor Jason Holder got stuck leading a second string West Indies team in 2015 World Cup and then ran into a rampaging South Africa where AB de Villiers hit him for 64 runs in his last 2 overs and Holder gave away 104 runs in his 10 overs. Though he did made 56 while batting, he is not here to bat. Given his inexperience in leadership qualities, he is a hard-working cricketer who is just stuck in a very difficult situation, but makes him an ideal candidate for our list. (Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and it is not an official ICC XI)

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World Cup 2015: The Flop XI of the tournament so far

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