The World Cup 2019 Dream Team

What a fantastic World Cup we’ve all been treated to! Midway through the tournament, the tournament looked a damp squib but in the end, fans were treated to a spectacle in the knockout stages with two rivetting matches that provided plenty of excitement. England finally shed the bridesmaid’s tag to win their first-ever World Cup (they had lost three previous finals) amid dramatic scenes at Lord’s. The tagline was one year too early, but the World Cup did finally “come home”.

Over the course of the tournament, fans were treated to some fine cricketing performances. For a while, it seemed that Sachin Tendulkar’s run tally of 673 runs in the 2003 tournament would come under threat but after the final, it is still standing; the wickets tally was surpassed though, rather silently. Now that the World Cup is done and dusted, it is time to look back at this tournament fondly by recognizing the players who did well and construct a World Cup 2019 XI (with 4 extra players to complete a 15-member squad).

What would the criteria for such a team be? The players should have played in at least 7 matches, scored at least 300 runs (for the batsmen), or taken 10 wickets (for the bowlers) with some leeway for the all-rounders. Why the 7 matches? Sri Lanka suffered two washouts and it would be unfair to exclude their players for no fault of their own. How should the team be set up? For the high scoring pitches at the start or the slower pitches that dominated the business end? How big a role will statistics play a role in setting up this team? What about spinners, who turned more ineffective as the tournament raged on? So many points to ponder about.  For the purpose of this exercise, both objective statistics and subjective judgements (based on who influenced their team’s fortunes in the tournament) will be used to select the team members. Also, players who can play in various situations and give tactical flexibility will be favoured over the others. With this in mind, let us proceed to select the players.

Openers (1 and 2)

Two men, Rohit Sharma and David Warner utterly dominated with the bat, making huge scores throughout the tournament. That Rohit Sharma was utterly pivotal to India’s chances was obvious from the fact that India lost their way after he was dismissed against England and New Zealand. Warner was similarly influential for Australia but selecting both of them in the eleven poses a potential problem. The Warner that batted in this World Cup was very different to the player that bulldozed bowling attacks in the past. Hence, pairing him with Rohit, who also takes his time to get going, would pose a problem in the first powerplay. Therefore, Jason Roy, who blasted his way at the top of the order, is better suited to complement Rohit at the top of the order.

Rohit Sharma: 9 innings, 648 runs @81.00 average, 98.33 SR, 5 hundreds and 1 fifty.

Jason Roy: 7 innings, 443 runs @63.28 average, 115.36 SR, 1 hundred and 4 fifties.

Numbers 3, 4 and 5

This World Cup has had a surfeit of players who have done very well in the first four batting positions and hence at least one of them has to be selected “out of position”. Who can argue against Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s most influential player and the Man of the series? His playing style is well suited to absorbing pressure after an early loss as well as to motoring along in the middle overs; Williamson captaining the side is a no-brainer as well. Similarly, Joe Root’s assured presence in the middle order was crucial to England’s World Cup fortunes and it is hard to argue against either of these two fine batsmen. Number five is a tough call, but I’m going with Shakib Al Hasan. The world’s best ODI all-rounder owned this tournament with the bat, with only one non-fifty score in his 8 innings (and not to forget, 11 wickets as well). In an alternate universe, he could have easily walked away with the Man of the Series trophy with his superlative display. Though it is a tad unfair to push him to five (as he batted at number 3 for Bangladesh), he’s historically batted lower down the order and he’s being punished for his competence with this harsh call. Other contenders for the above slots were Babar Azam, Nicholas Pooran and Virat Kohli, who were at least one level below these performances.

Kane Williamson: 9 innings, 578 runs @82.57 average, 74.96 SR, 2 hundreds and 2 fifties.

Joe Root: 11 innings, 556 runs @ 61.77 average, 89.53 SR, 2 hundreds and 3 fifties.

Shakib Al Hasan: 8 innings, 606 runs @86.57 average, 96.03 SR, 2 hundreds and 5 fifites; 11 wickets @ 36.27, 5.39 ER, 1 five-wicket haul.

Numbers 6 and 7

The lower middle order needs players who can strike the big blows from the word go and hence the focus is on batting firepower. But considering that we haven’t yet selected a wicketkeeper, one eye should be kept on this point as well. Fortunately, Australia’s Alex Carey has done well on both counts and walks into the side ahead of Mushfiqur Rahim due to his big hitting ability. Jos Buttler was another wicketkeeping contender but he didn’t shine throughout the tournament to make the side. Ahead of him is the man of the match in the final, Ben Stokes, who has been excellent for England with the bat and handy with the ball. Stokes too batted mostly at 5 for England but unfortunately finds himself one position down due to his flexibility. Jimmy Neesham came close to inclusion the side with his 15 wickets and 232 runs, but his batting strike rate is the reason he doesn’t make the side. Hardik Pandya also misses out due to his bowling profligacy.

Ben Stokes: 10 innings, 465 runs @ 66.42 average, 93.18 SR and 5 fifties; 7 wickets @ 35.14 average and 4.83 ER.

Alex Carey (wk): 9 innings, 375 runs @ 62.5 average, 104.16 SR and 3 fifties; 18 catches and 2 stumpings.

Fast bowlers:

Overall, fast bowlers have had an excellent world cup, dominating the tournament from start to end. Foremost among them has been Mitchell Starc, who broke McGrath’s single World Cup tally with a monstrous 27 wickets and should be the first name on the sheet. Three other exciting fast bowlers have been very influential—Lockie Ferguson, Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah. With their collective talents, any team should be able to inflict enough pain to the opposition at any stage of the innings; since only 3 can make the 11, Ferguson has to sit this one out due to a slightly worse economy rate. A special mention has to be made to acknowledge the contribution of four other left arm seamers—Trent Boult, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi, and Mustafizur Rehman—all of whom were fantastic but miss out due to the excellence of the above players.

Mitchell Starc: 10 innings, 27 wickets @ 18.59 average, 5.43 ER, 2 five-wicket hauls and 2 four-wicket hauls

Jofra Archer: 11 innings, 20 wickets @ 23.05 average and 4.57 ER

Jasprit Bumrah: 9 innings, 18 wickets @ 20.61 average, 4.41 ER and 1 four-wicket haul.

Spinner:

As the tournament progressed, the influence of the spinners waned and as a result, they don’t feature high up the wickets tally. South Africa’s Imran Tahir is the lone candidate here and it can be debated whether he deserves to get into the side ahead of many fast bowlers or Jimmy Neesham. Ultimately, what tipped the scales in his favour is the variety that he provides; besides, he can bowl in the first powerplay too which adds to the mix.

Imran Tahir: 8 innings, 11 wickets @ 34.00 average, 4.92 ER

The above team has all bases covered—hard-hitting batsmen, mix of industry and resilience in the middle orders, batting depth, bowling parsimony and wicket-taking potency all through the innings. The four substitutes have been chosen based on who narrowly missed making the original side and give enough cover to the team in case of injury.

World Cup 2019 Dream team: Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Kane Williamson (c), Joe Root, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Stokes, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Imran Tahir

Substitutes: David Warner, Mushfiqur Rahim, Jimmy Neesham, Lockie Ferguson

Going for the knockout punch

After more than a month of 45 matches in the league phase of the 2019 World Cup, the business end of the tournament is finally here. Just three matches remain in the tournament—the most significant matches of them all. Doing (or not doing) well in these matches can leave deep imprints in the collective memory of fans and in the annals of cricketing history. Have a doubt? Ask South Africa or New Zealand. The former usually do well in the group stages and the mere mention of the word “knockout” is enough to bring out their worst—or at least, that is what conventional wisdom says. This time though, they haven’t made it this far. The Kiwis, on the other hand, are perennial overachievers, often making it to the semifinals of a major tournament ahead of much-fancied sides with greater resources. This time too, they have sneaked through in fourth place.

In the next three matches, league position counts for zilch. Nada. Or nothing, if you want to use plain English. Knockout matches typically tend to be tense, cagey affairs where the formbook can be thrown out of the window, and teams have traditionally chosen to bat first to impose scoreboard pressure on their opponents. Given all this, what can India do to maximize chances of victory come next Sunday?

Initially, it seemed that injuries may have thrown the team off balance. Shikhar Dhawan’s injury was no doubt a big setback but K L Rahul has taken baby steps towards stepping into the southpaw’s very big shoes in ICC tournaments; although, Rahul is a bit similar to Rohit Sharma at the top of the order (both take their time to get going) and this puts undue pressure on the rest of the team. Similarly, Bhuvi’s injury lengthened India’s tail to Hanuman-esque proportions but Shami’s bowling has been a revelation. The muddle at number 4 still exists but Rishabh Pant’s inclusion seems to have injected some power and dynamism into the side.

In terms of results and performance with respect to expectation though, there is very little that has surprised fans about the Indian team performance. For instance, we did know that Bumrah was one of the best bowlers in the world—his showing has only reinforced this fact. Similarly, the team being reliant on the top order wasn’t a major mystery either. While India closed out two tight games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan (games that they may have lost 20 years ago due to lack of quality bowling personnel), the reverse against England once again exposed the chronic deficiencies of this team which shouldn’t be swept under the carpet after a couple of easy wins. The soft underbelly of the team that is the middle order still is an issue and God forbid, should the top order have an off day, the team will mostly fall short of its target. The other issue is that of taking wickets in the first half of the innings, which leaves India playing catch-up with respect to the game. In the knockouts, they will be playing against (possibly) two formidable opponents who can exploit these weakness to their advantage.

Therefore, to do well one has to pay heed to some surprising trends that have played out a bit differently compared to expectation, particularly as the tournament has progressed. Over the last 4 years, until this World Cup, England has been the second-most expensive place for non-home bowlers (behind Pakistan, where only a paltry 3 matches have been played), with bowlers conceding 6.21 runs per over. Some of it is no doubt due to the belligerence of the England team, but simultaneously, it is also true that England is also the second-most expensive place for home bowlers as well (also behind Pakistan), at 5.88 runs per over. At this World Cup though, the average runs per over has been 5.63, with five teams below this figure. Meaning, the pitches haven’t been as flat as one would have initially feared.

Second, though 5.63 corresponds to a score of ~281, there has been a distinct advantage in batting first if a decent score is posted on the board. This tournament has produced 25 scores of 250 and above in the first innings of the 45 matches. Of these matches, only two (West Indies and Sri Lanka) have been lost by the team batting first, suggesting that the par-score is much lesser than the suggested 281 and that scoreboard pressure has had an influence so far. With jaded pitches, one can expect this to be exacerbated in the final 3 matches.

Third, the effectiveness of spinners has only come down as the tournament progressed. Between the 2015 and 2019 World cups, fast bowlers and some leg spinners had done well in England. But if one were to examine the statistics from the first and second halves of the league phase, they are as different as chalk and cheese; in the former, leg spinners have held their own with the fast men but in the space of a couple of weeks, the their returns have been less flattering. Therefore, it is time to re-think the two spinners strategy.

Therefore, for India, the way to go is to make minor changes to increase their chances of victory. See out the new ball challenge against Starc, Boult, Archer and co. with a mix of caution and calculated aggression, with one of the top 3 staying on till the 35^th over (Kohli is due for a big score and Rohit Sharma might not convert one of these days); if batting first and in a favourable position, push Dhoni down to 7; if the team loses 2-3 wickets cheaply, promote him up to absorb the blow and set a platform; the batting order in the second innings will depend on the RPO and this should be decided run-time; play 3 pacers with Shami opening the bowling and bowling out his quota early, and Bhuvi and Bumrah to operate at the death; go with only one tweaker, and to fight England on their own terms, play Jadeja as the spinner to lengthen the batting order with Bhuvi coming in at 9. Though this is no guarantee for victory or performance, it is based on how this tournament has played out and will mitigate some of the weaknesses that India has, thus increasing the odds of success.