The World Cup is the peak of cricketing glory that every player dreams of achieving. The ICC ODI World Cup is played every 4 years and the 2019 World Cup was won by England. It is amply clear that an ordinary player is under much more pressure in a world cup match when compared to just any other bilateral match. Therefore, performing in world cup matches is of greater value and those performances have their value in gold. Since so much is riding on these matches, teams play their best eleven on the pitch.
Therefore, it’s possible that a player may be in the overall squad but does not get a chance to play a match. We look at 5 players who were part of the world cup winning team but did not play.
Tom Curran
The England all-rounder was part of the winning squad but did not find a place in the playing eleven in any of the matches in the ICC World Cup, 2019. With the likes of Plunkett, Archer, and Wood, England was well stocked in the bowling department. Curran was also too young and inexperienced to have enforced his selection. He has now become a regular in the white-ball set-up for England.
Praveen Kumar – 2011
Kumar played managed to play only 68 ODIs between 2007-12 for India. He was named in the squad for the 2011 World Cup which India went on the win. However, an elbow injury led to him pulling out of the tournament. Though his swing bowling abilities were missed, India managed with the resources of Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, and Sreesanth.
Ashley Nurse – 2016
Nurse has been part of the West Indies set-up for a long time now. He made his T20 debut in 2011 against Pakistan. He has been in and out of the West Indies team in the past decade. He was picked for the T20 World Cup in 2016 which Windies went onto win in great style. However, Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn were enough to sail them through.
Jason holder – 2016
The West Indian star all-rounder was part of the 2016 T20 World Cup-winning squad but did not find a place in the playing eleven during the tournament. His all-around skill was employed in the test squad where he was given the captaincy duties. However, during the world cup, his services were not required and the Windies managed with the likes of Bravo, Russel, and Sammy.
Liam Dawson – 2019
Dawson was not part of the preliminary squad of England for the 2019 World Cup but found himself in the team after an injury to a squad member. His spin bowling pursuits were not put to test since England trusted their bankable spin duo of Rashid and Moeen Ali. Dawson played as a reserve spinner but would be happy to be part of the winning team in his maiden world cup.
