Former Australian World Cup winner Matthew Hayden and Legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble have picked their best-playing XI from the ODI World Cup league stage. The marquee event has entered the knockout phase following the completion of the highly competitive league stage matches.
There were 45 games played in this round, and the top four teams have advanced to the semi-finals. Several players’ contributions have proven to be critical to their teams’ success in this ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. From bowlers to batters, a few individuals have contributed to the team’s success in the marquee event.
Before the start of the 2023 ODI World Cup knockout stage, Legends Matthew Hayden and Anil Kumble sat together with ESPNcricinfo to choose their best lineups from the league phase.
The former Australian opener Matthew Hayden hailed South African opener Quinton de Kock as the standout opener of the marquee event and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma as his opening partner, providing the Indian team with an aggressive start that has continued throughout the event.
“QDK for me has been the standout player. Rohit Sharma for obvious reasons. Those two inside the powerplay have been dynamic, If I had to put my life on two players getting runs in this World Cup. They are my number one and number two,” Matthew Hayden said.
Anil Kumble praised Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand, the breakout star of the World Cup due to his versatility batting in different positions, and Virat Kohli, another middle-order batsman for the team that is having his best tournament in the ODI World Cup 2023. Kohli is currently the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 594 runs in nine matches.
“He is certainly the breakout young player of this World Cup. I am sure I would certainly go for Rachin Ravindra, whether you put him at no. 3 or no. 4, it doesn’t matter. He has been batting at 1, 2, 3, 4, you can put him wherever. Virat Kohli, for sure. Yes, he has batter no. 3 for India. So if he bats no. 3, Rachin Ravindra bats no. 4. If Ravindra bats no. 3, we can use the right-left combination. It is very difficult to pick in a World Cup, your two choices,” Anil Kumble added.
They then named Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and Heinrich Klaasen as their team’s No. 5 and No. 6 batsmen. They felt that strike rate is important at certain batting positions and complimented them on their spin-bowling hitting.
“Maxwell and Klaasen for me. The reason why, when you look at those stats again, I am going on strike rate, I am going on who is going to be under pressure. I mean they are the real heads of both Australia and South Africa’s batting efforts with spin in particular. Strike rate of Maxwell is off the Richter scale, it’s not even 150, it’s 180. Klaasen for the same reason as well, that is an enormous strike rate.”
Marco Jansen and Ravindra Jadeja, the team’s all-around players, were selected because of their significant contributions to the team’s performance in the ongoing competition. Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah round up the bowling group, and they have made an impact on the team throughout the tournament.
