Best playing 11 from Week 2 of the 2023 World Cup ft. Rohit Sharma & Rashid Khan

After a pedestrian opening week, the 2023 World Cup sprung to life in Week 2, with a couple of major upsets headlining the same.

While conjecture expected England and South Africa to get past Afghanistan and the Netherlands, respectively, the results were the total opposite, throwing the points table wide open ahead of the matches to follow.

Elsewhere, India and New Zealand maintained their spotless record to remain the only unbeaten teams in the competition thus far. The days ahead could constitute the moving week of the tournament with a number of contests scheduled that could have large-scale ramifications on the qualification hopes of the teams.

For now, though, it's a good time to look back at the week gone by as we attempt to pick the best team from the set of games in this period, beginning from the Australia-South Africa clash until the New Zealand-Afghanistan contest on Wednesday, October 18.

Here's a look at the best playing XI from Week 2 of the 2023 World Cup:

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Openers: Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock (wk)

It's a Mumbai Indians reunion at the top with Indian skipper Rohit Sharma partnering South African opener Quinton de Kock in this playing XI.

Rohit picked up from where he left off against Afghanistan with a sparkling 63-ball 86 against Pakistan in Ahmedabad, falling agonizingly short of a record eighth hundred in ODI World Cups.

De Kock backed up his century against Sri Lanka with another one at the 2023 World Cup, stroking his way to 109 off 106 balls against Australia that set the foundation for a solid total which South Africa defended comfortably. He will also don the wicketkeeper's gloves in this playing XI.

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Middle order: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Harry Brook, Glenn Phillips, Scott Edwards (c), and Roelof van der Merwe

One might argue as to why Rahmanullah Gurbaz is placed at No. 3 when he has been playing as an opener throughout the 2023 World Cup. But the Afghan's blistering 57-ball 80 was easily one of the knocks of the week gone by that could not be ignored as it paved the way for a historic win over England. This, while he didn't quite get going against New Zealand.

The only ray of hope for England during their bout against Afghanistan was Harry Brook, who silenced his critics with a fluent 61-ball 66. He looked way more assured and comfortable against spin in particular and had very little support as the rest crumbled around him. It just made his knock all the more brilliant though given how he held his own.

Glenn Phillips had a week to remember at the 2023 World Cup, chipping in with a wicket and adding the finishing touches with the bat against Bangladesh before bagging the Player of the Match award against Afghanistan. His 80-ball 71 rescued the Blackcaps from a perilous situation as they posted a score well beyond Afghanistan's reach.

The Dutch duo of Scott Edwards and Roelof van der Merwe round off the middle order for their magnificent efforts that scripted a historic win over South Africa. Edwards' unbeaten 78 vaulted the Netherlands out of trouble as they posted 245/8 in 43 overs.

Van der Merwe tormented his former team once again with an entertaining 19-ball 29 and returns of 2/34 off his nine overs, while he also threw himself around on the park. He will be the lead all-rounder in this playing XI.

It was tough to choose between Edwards and Rohit as captain given how brilliantly they led against South Africa and Pakistan, respectively.

For the sheer magnitude of the win over the Proteas in what was one of the all-time great upsets in the World Cup and the manner in which he marshaled his troops, Edwards has the 'c' against his name.

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Bowlers: Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lockie Ferguson

Rashid Khan had the final say in Afghanistan's win over England as he ended with a three-wicket haul. He was well on track for more against the Kiwis but alas, he didn't receive the support he needed from his teammates who slacked considerably on the field. An economy rate of just over 4 across the two games for his four wickets, apart from a cameo with the bat against England, sees him walk into this playing XI.

Kagiso Rabada has hit his straps in style at the 2023 World Cup and has looked in relentless rhythm. His 3/33 blew Australia out of the water with a ripper to dismiss Josh Inglis being one of the deliveries of the tournament. He also returned 2/56 against The Netherlands even as he took a bit of tap towards the end.

Jasprit Bumrah has comfortably been the best seamer on display at the 2023 World Cup and he took it to a whole new level against Pakistan. He cleaned up Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan with a couple of unplayable deliveries and bagged the Player of the Match award for his stunning spell of 2/19 off seven overs as India wrapped up a third win on the bounce.

Rounding off this playing XI is New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson, who snared three wickets apiece against Bangladesh and Afghanistan while picking up the Player of the Match award in the first of those. Having run in at full throttle, he has been bowling with serious heat with New Zealand counting upon the same going forward in the competition.

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Honorable mentions from Week 2 of the 2023 World Cup

There were some unfortunate misses yet again as far as this playing XI was concerned. Unsurprisingly, a host of them happen to be from New Zealand for the kind of consistency they've shown through the course of their outings in the second week of the 2023 World Cup.

Mitchell Santner returned a three-fer against Afghanistan having also plucked what is arguably the catch of the tournament to dismiss Hashmatullah Shahidi. This was on the back of returns of 1/31 against Bangladesh with his colleagues Matt Henry and Trent Boult continuing their consistent run in at the 2023 World Cup in those two games.

Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 89 off 67 deliveries against Bangladesh was a superlative knock as he so nearly made the cut to this playing XI. England's Adil Rashid and the Netherlands' Logan van Beek were also unfortunate to miss out on their respective three-wicket hauls while Adam Zampa put behind a poor run of form with a match-winning four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka.

Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja were impeccable with their radar and control and it was their stranglehold in the middle-overs that allowed the hosts to break through the middle-order as the pressure mounted on Pakistan.

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Best playing XI from Week 2 of the 2023 World Cup: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Harry Brook, Glenn Phillips, Scott Edwards (c), Roelof van der Merwe, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah and Lockie Ferguson.

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Would you make any change to this playing XI from the week gone by at the 2023 World Cup? Have your say in the comments section below!