3 cricketers who were unlucky to miss out on the ICC Men's ODI team of the year

The International Cricket Council has just announced the ICC Men's ODI team of the year for 2018. The award takes into consideration the performances of the players in 2018 for their respective nations and it is not a surprise that the team is dominated by Indian and English players with 4 representatives each, given the kind of year India and England have had in the 50-over format.

Apart from the Indian and English players, New-Zealand, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh also managed to have 1 representative in the ODI team of the year.

ICC Men's ODI Team of 2018: Rohit Sharma (India), Jonny Bairstow (England), Virat Kohli (India) (C), Joe Root (England), Ross Taylor (New Zealand), Jos Buttler (England) (WK), Ben Stokes (England), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav (India) and Jasprit Bumrah (India)

The team is selected by a panel which consists of match officials, ICC members, and Media members. While there is no doubt that each and every player who has made it to the team of the year has had a fantastic year, there are still some unlucky players who make a strong case of making it to the team of the year.

Here are the 3 cricketers who were unlucky to not make it to the ICC Men's ODI team of the year.

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#1 Adil Rashid (England)

Adil Rashid has been the best-limited overs bowler for England for the past 2 years. He is one of the major reasons why England are the Number 1 ODI team in the world right now. Playing at home or away. The spinner was so good against India in the ODI series that he got a call up for the test series against India without even playing domestic red-ball cricket.

Adil Rashid took 42 wickets in 24 matches for England in 2018. He finished the year being the 3rd highest wicket-taker in the 50 over format, only behind Kuldeep Yadav and Rashid Khan.

The most impressive thing about Rashid's numbers is that most of the wickets were taken in English conditions which does not offer much help to the spinners. A genuine wicket-taker who provides timely breakthroughs, Adil is very unlucky to miss out on the ODI team of the year.

#2 Fakhar Zaman

Pakistan's new batting mainstay

Fakhar Zaman first came into the limelight with his scintillating century in the ICC champions trophy final vs India. The left-hander hasn't looked back since, becoming Pakistan's most trusted batsman along with Babar Azam.

Zaman started his year with a fantastic series In New Zealand, where he was the only positive from the Pakistani side who lost the series convincingly. Fakhar Zaman then played the series of his life vs Zimbabwe, where he scored 515 runs in 5 matches at an average of 257.50.

The only failure of his year came in the Asia Cup where he could score a mere 56 runs from the 5 matches. The opening batsman left his Asia cup from behind very quickly and scored 150 runs at an average of 50 in the 3 match ODI series vs New Zealand

Fakhar Zaman had an average of 67.30 scoring 875 runs in 17 innings and his average was only second to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the top 10 run getters of 2018. He also holds the record of scoring 210* vs Zimbabwe which was the highest individual score in ODI cricket last year.

#3 Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Another Afghan mystery who was brilliant in 2018

The young Afghan spinner, Mujeeb Ur Rahman took a total of 37 wickets in 20 ODI matches at an average of 19.54 in the year 2018. His 16 wickets in 7 matches in the ICC World cup qualifiers helped Afghanistan to qualify for the ICC cricket world cup 2019.

Along with the wickets, Mujeeb also had the best economy amongst the top 5 wicket takers of 2018. Bowling along with Rashid Khan, Mujeeb made it very difficult for the opposition to score runs off his bowling as he gave only 3.84 runs per over.

Mujeeb powered Afghanistan to win 3 out of the 4 ODI series they played in 2018 and also holds the record of bowling 16 maiden overs in 20 innings which is the most amongst the top 10 wicket takers of 2018.

Despite these surreal numbers and crucial performances, young Mujeeb would find himself unlucky to miss out on the ICC Men's ODI team of the year.