World Cup 2019: Best XI made up of  unsung heroes

#Bowlers

Mohammed Shami, Shaheen Afridi, Liam Plunkett

Mohammed Shami (India)

Like Jadeja, Mohammed Shami was also not given adequate opportunities despite his terrific performances in the limited opportunities that he got. Shami made it to the playing XI in India’s fifth league match due to the injury to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

In his very first match, Shami saved the blushes for India with a hat-trick against Afghanistan. He followed that up with figures of 4 for 16 and 5 for 69 against West Indies and England respectively.

In just four matches, Shami reached the 12th position in the list of highest wicket-takers in the tournament. His strike rate of 15 balls for every wicket is the best among all bowlers. From India, only Jasprit Bumrah took more wickets than him.

Shami achieved all this while playing a mere four matches. In spite of his best efforts, Shami found himself out of the playing XI in the crucial semi-final match. But he is an automatic choice in this team.

Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)

Shaheen Afridi went for plenty in his first two matches against Australia and South Africa. But he recovered well in his next three matches to claim 13 wickets.

His best effort came against Bangladesh where he took 6 for 35. His wickets in this World Cup included that of David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmadullah.

Afridi finished the tournament with 16 wickets in five matches at a strike rate of 18, the second-best in the tournament after Shami. He will be the opening bowling partner for Shami.

Liam Plunkett (England)

Liam Plunkett was the silent performer for England in the World Cup. His efficient bowling performance was sandwiched between the high-profile performances of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, not to forget Chris Woakes. But it was Plunkett who gave England the crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs.

The beauty of Plunkett’s performance was that none of his 11 wickets were that of tailenders. His wickets were always of big guns like Chris Gayle, Hashim Amla or Virat Kohli.

In the final as well, when New Zealand were comfortably placed at 100 for 1, Plunkett came on to bowl and he removed the two well-set batsmen, Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls, to cause a middle-order collapse.

In this World Cup, Plunkett took 11 wickets in 7 matches at an economy of 4.86. He is the first change bowler in this team.