Written by: Waseem Abbas
Posted on: November 20, 2023 | 
| 中文
Team Australia, the champions of the ICC ODI World Cup (WC) 2023
Australia won the 13th ICC ODI World Cup on the 19th of November at Ahmedabad, India, defeating India by 6 wickets (42 balls to spare) in the final. Travis Head was the hero of the final, as he scored a scintillating 137 (120 balls) in front of a jam-packed crowd. Australia clinched their 6th ODI WC title and lived up to the expectations of their skipper, who had said about the one-sided crowd in the final: “In sport, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent.”
Silent crowd as Cummins got a wicket, living up to his words
If there is one team that has mastered the art of winning ICC World Cups, it is Australia. Australia has won 5 out of last 7 ODI WCs and the reason of Australia’s continuous domination in world cricket is their system that backs its players, robust domestic system, never give-up attitude and prioritizing national duties over league cricket. It is incredible that Australia has retained Ashes Series, won a T20 WC, ICC World Test Championship and an ODI WC in a span of just 24 months.
If we judge players on individual brilliance, we will find that Aussies are not at the top, but as a team they have excelled in this WC. David Warner and Mitch Marsh delivered with the bat before Travis Head arrived at the scene. Head was not available till mid tournament, but the team still took him along and waited for his return. And he won both the semi and final of the World Cup for them. That is how teams are build, teams that win international competitions. Australia’s fast bowling trio, Hazelwood, Starc and Cummins, delivered when it mattered the most, while Adam Zampa, the sole spinner, emerged as the second highest wicket-taker. Gleen Maxwell played, arguably, the greatest ODI inning of all times, against Afghanistan to win an improbable game. Everyone in the Aussies camp chipped in with incredible performances, and it was proper team effort to win yet another ICC trophy.
Team Australia
Pakistan entered the ODI World Cup (WC) 2023 as the number one ranked team in the ICC rankings, but it turned out to be the most disappointing WC campaign for Pakistan in terms of the number of games lost (5) in any edition of the WC.
India’s coach Rahul Dravid said in an interview, before the WC, that they knew two years ago who the players are going to be that will be playing in the megaevent for India. The clarity in selection and defined roles is crucial for building teams and giving confidence to players, manifested in India’s performance as it cruised 9 wins out of 9 games. The clarity in the selection and defined roles was missing from the Pakistani camp. Take an example of how Muhammad Nawaz, who was Pakistan’s successful ODI and T20I spinner from 2019 to 2022, was treated going to the WC. Before the WC, Pakistan played a pace-bowling allrounder, Faheem Ashraf, for the Asia Cup, and Imad Wasim for the Afghanistan T20 Series as an allrounder, but Nawaz was thrown in the mix for the WC with immense pressure.
A pro-Palestinian spectator from Australia invaded the field during the final wearing 'stop bombing Palestine' shirt
Imam ul Haq and Fakhar Zaman have been opening for Pakistan in ODIS since 2017, and we did not prepare any backup for these players. When they went terribly out of form during the onset of the WC, we had nowhere to go. Abdullah Shafiq, who had played only four games going into the WC, was thrown into the mix, they performed remarkably well though. Who was going to bat at number five remained a mystery till the start of the WC, as Pakistan kept experimenting with the likes of Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Agha Salman, but it was Saud Shakeel who played at that number in the megaevent, with an ODI experience of just five games. When Naseem Shah got injured, we had no backup as a new ball operator. Although Babar did not perform up to the expectations, he was more than decent with the bat. It was his captaincy that led to Pakistan's downfall, as many decisions he took seemed to misfire more often than not.
The most disappointing part of Pakistan’s WC campaign is its spin bowling, which appeared to be in shambles. All the spinners, Shadab, Nawaz and Usama, failed to impress, as the combined average of Pakistani spinners in this WC is 84 (second worst after Sri Lanka), while India had an average of 20, South Africa and Australia both had 27 by the end of the group stage. Although Shaheen was fourth fourth-highest wicket-taker at the end of the group stage with 18 wickets, he failed to give early breakthroughs for which he is known. Haris Rauf was mediocre with the new ball, bad in the middle overs and excellent at the death overs.
Shaheen Shah after getting Ben Stokes out
Much of the shambolic performance was precipitated by the mismanagement and unprofessional attitude of PCB bigwigs. Midway through the tournament when Pakistan was losing game after game, PCB issued a statement on the future of Babar Azam’s captaincy. According to former Pakistan captain, Rashid Latif, PCB chairman and CEO did not respond to the captain’s messages during the megaevent. Babar eventually resigned from captaincy on the 15th of November at 6:23 pm, and PCB quickly announced Shan Masood as Test and Shaheen Afridi as T20I captain at 7:55 pm, without acknowledging the outgoing captain’s services to team Pakistan.
India had the best team in the megaevent with all bases covered, and it was almost impossible to find a loophole in their side. Rohit Sharma, who was known for taking some time at the start before unleashing his exploits, had a strike rate of 125 this WC and has developed a habit of snatching the game from the paws of opponents in the first powerplay, with his aggressive and positive mindset. Virat Kohli’s consistency was mind-boggling, as he has scored 6 fifties and 3 centuries in eleven games, and was adjudged ‘Player of the Series’ of the World Cup. Shreyas Iyer has developed into a formidable middle-order player, while KL Rahul and Shubman Gill have exquisitely played their part according to the team’s needs, in order to make India an invincible side.
Muhammad Shami after getting a New Zealand batter out in the Semi-final
India’s main five bowlers had a memorable WC. Muhammad Shami had a dream run, as he emerged as the top wicket taker of the competition, even after missing out on the first four games of the megaevent. Shami took 24 wickets in 7 games, at an average of 10.70 and an economy of 5.26, which means he took a wicket after every twelve balls, conceding only 10 runs, which is quite insane. 78 bowlers took at least 2 wickets this WC, and the best average amongst them was that of Angelo Mathews, who took 6 wickets at 17.82, almost double of Shami’s average. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja both contained runs and took wickets, a rarity in modern-day cricket, while Siraj and Kuldeep have been complementing each other quite well.
Although India performed brilliantly on the field, the off-field controversies have tarnished the image of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including visa delays to Pakistani players and journalists, the Decision Review System's (DRS) suspicious decisions, the selection of grounds favoring India (and Afghanistan), and the preparation of pitches that suited certain sides throughout the competition. Fox Sports reported that ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson is not happy with the pitch where the semi-final between India and New Zealand was played, as the game was played on a pitch where two games had already been played. Dareen Lehman, Michel Vaughan, Moin Khan and other players raised concerns about the pitch change for the semi.
Rachin Ravindra, the best emerging player of the WC
We saw a few emerging players performing out of their skin and impressing the pundits. Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand was the most impressive one, as the 23-year-old Kiwi accumulated 578 runs in ten games with 3 centuries and 2 fifties, prompting many greats of the game to declare him the next big thing in world cricket. Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Omarzai and Ibrahim Zadran, Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafiq and Muhammad Wasim, Sri Lanka’s Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dilshan Madushanka, and South Africa’s Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, emerged as bright prospects.
Here is what would be the best team of the 2023 ODI World Cup, according to the batting number these players played at:
Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Cock, Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchel, Henrich Klassen, Gleen Maxwell, Ravindra Jadeja, Marco Jansen, Muhammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Adam Zampa.
Rachin Ravindra (12th man)
Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Mitchel Santner, Dilshan Madushanka, David Warner, Travis Head, Gerald Coetzee
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