5 Players who will not be seen in World Cup 2023

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 is the biggest event in the cricketing calendar and every player dreams of playing in it. However, not everyone can make it to the final squad of their respective teams. Here are five players who will most likely not be seen in World Cup 2023.

Shikhar Dhawan

The left-handed opener has been a prolific run-scorer for India in white-ball cricket for the last decade, scoring over 6000 runs in ODIs and over 2000 runs in T20Is. He has also played in three World Cups, scoring two centuries in 2015 and five half-centuries in 2019. However, he has been out of form and favour lately. He last played an international match in December 2022 and since then has been out of selectors plan. While many fans were expecting him to lead Team India in Asian Games, appointing Ruturaj Gaikwad as skipper sent a strong message that the selectors are looking ahead from 37-year-old.

With Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan being the preferred options for the opening slot, Dhawan’s chances of making it to the World Cup are very slim.

Marnus Labuschagne
Marnus Labuschagne has been a revelation for Australia in Test cricket, scoring over 3000 runs at an average of over 60 since his debut in 2018. He has also played 13 ODIs for Australia, scoring 473 runs at an average of over 39. However, he is yet to prove his mettle in ODIs. And this is the primary reason Labuschagne was dropped from Australia’s preliminary World Cup squad.

Australia’s chief selector, George Bailey, echoed the same sentiment and said that they haven’t seen much of Labuschagne in 50-over format.

“We know Marnus at his best is good enough to hold down a spot in the one-day team, we just haven’t seen enough of it consistently in the role that we’d like him to do,” Bailey told reporters.

The Men in Yellow have a settled middle-order of Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green and Marcus Stoinis. Labuschagne will have to wait for his opportunity to play in ODI World Cup.

Kane Williamson

The New Zealand captain is widely regarded as one of the best batters in all formats of the game, with a sublime technique and temperament. He has led his team to World Cup final in 2019. However, Williamson suffered a serious knee injury during the IPL 2023, which required surgery and a long recovery period.

He is still doubtful for the World Cup, as he is undergoing rehab and has not played any competitive cricket since April. The New Zealand team management has not ruled him out completely, but they are also prepared to go ahead without him if needed.

Shan Masood

The Pakistan opener was appointed as the vice-captain of the ODI team in January 2023, but he has failed to live up to the expectations. Masood was not named in Pakistan’s 18-man squad for the 2023 Asia Cup and upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan. Masood has scored 163 runs in 9 ODIs, at an average of 18.11 and has hit just one half-century in the format.

Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq explained the reason behind Masood’s axing and said that batter’s performance in ODIs has gone down.

“Shan has performed very well on the whole across formats. Unfortunately, his performances in ODIs have gone down. We have a list of 20-21 players, and Shan is part of that. But Saud Shakeel and a couple of other players were impressive recently, so we had to leave out Shan. But he is a part of our plans,” said Inzamam.

Masood will have to work hard to regain his form but is likely miss out the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Alex Hales

The England opener was instrumental in his team’s transformation into a formidable white-ball unit under Eoin Morgan after the 2015 World Cup. He was also a key figure in their winning campaign in the 2022 T20 World Cup. However, Hales was involved in a controversial incident involving recreational drugs before the 2019 World Cup, which led to his exclusion from the squad and a breakdown of trust with his teammates.

He has not played for England in ODIs since then, despite being one of the most destructive batters in T20 leagues around the world. He recently decided to call it quits from international cricket, focusing on domestic and franchise T20 cricket and will not be seen in England colors in coming World Cup.

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