Could they have made a difference?

The World cup entered its second week and after 10 matches there have been teams grappling with missed chances and missing key players.

While most teams have selected the best available players for the World cup, some have been woefully short of talent or key players in crucial situations. While India, having played just one match, New Zealand and Australia have remained unbeaten yet, they could have been better with some players, who have been left watching the game from home.

South Africa has been one of the teams that has been missing its mainstay of the past decade – AB de Villiers, who though retired a year back, could’ve made the cut if the SA Board had been farsighted. Pure Cricket looks at a playing XI from the left-out players.

ABD would surely lead the team with English opener Alex Hales, dropped for disciplinary issues. The host though has accomplished openers, Hales would’ve made a difference. Another team that has been dogged by lack of batting depth is Sri Lanka – Dinesh Chandimal and Dickwella could well have been serving their country in the World cup, the former surely was a surprise omission from the team that’s struggling with its batting. West Indians have been mercurial – Andre Russell could turn a match or two, if he doesn’t have a brain fade – may be a Keiron Pollard or a Dwayne Bravo would’ve brought semblance to the team.

The Aussie batting line up was exposed by the Caribbean pace and the middle order struggled to put up a score – maybe a Handscomb could have brightened up things. While Nathan Coulter Nile was the saviour with the bat, the same cannot be said of his bowling, milking runs to the tail. The defending champions could well have been better with speedster Josh Hazlewood partnering Starc and Cummins. So too would have David Willey in curtailing the rampaging Pakistanis in their second match. Talking of Pakistan, it’s quite surprising to see Junaid Khan cooling his heels at home, while the team is relying too much on the senior Wahab Riaz and Mohd Amir, it’s to be seen how long they endure with their attack. There have been couple of surprising spin omissions too – Sunil Narine and Todd Astle. Just to make up the Missed out XI, we add Ambati Rayudu, at no. 4.

1. AB de Villiers (C)
2. Alex Hales
3. Dinesh Chandimal
4. AT Rayudu
5. Dwayne Bravo
6. Keiron Pollard
7. Dickwella (wk)
8. Sunil Narine
9. Hazelwood
10. Junaid Khan
11. David Willey

12th man: Todd Astle

Pics: Internet