Former England captain Michael Vaughan feels that if Mohammed Shami had been in the starting XI for the 2023 World Cup, Team India would have won more convincingly.
At the outset of the premier competition, Shami was not a likely starter, with the management preferring Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur ahead of him. He was called up after all-rounder Hardik Pandya suffered an ankle injury against Bangladesh.
Vaughan informed Cricbuzz that Shami was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP):
“I am going to go with Mohammed Shami. India would have played a little better at the start if he played. He has been outstanding.”
Michael Vaughan
Shami presently tops the list in the 2023 ODI World Cup as the bowler who’s taken the most wickets. From a mere six matches, he’s successfully claimed 23 wickets, averaging at 9.13. Notably, these wickets include three sets of five-wicket sweeps.
While Michael Vaughan chose Shami as MVP, experienced keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik chose Rohit Sharma. Karthik explained his decision as follows:
“The MVP for me is Rohit Sharma. He has given great starts. He has just shown the template as to how it needs to be done. As a skipper, he has been brilliant as well.”
Dinesh Karthik
In the same talk, ex-cricketer Parthiv Patel expressed his choice for MVP as Virat Kohli, who’s presently the leading run-scorer in the event. His words at 1:37 read: In the same conversation, the past cricketer, Parthiv Patel pinpointed Virat Kohli, the current leading scorer in the tournament, as his MVP pick. He continued:
“Virat Kohli, the way he has batted in this World Cup, there were a lot of expectations of scoring those 49th and 50th hundreds; there is a big milestone. He has batted how the captain wanted him to play. He has changed his game and done a role that not everyone else is doing. He has been a glue of this Indian team.”
Parthiv Patel
Kohli has 711 runs from 10 innings. He is the only player in World Cup history to score over 700 runs in a single tournament. In the event, the ace hitter has three centuries and five fifties.
Dinesh Karthik Praises KL Rahul’s Dual Role in World Cup 2023
Dinesh Karthik praised Team India’s wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul for his outstanding glovework in the 2023 World Cup.
Rahul said that he played the part better than South African Quinton de Kock. Karthik went on to say:
“His wicketkeeping has been outstanding. You have to say it has been one of the best in the tournament. I said Scott Edwards before purely for keeping skills but as an all-round package, KL Rahul has gone ahead of Quinton de Kock. He has played all types of knocks. I believe he can play a very, very crucial role in the final.”
Dinesh Karthik
Not only has Rahul made a big impact as a wicketkeeper, he’s also shown great skill batting. He’s scored 386 runs in nine innings, averaging 77.20.