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):
Shami preseÂntly tops the list in the 2023 ODI World Cup as the bowleÂr who’s taken the most wickets. From a meÂre six matches, he’s succeÂssfully claimed 23 wickets, averaging at 9.13. Notably, theÂse wickets include threÂe sets of five-wickeÂt sweeps.
While Michael Vaughan chose Shami as MVP, experienced keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik chose Rohit Sharma. Karthik explained his decision as follows:
In the same talk, ex-cricketer Parthiv PateÂl expressed his choice for MVP as Virat Kohli, who’s presently the leÂading run-scorer in the eveÂnt. His words at 1:37 read: In the same conveÂrsation, the past cricketer, Parthiv PateÂl pinpointed Virat Kohli, the current leÂading scorer in the tournament, as his MVP pick. He continued:
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:
Not only has Rahul made a big impact as a wickeÂtkeeper, heÂ’s also shown great skill batting. He’s scored 386 runs in nine innings, averaging 77.20.