We are less than two weeks away from the beginning of cricket's mega tournament Cricket World Cup (CWC) which is played once in four years. The ICC CWC 2019 is scheduled to begin from May 30, 2019, and it will be the 12th edition which will be played in England and Wales. It will be the 5th time that World Cup tournament will be played at this venue. Ahead of Cricket World Cup 2019 tournament, we will take you through the profile of Jasprit Bumrah, Babar Azam, Kagiso Rabada, Shimron Hetmyer and Rashid Khan who are amongst the debutants of CWC tournament. ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Check out the List of Cricketers Who Walked Away With Player of the Tournament Trophy Across All Editions.
Every cricketer in this world has a dream to represent their nation on a big stage like the World Cup. A player making his name in the squad for CWC tournament is itself a big achievement. Cricketers who get the opportunity to do so ensure that they leave no stone unturned for making their team win. South Africa Coach Ottis Gibson Says Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada on Track to Full Recovery Before ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
5 WC Debutants to Watch Out For
1. Jasprit Bumrah
Indian pacer Bumrah is making good news these days after the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament. Even the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar said in an interview after IPL final that Bumrah is the best bowler in the world at this stage. The 25 years old right arm fast bowler Bumrah hails from Ahmedabad Gujarat and is well known as death over specialist. Indian skipper Virat Kohli can use him well towards the end of the inning to make things difficult for the opposition side. Jasprit Bumrah is currently the No.1 bowler as per MRF Tyres ICC Men's ODI Bowling Rankings. He made his ODI debut against Australia on Jan 23, 2016, and has bagged 85 wickets so far from 49 matches with an economy of 4.51. Bumrah's incisive yorker has the ability to threaten even the best class batsman. His contribution will play a major role if team India went on to win ICC World Cup 2019 trophy. Players Who May Retire After ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Chris Gayle, Imran Tahir, Shoaib Malik to Bid Adieu to ODI Career Post CWC19.
There's no doubt in @sachin_rt's mind that @Jaspritbumrah93 is No. 1! 🙌 https://t.co/SxmFTAGel0
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) May 14, 2019
2. Kagiso Rabada
Just like how Jasprit Bumrah is for the Indian team, similarly, the same importance is of Kagiso Rabada presence in the South African side. The 23 years Rabada made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in July, 2015. The right arm fast bowler has scalped 106 wickets so far from 66 matches. Kagiso Rabada had an amazing IPL tournament where he took 25 wickets from 12 matches. He was not able to play the full tournament as he encountered an injury before his team Delhi Capitals entered the playoffs. Injury of South African pacer Rabada and Dale Steyn made fans go sleepless until yesterday (May 15, 2019) as their coach Ottis Gibson confirmed that the duo pacers will be fit to play the first match of CWC 2019 against England.
3. Babar Azam
The 24 years old Pakistan cricket team batsman Babar Azam started playing for his team since 2015. He has scored 2544 runs from 62 matches with a strike rate of 85.05 and an average of 49.88. He is the only player to have scored his first three ODI centuries in a row. According to Pak coach, Mickey Arthur Babar Azam is the best batsman in Pakistan history and he will the key player to help his team win matches in CWC 2019.
Babar Azam equalled the record for the fastest to 1,000 ODI runs, as he took just 21 innings to reach the landmark #BestOf2017 pic.twitter.com/8YyoM6HMMw
— ICC (@ICC) December 16, 2017
4. Shimron Hetmyer
This young Caribbean player will be the one on whom all eyes will be set as he has scored close to 900 runs in 25 ODIs, at an average of 40.86, including four hundred. He recently scored a century against a top-ranked side like England in Feb, 2019. Hetmyer has experienced the big stage as he led West Indies under 19s to the World Cup title in 2015-16.
Fourth ODI 💯 for Shimron Hetmyer!
He finishes 104* from 83 balls, what an innings!
Thanks to him, West Indies have finished on 289/6. Will it be enough to stretch England?#WIvENG LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/0DsJEv4sIB pic.twitter.com/KFPxFbM3x1
— ICC (@ICC) February 22, 2019
5. Rashid Khan
This 20 years old Afghan star Rashid Khan has made a huge name in the cricketing world in a very short span of time. He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in October, 2015. Rashid has bagged 123 wickets from 57 matches with an amazing average of 15. He is the star player for Sunrisers Hyderabad team in Indian Premier League. His bowling can give nightmare to batsmen at any time. Not to forget, Khan can bat well too as he also occupies top spot in MRF Tyres ICC Men's ODI rankings for All-rounders.
The CWC 2019 will feature the top 10 Test playing nations, where all teams will play against each other in the Round Robin format. The final of ICC World Cup 2019 will be played at Lord's, London on July 14, 2019.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2019 05:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).