Players get underrated for so many reasons. Sometimes their teammates are better, others their skills are not as flashy, or they are role players and they get an imporꦛtant but dull job done.  

This is our list of the most underrated players of the 2023 Cricket World Cup

  1. Shreyas Iyer (India)
  2. Adam Zampa (Australia)
  3. Rassie van der Dussen (South Africa)
  4. Dawid Malan (England)
  5. Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan)
Most underrated players of the 2023 Cricket World Cup

1. Shreyas Iyer (India)

An IPL captain is very often not an underrated commodit♊y. But when you’re in 🃏a team of big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. He is not the shiny new toy in town like Shubman Gill. He is not as versatile as KL Rahul. And neither is he as dynamic as the SKYs and the Kishans. 

Shreyas Iyer has owned the number 4 spot. Since the 2019 Cricket World Cup, he has scored 1591 runs in 37 innings at an average of 47 and a strike rate of 98. Batting at number four; he has scored 867 runs in 22 innings at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 96. These are very impressive numbers for a player who has often had to change his position and suffer from a couple of major injuries that have kept him out for months. That is part of the reason he hasn’t been hyped, but a lot of it goes deeper than that. This is the first ICC white-ball event he will b💙e a part of, despite making his international debut 6 years ago. 

The KKR skipper will be expected to milk the spinners in the middle overs at a good scoring rate. He has exh𝓡ibited the ability to play the long innings. However, teams would likely target 🔜him with the short ball with their middle-over enforcers. Though playing at home will mean it shouldn’t happen to him as often. 

2. Adam Zampa (Australia)

If you’re an Australian spinner not named Shane Warne or Nathan Lyon,൩ you most probably go under the radar because of the big-name batters, all-rounders and quicks in your team. Even among Australian fans, they are often looking for someone better. As if Zampa is a placeholder, even though he has won a T20 World Cup. 

He can’t bat like🅘 Shadab Khan, Ravi Jadeja or Wanindu Hasaranga. And he doesn’t have the same PR as Adil R♕ashid. You probably don’t even think that he has the most wickets for any bowler in this Cricket World Cup cycle. But he does. 77 wickets, at less than 23 runs apiece, while going at just 5.30 runs per over.

While Zampa might be underrated by his own fans, he will have an extremely critical role to play in the upcoming Cricket World Cup. He is not quite a ‘mystery’ spinner, so teams would definitely try to take risks against him. He has improved over the years, he’s smarter and stilꦑl as skilful as he was when he was young, But his reputation has not caught up with his new realღity. So batters still attack him, and as a T20 bowler, that suits him even more. 

3. Rassie van der Dussen (South Africa)

Rassie van der Dussen has perhaps been one of the most consistent ODI batters in the world since his debut. He often goes under the radar of South African fans. Maybe be𝓡cause he’s not as aggressive as David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen, or as ‘aesthetic’ as Aiden Markram. There is a robotic nature to his batting. Quinton de Kock is an experienced player, while Temba Bavuma is the skipper and one of the best ODI batters in 2023. The 34-year-old who broke into the setup four years ago does not seem as attractive if we look at it this way.

However, van der Dussen has scored 1874 runs in 43 innings at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 89. That is not normal. He also had an impressive Cricket World Cup campaign in 2019 – 311 runs in 6 innings at an average of 62 and a strike rate of 90. But people don’t talk about it since South Africa crashed out in the group stage. Since then, he has scored 1210 runs in 29 innings at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 93. He scores runs consistently and does it at an impressive scoring rate by ODI standards. 

He is one of the few number 3 batters with a ridiculous record in the death overs – 387 runs at an average of 55 and a strike rate of 143. Because of how long he bats, he actually stretches their batting order so much they don’t need a number seven. A good campaign for him means that South Africa become a proper contender for a semi-final berth. 

4. Dawid Malan (England)

It’s hard to not be underrated when you’re in the same batting lineup as Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root. Or, not in that lineup that often either. He is not the ‘next big 👍thing’ like, say, Harry Brook. He isn’t a🥂s explosive as Liam Livingstone, either. But when you replace someone like Jason Roy from the 15-man squad, people will notice. 

What’s important here is that he is really, really good at his role. Since the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Dawid Malan has scored 1022 runs in 20 innings at an average of 64 and a strike rate of 97. He is also one of the best batters in the world in the 11-40 overs phase of the innings. Despite making his debut in Tests, and then getting famous for T20, ODIs have always been his most natural format.

Malan has shown that he can milk the spinners in the middle overs. However, he would have to open the innings, since Joe Root bats at number 3. That isn’t a problem, since he has done well as an opener too – 560 runs at 56/101. 

5. Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan)

When we think of Afghanistan cricket, the first thing that pops up in our mind has to be their quality spin attack. Even when we talk about the batters, the likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Najibullah Zadran are discussed more often because of their exploits for T20 franchises across the globe.ಌ The 21-year-old doesn’t score as fast in T20 cricket, but he’s extremely effective as an ODI batter. 

Ibrahim Zadran has scored 910 runs in 19 innings at an average of 54 and a strike rate of 84. He is by far the most crucial🔯 batter for Afghanistan. If he scores runs and is well supported by his teammates, they have a very realistic chance of causing a few upsets in this competition. If he doesn’t, well Afghanistan didn’t win a match last tournament, and they ༺might struggle to do much better than that this time. 

Zadran has two centuries in Sri Lanka and one in Bangladesh – two of the most tricky countries for visiting batters in ODI cricket. He has shown that he has the minerals to belong at the international level, but can he do it on the big stage?

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