ICC Cricket World Cup - Top 10 all-rounders

Tags: Cricket World Cup 2019, Andre Dwayne Russell, Benjamin Andrew Stokes, Hardik Himanshu Pandya, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Marcus Peter Stoinis, Christopher Henry Morris, Mitchell Josef Santner, Isuru Udana Tillakaratna, Shadab Khan

Published on: May 28, 2019

To begin with, let's understand why the cricketing world is so fascinated by all-rounders. In layman terms, you have a wicket-keeper who bats a bit and you have five batsmen and five bowlers. In effect, you have six people who can bat and five people who can bowl as their primary skill, out of the 11 players in the team. Now, if a couple of the batsmen can bowl a bit and a couple of bowlers can bat a bit, it gives immense balance to the side as the captain then has more options at his disposal.

This is where all-rounders are at a premium. The gifted cricketers who have substantial ability both with the bat and ball, in effect, fill in two spots, one of a batsman and one of a bowler (or wicket-keeper), in the playing XI and hence are so coveted.

Likewise, in this ICC Cricket World Cup as well, there are some exceptionally talented players who have enviable ability in all the three dimensions.

1) Andre Russell (West Indies)

With 510 runs and 11 wickets from 14 matches, Andre Russell set the stage on fire in IPL 2019. Although his team could not qualify for the playoffs, he stood out and, along with Hardik Pandya, was the biggest game-changer across matches.

Russell helped Mumbai win as many as five Matches single-handedly and thus finds himself a spot in the West Indies ODI team, despite having played just one ODI since 2015.

2) Ben Stokes (England)

A year ago, Ben Stokes was comfortably the best pace bowling all-rounder in the world but it cannot be said for sure at the moment. After a dip in his form over the past six months or so, his stocks have taken a hit.

Although he shone in the penultimate ODI of the five-match series between England and Pakistan, he has been looking a bit out of sorts. However, the big stage might just trigger him back to his best.

From 82 ODIs, Stokes has snaffled 63 wickets at an average of over 40.

3) Hardik Pandya (India)

After combating injury and an off-field controversy, Hardik Pandya is back in the thick of things. A few cricket experts floated the idea that Pandya might not return to the national team because of his off-field antics, but talking in terms of cricketing ability, the Mumbai Indians all-rounder is so gifted that you cannot help but include him in the playing XI.

Hardik Pandya was on song in the recently concluded IPL and scored more than 400 runs. If he can step up with his bowling, Pandya can turn out to be the top all-rounder in this World Cup.

4) Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan)

One believes that Mohammad Nabi is one of the most understated all-rounder in the cricketing world. He is as good a conventional off spinner you'll see and has tremendous skill with the bat as well. Nabi can play both the waiting game and force the pace.Afghanistan can consider promoting him up the batting order as the more deliveries he faces, the more lethal he'll turn out to be. One believes that, along with Pandya, Nabi is a contender of finishing as one of the top all-rounders in the tournament.

5) Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

After 140 runs, including two unbeaten half-centuries, and two wickets in the recent tri-series played in Ireland, Shakib Al Hasan has bounced back to the top of the all-rounders rankings in ODIs, a place that he had held for the longest time across formats

The feat itself speaks a lot about his skills. Shakib has the ability of batting anywhere from number three to number seven and is a very steady bowler.

6) Marcus Stoinis (Australia)

Apart from his batting skills, what makes Marcus Stoinis special are the change-ups in his bowling. Australia have used him well, both in the middle and in the slog overs and the all-rounder has responded beautifully.

Opening the batting for Melbourne Stars, Marcus Stoinis had a stellar season in the Big Bash League. However, Australia have settled for Stoinis in the middle-order, after having initial thoughts of promoting him up the order. With his big-hitting ability, Stoinis can be a threat if he can handle the spinners well and you can compare the best free bets sign up offers in the uk to see what the odds will be on him coming out on top of the all-rounders table. Like bet365 has an odd of 13/1 for Marcus to be the Australia’s best bowler in a match. With his hard hitting batting abilities and good bowling Marcus is expected to feature in playing XI more often and his betting odds will improve. Bookies can find the best betting offers on Freebets.com like bet365 is offering up to £100 in bet credits to new customers or bet £10 get £40 in free bets by Paddy Power. New customer gets up to £100 in bet credits by bet365 with minimum deposit of £5 or more.

7) Chris Morris (South Africa)

Initially not selected in South Africa's World Cup squad, Chris Morris made a late entry after the injury to Anrich Nortje. Morris is an undoubted match-winner with the ability to bowl at 145 kmph consistently. However, his form has slid in recent times.

Despite that, Morris remains a formidable lower-order batsman and can use his long levers to great effect. His height allows him to extract extra bounce off the surface, which becomes awkward for the batsmen.

8) Mitchell Santner (New Zealand)

Despite Jimmy Neesham in the ranks, Mitchell Santner finds himself as New Zealand's top all-rounder due to his superior bowling ability. The left-arm spinner is a thinking cricketer and preempts the move of the batsmen to vary his pace, line and length.While Neesham is also blessed with great ability, one is not sure of how his medium pacers will fare in the high-scoring World Cup matches. Santner can also tonk the ball well in the final overs and give his team an additional 20-30 runs.

9) Isuru Udana (Sri Lanka)

Just six ODIs old, Isuru Udana has already made a name for himself. Originally selected as a bowler, the 31-year-old showed sparks of his batting in the series against New Zealand.

Udana boasts of an ODI batting average of over 40 and a strike rate of over 120. Those who have seen him bat would know that he is more than a handful and can turn out to be one of the best performing players for Sri Lanka in this World Cup

10) Shadab Khan (Pakistan)

Down with a virus, Shadab Khan could not be a part of the high voltage ODI series between England and Pakistan, but remains Pakistan's first choice leg spinner. Yasir Khan failed to impress in the ODIs and hence Shadab will be back in the playing XI as soon as he is available.

The spinning all-rounder adds a lot of value to the team with his quick run-making ability in the lower order. He might not appear to be a game-changing all-rounder at the first go, but don't be fooled, he has abundant potential

So who is going to the game changer, the top all-rounder in the ICC Cricket Word Cup 2019? – Answer - Ben Stokes (England) and you can follow all the action as it unfolds at the Cricket World Live centre.

Related News