World Cup is the pinnacle of white-ball cricket and every player who starts playing at the international level wishes to go on and represent his country in the World Cup one day because no competition can get bigger than that.
However, there have been a few players in the past who have had fairly decent international careers, but they were never picked to play in a World Cup game. Here are 5 such players –
#1 Stuart MacGill
Stuart MacGill was a really classy leg spinner who got more than 200 wickets in Test match cricket, but he never got the opportunity to play One-Day International cricket consistently for Australia as the Kangaroos had the legendary Shane Warne as their first-choice spinner.
MacGill represented Australia in just 3 ODIs and although he bowled well in those games, grabbing 6 wickets at an average of 17.50 with the best bowling figures of 4 for 19, he couldn’t quite cement his place in the Australian ODI side and never got into Australia’s playing XI in a World Cup game.
#2 Erapalli Prasanna
Erapalli Prasanna was a part of the famous spin quartet of India which troubled the players all around the world in Test match cricket in the 70s and the 80s, but despite being such a great Test bowler, Prasanna was never even considered for ODI cricket.
Prasanna played 9 List A matches in the domestic circuit of India and his List A numbers suggest he could have been a very decent ODI bowler. Prasanna got 17 wickets in 9 List A games at an average of 18.7.
#3 Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook was almost certain to captain England in the 2015 ODI World Cup, but he got sacked just ahead of the World Cup after England’s horrific performance on the tour of Sri Lanka. After being removed as England’s ODI captain, Cook never played another ODI game for England.
#4 Justin Langer
Justin Langer has been one of the greatest openers to have ever played Test match cricket for Australia, but he didn’t turn out to be as good in white-ball cricket as he was in the longest format of the game.
The stylish left-hander got to play just 8 ODIs for the Kangaroos and he couldn’t quite grab his opportunities with both hands and was overlooked for the ODI World Cups of 1999 and 2003.
#5 VVS Laxman
VVS Laxman has been one of the legends of Indian cricket and apart from playing 134 Test matches, he played a fair bit of ODI cricket too, but he could never justify his talent in ODIs as he returned a batting average of just a tad over 30 in a total of 86 ODIs that he played.
Laxman was in with a chance to make it to the Indian squad for the World Cup of 2003, but he was eventually left out.
