ODI World Cup 2023 - 5 players who can win player of the tournament

ODI World Cup 2023, in India, is all set to commence on the 5^th of October with the inaugural match between the defending champions England and last edition’s runners-up New Zealand. The fans and experts of the game are eagerly waiting for the premier show and contest between the best batters and bowlers in the world.

Speaking of batters, there will be some star batting giants including the likes of former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and former Aussie skipper Steve Smith. With said that, here we’ll have a look at the five players who could win the player of the tournament in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023.

Rohit Sharma

Indian skipper and veteran batter, Rohit Sharma will be appearing for the third time in the ODI World Cup since his first appearance in the ODI World Cup 2015. He was also the leading run-scorer in the last edition of the World Cup in 2019, in England. He scored 648 runs in 9 innings of the 9 matches, he played for India.

Rohit scored these runs with an impressive average of 81.00, including 5 centuries and a half-century with the bat. Recently, he also played a match-winning knock of 73 runs against Nepal in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. Looking at his current form, the 36-year-old is one of the prime contenders in the contest of player of the tournament in the 13^th edition of the ODI World Cup.

Steve Smith

Former Australian skipper and modern-day batting great, Steve Smith played a crucial role in Australia’s amazing run in the last two editions of the tournament. He scored 379 runs in 10 innings of the 10 matches in ODI World Cup 2019 with an average of 37.90, including 4 vital half-centuries.

Currently, Smith was recently out of action from international cricket for Australia due to an injury so he missed the South Africa tour. Now, he could be in action for Aussies in the upcoming ODI series against India, in India just ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023. He might also end up as one of the leading run-scorers in the tournament.

David Warner

The veteran Australian opener David Warner was one of the key factors in Australia’s ODI World Cup 2019 campaign till the semi-final of the tournament. He also ended up as the second-leading run-scorer in the tournament just a run behind current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

He scored 647 runs with an average of 71.88 in the 10 innings of the 10 matches, he played for the Aussies, smashing 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries. World Cup 2023 could be the last appearance for Warner in the ODI World Cup so owing to his current form, Warner might end up as the player of the tournament in this edition.

Ben Stokes

Star all-rounder Ben Stokes emerged as the main headline of the ODI World Cup 2019 for a heroic unbeaten knock of 84 runs for England in the final of the tournament against New Zealand. The match ended in a tie and it was only Ben Stokes who helped England to cross the line in the super over and won their first ever ODI World Cup.

Stokes recently came out of his ODI retirement to play for England in the upcoming World Cup in India. He is likely to be one of the top performers in the tournament.

Jos Buttler

England's skipper has also been in good touch with the bat in the white-ball cricket for the last couple of months. He has performed brilliantly in the franchise leagues and also for England at the highest level of the game. Speaking of Buttler’s illustrious ODI career, he has scored 4647 runs in 138 innings of the 165 matches, he played for England.

In these matches, Buttler has scored runs with a fine average of 41.49, including 11 centuries and 24 half-centuries with the bat. He could end up as the player of the tournament in the ODI World Cup 2023 considering his current form.