Five batters to watch out for at the Cricket World Cup

Ahead of the Cricket World Cup kicking off on October 5, we have picked out five batters to keep an eye on in India.

Shubman Gill (India)

India are crying out for a hero to lead them to glory in their home World Cup and Shubman Gill could be the man.

The 24-year-old was the top run-scorer in the Asia Cup earlier this month, scoring 67*, 58 and 121 across his five innings.

Having emerged as the frontrunner amid serious competition for places to open the batting with Rohit Sharma, the starlet looks ready to establish himself as one of the best in the world in the coming months.

Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa)

After Heinrich Klaasen smashed 174 off 83 balls against Australia recently, his Oval Invincibles head coach Tom Moody tweeted: "Heinrich Klaasen is the best middle order white ball player in the world, if not I'd like to hear who is."

Few could disagree after Klaasen's assault on a bowling attack featuring Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa — the second-highest ODI score for any player batting at No5 or lower.

The innings featured 13 fours and 13 sixes and was the third time the 32-year-old has scored 80 or more in his last seven knocks in this format.

Dawid Malan (England)

England's highest ODI scorer since their 2019 World Cup triumph, pure weight of runs has guaranteed Dawid Malan a place in their XI for this year's competition.

Malan has struck 1,022 runs at a whopping average of 63.87 in that time, including four centuries across four different continents in the last 12 months.

The 36-year-old was competing with Jason Roy for a place at the top of England's order until this month's ODI series with New Zealand — a battle he comprehensively won as he scored 277 in three innings.

Mitch Marsh (Australia)

Mitch Marsh re-announced himself as a quality player during the summer Ashes series, scoring a superb century in the Third Test.

The 31-year-old has a solid record in this format— 2,131 runs at an average of 33.82 — while he scored 81, 66* and 47 in the only three ODIs he has played in India earlier this year.

He has experience of stepping things up in tournaments, too, after smashing 77* in his side's victorious 2021 T20 World Cup final.

Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)

Mohammad Rizwan is often overshadowed by Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam in Pakistan's white-ball side but is capable of stepping up as the main man at the World Cup.

The 31-year-old has struck 67, 44, 63* and 86* across his last five ODI innings and was his country's joint-top run-scorer at last year's T20 World Cup.

His average of 62.80 is the highest of any Pakistan batter to play more than seven innings in 2023.