Who Could be the Standout Stars for the Big Three at the ICC World Cup?

The ICC World Cup is underway in India and a number of potential narratives could play out over the next month and more.

Generally speaking, India, Australia, and England are seen as the top contenders, with any other nation considered an outsider to the big three. The trio are seen as the most likely victors due to historical prestige and, of course, the quality of their current personnel.

With that in mind, who could be the star man of each of those nations, that could lead their country to a historic win in Asia?

Joe Root

Joe Root is considered by many as England’s greatest-ever batsman and he’s still certainly within his prime playing days.

The Three Lions are looking to defend their maiden title and Root could be the most likely to pioneer a successful effort due to his consistent scoring. At least according to the outright cricket betting odds, he’s offered as a comfortable favorite to be England’s leading batsman at the tournament.

In the opening game of the World Cup against New Zealand, Root was the top scorer despite the fact his team fell to a defeat. He scored 77 runs from 86 balls – if he continues in that level of form, he could be the standout player at the tournament across all of the teams. 

In 2019, Ben Stokes was the Three Lions’ hero, but Root was still vital to his country’s competition victory. However, this time around, he’s highly likely to emerge as England’s overall leading performer at the tournament. 

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is undoubtedly an all-time cricketing legend, and while India has a star-studded team, he stands out as being the most influential player of them all. 

Kohli was India’s difference-maker against tournament rival Australia in their opening fixture. He scored 85 against the Aussies, which is one of the highest scores by any player in the competition so far. Not only this but over his career of playing in one-day internationals, Kohli has averaged a strike rate of 93.6, which is beyond remarkable. His consistency and longevity in cricket are unparalleled by anybody historically.

Kohli’s nation is cautiously expected to recapture the World Cup after a long wait this year. If India ends their 12-year wait to become world champions again, then Kohli will surely be the most decisive factor in sealing their achievement. 

Steve Smith

Australia is perhaps the slight outsider to win the competition amongst the big three. India has a home advantage, and England can carry the momentum from their maiden victory at Lords in 2019.

Nonetheless, Australia does have many immensely talented and experienced stars, most notably Steve Smith. He and David Warner are both consistent batsmen for Australia, but Smith has slightly edged his teammate in recent times.

In the six-wicket defeat against India, he was his team’s leading scorer with 46 points out of the entire 199-point haul. Smith has maintained an admirable ODI strike rate of 87.4 throughout his career. If he lives up to his average in India this year, then his nation should have a decent chance of causing a slight upset.

Australia have top batsmen in abundance, but their hopes will mainly be pinned on Smith over the next six weeks. 

There’s a key theme amongst the most likely stars in this list: they’re all high-scoring batsmen. Bowlers and the fielding team are also obviously vital to victory, but in cricket, scoring in considerable amounts is the most vital component to victory. 

In all likelihood, one of these stars will end up being the standout man at the tournament if their nation ends up winning big.