The 2023 World Cup will likely be the last for several modern greats of the game. Here’s an XI of players who are probably playing their last fifty-over World Cup.

There has been little significant change over from the 2019 tournament to the upcoming edition. Eight of the top ten run-scorers from four years ago have been selected this time around, as have nine of last time’s top ten wicket-takers. However, with some having already announced that this tournament will be their last, the squads for the 2027 tournament will look radically different.

This is the best XI out of players who will likely not make the next edition, but is by no means an exhaustive list.

Rohit Sharma

Bowing out of World Cup cricket as a winning captain on home soil would be a glorious end to Rohit’s career. With India tipped as favourites to lift the trophy, it could be the golden end of dreams. Rohit became the newest member of the 10,000 ODI run club in the 2023 Asia Cup and also joined Ricky Ponting in third place on the all-time centuries list with 30. Having been the leading run scorer in the 2019 tournament, he has an opportunity to join another exclusive group of players who have done so in back-to-back World Cups. With an average of 50.61 this year alone in ODIs, he’s once more in good form.

Quinton De Kock (wk)

De Kock has already announced that he will retire from ODIs after the 2023 World Cup. Although he has 17 ODI hundreds, he has never crossed three figures in a World Cup, having featured in both 2015 and 2019. He heads an explosive lineup with Temba Bavuma at the top of the order this time around, with South Africa in a decent position to mount a serious charge for the semi-finals.

David Warner

Warner has also announced that he will not feature in another World Cup, having set his international retirement date for the 2024 Sydney Test. One of Australia’s 2015 World Champions, World Cups tend to bring out his best. He averages 62 in the competition and has scored four centuries. Three of those came in 2019, where he was pipped by Rohit by only one run to be the leading run scorer.

Virat Kohli

A final chapter for one of India’s greatest in World Cups. While Kohli hasn’t announced that he will not play in the next edition, given that he will turn 35 during this competition it’s hard to see his international career continuing to 2027. He is two adrift of Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time century record in ODI cricket. There would be no more fitting time for Kohli to surpass the record, 12 years after they both featured in India’s last World Cup win in India.

Ben Stokes

Stokes is the youngest of the players in this XI but the one who’s body is failing him the fastest. He will not bowl in this tournament to preserve his knee and give him the best chance of being able to play Test cricket. Given he has already retired from ODI cricket once, this could be the last time he’s in ODI colours at all.

Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib is an all-time World Cup great. His overall performance in 2019 was one of the finest in the tournament’s history, only failing to reach fifty in one of his eight innings. He is the only player in history to have more than one World Cup century and a five-for, and is in the top ten run scorers in the tournament’s history. This will be his fifth World Cup and he goes into it as Bangladesh’s captain.

The Bangladesh pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim are both set to take part in their FIFTH World Cup.

They both made their World Cup debuts all the way back in 2007!#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/KqqQ4R9JYa

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) September 30, 2023

Mohammad Nabi

At 38, Nabi is the oldest player in this XI. The 2027 tournament will be Afghanistan’s first without Nabi, who should be considered an important statesman in the side’s ascension to full member status. He was part of the side which achieved Afghanistan’s only World Cup win to date – a one wicket thriller over Scotland in 2015 – and has played in every match Afghanistan have competed in World Cups.

Mitchell Starc

Starc was the leading wicket-taker in both the 2019 and 2015 tournaments and is the fifth leading World Cup wicket taker of all time. It’s a remarkable feat given he’s only played in two editions. Injury problems and the strain of playing all three formats have reduced his ODI appearances of late, but he should be at his fearsome best when the tournament kicks off.

Tim Southee

Southee is in a race against time to be fit for the tournament, after breaking his thumb weeks before the start. He will not be ready for New Zealand’s tournament opener, but is hoped to be fit at a later stage. Southee has played every World Cup since 2011, but only played one match in 2019. Now with two runners up medals, he could bow out third time lucky.

Adil Rashid

Of all England’s 2019 cohort, Rashid will be missed the most. He’s one of their elite double white-ball World Champions, and their hardest to replace player. No spinner has taken more ODI wickets for England, and Rashid will be go down as one of their greats in the format. With the importance spin will play in this World Cup, Rashid will be more vital to their side than ever.

Trent Boult

Boult has already distanced himself from international cricket, having turned down a central contract. However, New Zealand fans will be relieved to have their best-ever World Cup bowler for one last showdown. Only Glenn McGrath among the ten World Cup leading wicket taking seamers has a better average than Boult. Along with Starc, the next few weeks will be a goodbye to the two leading quick ODI bowlers of the modern era.

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