Stars of the Cricket World Cup

As much as the known names lived up to their billing on the grandest stage, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 also threw up cricket's new heroes, those who despite appearing in the game's biggest competition for the first time, left a lasting impression. While the world of cricket will be poorer by the retirement of some of the legends of the game, the new generation left with a promise that they will return to enthrall and entertain.

Trent Boult, New Zealand

Six years ago, this teenager was part of the New Zealand team in the Under-19 World Cup where along with some others, Trent Boult left the impression of the country's cricketing future being in safe hands. In their own backyard New Zealand rose in 2015, especially on the back of a fast-bowling duo that had taken its formative steps all those years ago. While Tim Southee had made his New Zealand debut as a teenager, Boult waited for his opportunity before unleashing his inswingers on the world. Boult finished the joint-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 22 scalps, enhancing his reputation as one of world cricket's exciting new talents with the ball. His high point came in the group stage victory over Australia, where he demolished the eventual champions with 5 for 28.

Mitchell Starc, Australia

Like Boult, Starc is a left-armer and despite making his ODI debut five years ago, he had to wait until 2015 to make his World Cup bow, and what a start it was. Starc was instrumental in Australia's march to their fifth World Cup title, taking the new ball ahead of Mitchell Johnson. The tall Australian swung the new ball at high pace and returned to wreak havoc with the old, and his dismissal of Brendon McCullum in the final was a signature Starc delivery of the tournament. With 22 wickets Starc led the bowling charts and was named Man of the Series, along with rising to No 1 in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers for his efforts.

Glenn Maxwell, Australia

He may be a product of the T20 school of cricket, but Glenn Maxwell has taken to ODI cricket as fish to water. His swashbuckling skills were unleashed in the tournament were, coming in lower down the order, Maxwell provided Australia the impetus to boost their totals significantly higher. He set Australia on their way to a mammoth total against Sri Lanka with his maiden ODI century, off half as many balls, that proved to be the eventual difference. Audacious strokeplay and superhuman power were the feature of his batting as he finished with a freakish tournament strike-rate of 182, and his handy offspin meant Australia weren't devoid of a part-time bowler when needed, as his wicket of Martin Guptill in the final showed.

James Faulkner, Australia

The presence of quality allrounders in the Australian team allowed them immense depth to continually attack their opposition despite losing wickets as well as with the ball, and at the forefront of it was James Faulkner, who, while known for his late-order hitting skills, was the unlikely hero with the ball in the final. Faulkner struck twice in the opening Powerplay over to dismiss Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson to extinguish all hopes of a New Zealand fightback, and was named Man of the Match for his decisive spell of 3 for 36. Faulkner had already displayed his skills as a batsman, and his 10 wickets in the tournament at under 20 highlighted his value in the limited-overs team as a frontline bowler as well.

Josh Hazlewood, Australia

Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc may have run away with the headlines for their ability to swing the ball at high speed, Australia owed a large part of their success to 24-year-old Josh Hazlewood, who made line and length bowling look cool. Hazlewood brought a Glenn McGrath-like accuracy with his bowling and generating bounce with his height made run-scoring difficult against him. Hazlewood took seven wickets in his five games with his best performance coming against Pakistan, where his four wickets restricted them to a below-par total.

Shikhar Dhawan, India

His Test reputation having taken a serious beating over the Australian summer, Shikhar Dhawan was in a race against time to win back his form in the 2015 World Cup. The pace and bounce of the Australian pitches appeared to have undone Dhawan, but he struck form at the right time for India, scoring 412 runs with the help of two centuries and a fifty, the pick of them being his 137 against South Africa in Melbourne, where he cut and pulled Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell with aplomb. Dhawan and Rohit Sharma's opening combination was the basis on which India posted strong totals and chased down some with ease, and the Delhi left-hander looked the most comfortable in the semi-finals against Australia as well. Dhawan arrived in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and enhanced his reputation as a solid one-day opener at cricket's showpiece event.

Mohammed Shami, India

After a stirring Test debut in 2013, Mohammed Shami showcased his ODI bowling skills by taking the most wickets in the format last year. And despite modest returns in the Test series in Australia, Shami led India's bowling attack admirably throughout the competition, finishing with 17 wickets. His four-wicket haul against Pakistan broke the back of their batting, and his breakthroughs up front against every other team allowed India to put pressure on their opposition. The only time he went wicketless was against Australia, and India paid heavily for that, but it didn't take away anything from a spirited bowling performance from Shami.

Umesh Yadav, India

While batting performances took centre-stage, bowlers weren't left far behind in the tournament hosted on the bouncy pitches of Australia and New Zealand. Fast bowlers from Australia and New Zealand took away the limelight, but India's new-ball duo wasn't left far behind. Along with Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav bowled with pace and zest that fetched him 18 wickets in the tournament, the third highest in the bowling charts. The regular breakthroughs provided by India's new ball pair was a big reason of India's run to the semi-finals, and Yadav was at the forefront of it, performing admirably in the knockouts against Bangladesh and Australia.

Lahiru Thirimanne, Sri Lanka

If Sri Lanka's veteran batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan led the batting charts for their team, Lahiru Thirimanne wasn't behind them by much. The left-hander, who wasn't even in the XI for the first three ODIs in India late last year was promoted to open the innings and didn't disappoint, scoring 302 runs with a hundred and two fifties, the highest of 139* coming against England in a dominant run chase. Even in the quarter-final defeat to South Africa, Thirimanne looked the most comfortable of the Sri Lanka batsmen - again back in the middle order - and it was his dismissal that sparked an unlikely collapse. With Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene giving up ODIs, the focus would be on Thirimanne to lead the Sri Lankan batting into the future.

David Miller, South Africa

South Africa's much-vaunted batting line-up struggled to fire in the initial stages of the tournament, often needing its middle order to take them to safety, and David Miller's contribution in this regard was significant. The hard-hitting left-hander resurrected South Africa in their opener against Zimbabwe, where despite being reduced to 83 for 4, Miller, along with JP Duminy, flayed the bowlers to all parts of Seddon Park in Hamilton with his 92-ball 138*. Handy contributions continued from the bat of Miller, and despite a rapid 49 in the semi-finals, New Zealand chased down South Africa's total to end his World Cup debut.

Shaiman Anwar, UAE

An employee with a shipping firm, Shaiman Anwar found himself in the company of batting greats like Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers as the highest run-getter of the tournament for a brief while. A middle-order batsman, Anwar often found his team in dire straits and almost every time he came up with the goods for his team. His 106 against Ireland helped UAE post a strong total and in the process became the first UAE batsman to reach the three-figure mark in a World Cup. He scored two fifty plus scores against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, and finished the tournament with 311 runs at an average of 51.83.

Josh Davey, Scotland

Defending a small total of 142 in their World Cup opener, Scotland made New Zealand work hard for two points at Dunedin with Josh Davey claiming 3 for 40. In the next game at Chirstchurch, Davey scalped four England wickets and all of a sudden the medium-pacer found himself leading the wicket-takers list. The 24-year-old is highly rated in the county circuit for his prowess to swing the ball both ways, and the Scot did not disappoint on the grandest stage of them all. He went on to finish the tournament with 15 wickets at a miserly average of 20.73.

Hamid Hassan, Afghanistan

It is hard to miss a guy sporting a headband and cheeks painted with national colours. And if he bowls really fast and does cartwheels on taking a wicket, there is no chance that you will easily forget Hamid Hasan. But Hasan will not only be remembered for his persona in this World Cup, but a fiery spell of fast bowling took put Sri Lanka in a spot of bother. He picked 3 for 45 in that game including the wickets of Kumar Sangakkara and centurion Mahela Jayawardene.

Grant Elliott, New Zealand

Grant Elliot was not even a part of New Zealand's World Cup plans a month prior to the tournament, but the 35-year-old Johannesburg-born allrounder produced the moment of the World Cup when he hit Dale Steyn for a six at Eden Park to help New Zealand to their maiden World Cup final in seven attempts. Till that awe-inspiring innings of 84 off 73 balls, Elliot had not done much in the tournament, but when it mattered the most he stepped up to the plate and soaked in the pressure rather remarkably. Even in the final, it was only Elliot (84) who put in any kind of resistance against the marauding Australians.