3 teams who have underperformed in the first half of the 2023 ODI World Cup ft. England 

With half of the ongoing ICC men's ODI World Cup 2023 already completed, a few sides have already placed their one foot in the knockout stages of the tournament.

After 23 of the 45 league stage matches already in the history books, India, South Africa, and New Zealand have been the three standout performers. All three sides have been well-rounded units, bossing all three facets of the game.

While South Africa and New Zealand have won four games and are sitting with eight points, Team India have been unvanquished. The Rohit Sharma-led side batted second in each of their five games and have successfully chased down targets rather convincingly. They are currently the table-toppers and are the only team with 10 points.

Apart from this, teams including Afghanistan and the Netherlands have not only given their opponents a run for their money but have already dished out stunning upsets in the tournament.

Having said that, there have been a slew of sides that have failed to make their mark and are yet to fully arrive in the ongoing competition. On that note, here are three of the ten participating 2023 ODI World Cup teams who have underperformed in the first half of the tournament.

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#3 Bangladesh

Bangladesh players have huge talent but have failed to make a mark [Getty Images]

Many fans thought that Bangladesh's first match of the tournament against Afghanistan would be tightly contested. However, a relentless bowling made a one-sided affair for Bangladesh, who won the tie by six wickets.

It was a perfect start for the Bangla Tigers, who eyeing to improve on eight position that they got in the last edition in 2019.

However, Bangladesh have not only lost their next four fixtures but have endured massive defeats in each of those games. Despite having a great potential, neither of their batting nor bowling have clicked thus far.

The two times they have bowled first in their last four matches, Bangladesh have leaked 364 (vs ENG) and 382 (vs SA) and have faced huge defeats by a margin of 137 and 149 runs, respectively.

The batting unit, where most of the batters' positions have been shuffled quite a lot, is yet to score over 260 runs in tournament. The Bangladeshi unit are currently placed bottom of the points table with only two points across five games.

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#2 Pakistan

Pakistan players after defeat to Afghanistan [Getty Images]

Despite having a forgettable Asia Cup 2023 campaign, many fans believed that Pakistan would easily be gunning for the knockout stages of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

After all, they had a settled unit with a composed batting unit and a well-rounded bowling attack. However, during the Asia Cup 2023, the Men in Green dealt a huge blow as Naseem Shah was ruled out of the quadrennial tournament.

While his injury did force Pakistan to make some tweaks, they still had enough weapons in their arsenal to conquer any team in the world.

The Babar Azam-led unit enjoyed a terrific start to their campaign as they first beat the Netherlands before scripting a historic run-chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad. However, since then, things have gone downhill for the 1992 champions.

Their batting collapsed in a high-pressure game against India, where they lost eight of their wickets in just a span of 36 runs.

The next game against Australia saw their bowling travel to all parts of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where centuries from David Warner (163) and Mitchell Marsh (121) helped the Aussie post a gigantic score of 367 in the first innings. While Pakistan did manage to score over 300 runs in that game, they were always behind the asking run rate throughout the innings.

In their last game, Pakistan endured another chastening defeat, this time at the hands of Afghanistan, who had never defeated them in the previous seven ODIs. It certainly was a morale-hindering loss, as Pakistan looked clueless against a mature Afghani side.

While Pakistan's batting unit has still done well in phases, their bowling has looked less threatening with each passing game. There have been quite a few question marks over Babar Azam's captaincy, but only time will tell how they fare in the upcoming games.

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#1 England

Jos Buttler after getting dismissed vs South Africa [Getty Images]

It won't be an overstatement to say that from 2015 to 2022, England certainly ruled the roost in white-ball cricket. Their fearless and counter-attacking approach in the 50-over game sparked the format with a new life, and the Three Lions proved to be the flagbearers of the new-age realities of ODI cricket.

The 2019 World Cup champions, however, have massively underperformed in the ongoing competition. With just one win in four matches, England are ninth on the points table, with Bangladesh keeping them away from the bottom due to an inferior net run rate.

England started their campaign in the worst way possible, as they lost the tournament-opener against New Zealand by nine wickets remaining. The next game saw some normalcy from England, where they hammered 376 runs against Bangladesh and won the match with much ease.

However, in their next two games, England just didn't turn up. Their batters looked completely out of sorts against Afganistan's spin troika and were bundled out for 215 in their pursuit of a 285-run target.

Then, the Jos Buttler-led unit faced questions on multiple fronts as South Africa gave them a shellacking by a huge margin of 229 runs in Mumbai. As the sun was beating down on England, they leaked as many as 399 runs in the first innings before getting completely flogged at 100/8 in reply.

If not for the 70-run partnership between Mark Wood (43*) and Gus Atkinson (35), things could've been extremely bleak for the defending champions.