5 players who made the ODI World Cup squad despite not being named initially ft. Rishabh Pant

Playing in the World Cup is the ultimate dream for the players, regardless of the sport. The emotions attached to a global tournament are unmatched. Some of the greatest players have said that winning the World Cup is the biggest prize of their respective careers.

Over the years, some extremely talented players have failed to make the cut for various reasons.

24-year-old England batter Harry Brook is currently not a part of the England squad for the 2023 edition. However, there are speculations that he might be included in the squad that will play Ireland, his last chance to impress before the tournament.

On that note, we look at five players who ended up playing in the World Cup despite not being selected initially:

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#1 Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant was left out of the 2019 World Cup squad, which was announced in April. However, he was named as a standby for the mega event.

He was called up in the middle of the tournament after Shikhar Dhawan suffered a hairline fracture in his thumb, which ruled him out of the rest of the competition.

Pant scored 116 runs in four innings at the 2019 edition of the tournament. He scored 32 off 56 balls in the semi-final after India's top order collapsed to 5/3 within the first few overs. However, his patient knock came to an end against the accurate bowling of Mitchell Santner.

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#2 Mohit Sharma

Mohit Sharma replaced Ishant Sharma in the original 15-member squad. The lanky fast bowler suffered a knee injury, which kept him out of competitive cricket for over a month after the Boxing Day Test. He also failed the fitness test.

"The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 approved Mohit Sharma as a replacement player for Ishant Sharma in India's squad for the tournament," the International Cricket Council said in a statement.

Mohit Sharma had a decent campaign. He picked up 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 24.15 and an economy rate of 4.98.

However, he proved to be expensive in the semi-final against Australia, as he returned with figures of 2/75 in 10 overs.

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#3 S Sreesanth

Kerala pacer Sreesanth replaced Praveen Kumar, who was ruled out of the 2011 World Cup because of an elbow injury.

Praveen underwent a fitness test at the NCA to see if he had recovered from the injury sustained before the start of the ODI series in South Africa. However, the recovery did not go as planned.

Sreesanth played in only two matches in the tournament and picked up zero wickets, conceding 105 runs in 13 overs.

He played against Bangladesh in the tournament opener and against Sri Lanka in the final after Ashish Nehra was ruled out because of a fractured finger.

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#4 Stuart Clark

Right-arm fast bowler Stuart Clark replaced star bowler Brett Lee in the 2007 edition, after the latter was ruled out with an ankle injury.

However, he played just one match in the tournament against Ireland, where he returned with figures of 1/19 in 8 overs.

"To get told that you can't be a chance to play in the World Cup is really disappointing," Lee told reporters. "I couldn't undergo the exercises, there's too much pain there....there was absolutely no chance of me playing in the World Cup."

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#5 Sunil Ambris

Star all-rounder Andre Russell was ruled out of the 2019 World Cup midway through the tournament due to a left knee injury.

He was replaced by top-order batter Sunil Ambris, who had played six ODIs for the team until the tournament.

Ambris played two matches in the tournament, against India and Sri Lanka. Opening the batting with Chris Gayle, he scored 31 off 40 deliveries against the Men in Blue and 5 off 6 against the Island nation.