Champions Trophy 2013: Team of the Tournament announced by ICC

MS Dhoni

International Cricket Council has announced the ‘Team of the Tournament’ for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 today. The team features 12 best players who have been picked according to their performances in the recently concluded tournament.

The team includes 5 players from India, which is the highest from any team in the tournament. Three players from England and one each from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa have been included in the side. MS Dhoni has been named the captain of the side, which is no surprise considering the fact that India won this coveted competition and Dhoni garnered praise for his leadership from many quarters.

The chairman of the panel, Mr Allardice, said, “It was an extremely difficult task for the panel to pick a team of 11 players from the quality of players who featured in this tournament. As the selection criteria was the performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, some of the best players had to be left out, though they would walk very easily into any World XI.

“The side is a good mixture of specialists and all-rounders, and includes six in-form batsmen, including Dhoni as a wicketkeeper-batsman, a spinner in Jadeja, McLaren as an all-rounder and three most impressive fast bowlers of the tournament in Kumar, Anderson and McClenaghan.”

Shikhar Dhawan was the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 363 runs, while Ravindra Jadeja was the highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets. Both the Indian players have been included in the best XI.

Team of the Tournament (in batting order):

1. Shikhar Dhawan (India)2. Jonathan Trott (England)3. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)4. Virat Kohli (India)5. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni(India)- Captain/wk7. Ravindra Jadeja (India)8. Ryan McLaren (South Africa)9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India)10. James Anderson (England)11. Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand)12. Joe Root (England)- 12th Man