LONDON, June 24:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was today named captain of the ICC’s Team of the Champions Trophy, which has four other Indians including stylish batsman Shikhar Dhawan.
India won the last edition of the Champions Trophy after edging past England by five runs yesterday.
The ICC team has seven players from India and runners-up England.
The team includes Dhoni, Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – two Englishmen, Jonathan Trott and James Anderson, as well as Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq, Kumar Sangakkara from Sri Lanka, South Africa’s Ryan McLaren and New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan.
Joe Root of England was picked as the 12th man.
Dhoni was named as the captain after he led his side to victory in the final, thus becoming the first captain in the history of the game to lift all three major ICC trophies – World Twenty20 2007, Cricket World Cup 2011 and Champions Trophy 2013.
“While Dhoni got little opportunity to show his exploits with the bat, he marshalled his troops outstandingly and he was sharp and agile behind the stumps as he accounted for nine batsmen behind the wickets (five catches and four stumpings), an ICC release said.
The Team of the Tournament was selected by a five-man selection panel that comprised Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager – Cricket, and Chairman Event Technical Committee), Javagal Srinath (former India fast bowler and ICC Emirates Elite Panel match referee), Aleem Dar (ICC Emirates Elite Panel umpire), Scyld Berry (Wisden Editor from 2008-2011 and Sunday Telegraph correspondent) and Stephen Brenkley (correspondent of The Independent and Independent On Sunday).
“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,” Chairman of the panel, Allardice, said.
“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 the three most impressive fast bowlers of the tournament in Kumar, Anderson and McClenaghan,” he added.
Team of the Tournament: (in batting order)
Shikhar Dhawan (India) -363 runs, Jonathan Trott (England)-229 runs, Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)-222 runs, Virat Kohli (India)-176 runs, Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)-173 runs, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper/captain) (India)- 27 runs, five catches and four stumpings, Ravindra Jadeja (India)-12 wickets & 80 runs, Ryan McLaren (South Africa)-83 runs & eight wickets, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India)- six wickets, James Anderson (England)-11 wickets, Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand)-11 wickets, and Joe Root (England)-173 runs. (PTI)
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