Virat Kohli was the lone Indian cricketer to find a place in the ICC World Twenty20 men’s XI of the tournament, which was dominated by champions West Indies and runners-up Sri Lanka.
Kohli scored 185 runs runs in India’s five matches.
In the women’s XI, Poonam Raut was the only Indian to make the cut. Suresh Raina was named 12th man of the men’s team.
Finalists Sri Lanka and West Indies contributed a total of five players to the men’s team with Mahela Jayawardene named as captain, the ICC said in a statement.
In the women’s team, finalists Australia and England provided nine players with again the losing captain in the final, Charlotte Edwards, selected to lead the team.
Edwards was also named yesterday as the women’s player of the tournament.
Chosen by a group of experts, the team was aimed at being suited for Sri Lankan conditions on the basis of performances in the tournament only. Statistics were used but were not the sole basis for selections.
In all, there were three players from beaten finalists Sri Lanka and two from champions West Indies while Australia, England, New Zealand and Pakistan were also represented in the 12-member men’s squad.
Players who were considered included AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn of South Africa, David Warner of Australia, Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith and Sunil Narine of the West Indies.
In the women’s side, five players from champions Australia were represented while beaten finalists England have four in the side including Edwards. The team also features players from West Indies and New Zealand.
For the women’s team, players who were considered included Danielle Wyatt and Lydia Greenway of England, Sophie Devine of New Zealand, Deandra Dottin of West Indies, Erin Osborne of Australia and South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk.
ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 Men’s Team of the Tournament: Chris Gayle (West Indies), Shane Watson (Australia), Virat Kohli (India), Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka -- captain), Luke Wright (England), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand -- wicketkeeper), Marlon Samuels (West Indies), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan), Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
12th Man: Suresh Raina (India)
ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 Women’s Team of the Tournament: Charlotte Edwards (England -- captain), Meg Lanning (Australia), Poonam Raut (India), Laura Marsh (England), Sarah Taylor (England -- wicketkeeper), Lisa Sthalekar (Australia), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Julie Hunter (Australia), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Katherine Brunt (England), Erin Bermingham (New Zealand)
12th Player: Jess Cameron (Australia).
Keywords: Twenty20 World Cup, Twenty20 World XI, Virat Kohli
It is no surprise that Virat Kohli is the lone Indian cricketer to find a place in the ICC World Twenty20 men’s XI of the tournament. His performance in all formats has been impressive and he deserves his place in World XI. He has all the good qualities of a dependable middle order batsman.
Incidentally Virat Kohli is also competent to fill in the No. 3 spot in a test match, a job, elegantly and confidently handled by Rahul Dravid till his retirement. However, I believe that the hardest test for an Indian batsman who is likely to be No. 3 in test matches is his ability to face pace attacks of bowlers from Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and even Sri Lanka. Often our batsmen have failed to do consistently well abroad. Virat Kohli and his young colleagues need to be exposed to a variety of surfaces and trained in a systematic fashion so that we improve our record of wins abroad.
Please Email the Editor