Sangakkara named in ICC Team of the Tournament – 2013

– by Janaka Alahapperuma –

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the Team of the ICC Champions Trophy- 2013 that included seven players from the England and India sides that featured in the final at Edgbaston on last Sunday. Indian Captain and wicket keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni named as the captain of the team.

Prolific wicket keeper batsman and former Captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team Kumar Sangakkara is the only player representing Sri Lanka named in the ICC Champions Trophy team of the tournament. Sangakkara played four games in the tournament and finished as the third highest run scorer, making 222 runs at an average of 74. The elegant left hander helped his side’s target of reaching the semi finals with a match winning, unbeaten 134 in Sri Lanka’s must win group stage last match against hosts England.

However ICC Champions Trophy 2013 winner India dominates the Team of the ICC Champions Trophy- 2013 too including five Indian players. The team includes Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar from India, two Englishmen, namely Jonathan Trott and James Anderson, as well as Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq, South Africa’s Ryan McLaren and New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan. Joe Root of England was picked as the 12th man.

The team of the tournament was selected by a five person selection panel that comprised Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager– Cricket & Chairman Event Technical Committee), Javagal Srinath (former Indian fast bowler & ICC Emirates Elite Panel match referee), Aleem Dar (Former Pakistan all rounder & ICC Emirates Elite Panel umpire), Scyld Berry (Wisden Editor from 2008-2011 & Sunday Telegraph correspondent) and Stephen Brenkley (correspondent of The Independent & Independent on Sunday).

Issuing a statement the chairman of the panel, Geoff Allardice said that it was an extremely difficult task for them to pick a team of 11 players from the quality of players who featured in the Champions Trophy 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 the three most impressive fast bowlers of the tournament in Kumar, Anderson and McClenaghan” he further stated.

Meanwhile Ravindra Jadeja (India) won the Golden Ball for taking the most wickets and Shikhar Dhawan (India) won the Golden Bat (for most runs) and was chosen as Man of the Series in the tournament. After winning the ICC Champions Trophy- 2013 in Edgbaston, Indian Captain MS Dhoni became the first captain in the history of Cricket to lift all the three ICC major trophies including ICC World Twenty20 in 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011.

ICC Team of the Tournament-2013 as follows (in batting order):

1. Shikhar Dhawan (India) -363 runs
2. Jonathan Trott (England)-229 runs
3. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)-222 runs
4. Virat Kohli (India)-176 runs
5. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)-173 runs
6. MS Dhoni (wicket keeper/captain) (India) – 27 runs, 5 catches & 4 stampings
7. Ravindra Jadeja (India)-12 wickets & 80 runs
8. Ryan McLaren (South Africa)-83 runs & 8 wickets
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India) – 6 wickets
10. James Anderson (England)-11 wickets
11. Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand)-11 wickets
12. Joe Root (12th man- England)-173 runs

Source: ICC- The International Cricket Council