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Opinion
After four weeks of drama, action, skill and atmosphere, the T20 World Cup has been run and won, England claiming the title with a brilliant performance in the final to sneak past Pakistan.
As such, three of their victorious XI have earned places in The Roar’s official Team of the World Cup, including – obviously – player of the final, and the tournament, Sam Curran.
Before we start, let’s note as well that the ICC named their team of the tournament as well on the eve of the final, with several notable omissions.
Curran, inexplicably, was overlooked before his heroics in the final, while no Australians made the cut as well.
All in all, I’d make the argument that the team below is substantially better – just the inclusion of Curran makes it a superior outfit.
Plenty of other names, particularly in the batting department, simply picked themselves as well in my team: Virat Kohli’s tournament average only dropped below 100 when he was dismissed in the semi-final, while Indian teammate Suryakumar Yadav stamped himself as world cricket’s most exciting batter with a series of spectacular innings.
With the ball, Pakistan quick Shaheen Afridi was pivotal to their hopes right up until his crucial injury midway through the final; but with 11 wickets at just 8.54 and an economy rate of well under a run a ball, South African speed demon Anrich Nortje was quite clearly the pick of the bowlers at the tournament.
So who else made the cut – and how have I managed to squeeze an Australian into the final team despite their ignominious group stages exit? Let’s find out.
225 runs @ 45, SR 144.23, HS 80*, 9 catches
The most fearsome ball-striker in world cricket is now a World Cup-winning captain. The centrepiece of England’s white-ball resurgence for the last half-decade, Buttler’s presence has seldom loomed larger than at this tournament.
Rusty early – his second-ball duck against Ireland was the flashpoint in England’s only defeat – Buttler came to the party with a critical 73 in a must-win group stages game against New Zealand and never slowed from there.
Working beautifully in tandem with opening partner Alex Hales – more on him in a second – he helped put on a tournament record 170-run unbeaten opening stand in a semi-final rout over India, before a sprightly 26 gave his team just the fast start they needed chasing 137 in the final.
His captaincy, too, was superb, making excellent use of his varied and deep bowling attack, particularly in deploying spin trio Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali.
Jos Buttler and Alex Hales of England celebrate victory. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
212 runs @ 42.4, SR 147.22, HS 86*
There were two standout openers at this World Cup, a difficult one at which to bat at the top of the order – that both are from the same country pretty much outlines how England won it all.
Like Buttler, Hales started slowly before bursting to life with 52 against New Zealand. From there, he would regularly outpace his more highly credentialled partner, giving the captain the chance to move at a more sedate pace before exploding later.
Together, they put on 81 against the Black Caps, 75 against Sri Lanka and of course 170 against India in consecutive, must-win games – and you could make a case in all that Hales was the more dominant of the two. By the time he was run through by Shaheen Afridi for just 1 in the final, he’d more than earned his place in this team already.
296 runs @ 98.67, SR 136.40, HS 82*
Form is temporary, class is permanent.
After nearly three years in the international wilderness – he only recently broke his long streak without a century in September, and only against Afghanistan – Kohli was back with a vengeance this tournament. Starting with a perfectly paced unbeaten 82 against Pakistan – the highlight THAT shot off Haris Rauf – he’d finish with four half-centuries in six innings at an obscene average of 98.67.
Had India so much as made the final – and with 50 in the semi-final, their downfall was nought to do with him – Kohli would have been the obvious choice for player of the tournament. As it stands, he probably still deserved to win it.
201 runs @ 40.2, SR 158.26, HS 104
No batter at this tournament emerged with a reputation more enhanced than the New Zealand blaster. Coming into the World Cup as a key, if relatively under the radar, cog in the Black Caps’ middle order, Phillips hit a rich vein of form mid-tournament to steer the Black Caps into the semi-finals.
His two standout innings were among the tournament’s best – a match-turning 104 against Sri Lanka when everyone else playing combined mustered just 165, while a 36-ball 62 against England very nearly brought about the unlikeliest of New Zealand victories just about single-handed.
Phillips also maintained his standing as one of cricket’s best fielders – his staggering catch in the World Cup opener against Australia wasn’t topped for the rest of the tournament.
239 runs @ 59.75, SR 189.68, HS 68
It’s one thing to score quick runs. It’s another to score quick runs and make lots of them. It’s quite another entirely to score quick runs, make lots of them AND be utterly mesmerising every time you face up.
Of the ten best shots of the World Cup, I’d wager six or seven would belong to Yadav alone. SKY, as he’s become known in the IPL, is India’s answer to Mike Hussey – a late bloomer who made his international debut at age 30 and now seems on the cusp of dominating world cricket, if only with a white ball for the moment.
His outrageous 25-ball 61 against Zimbabwe sent fans everywhere into a frenzy, but even better was his effort in a losing cause against South Africa. With his teammates falling like ninepins on a fast-paced Perth pitch against a menacing Proteas attack, Yadav clubbed, glided and crunched his way to 68 off just 40 balls. No one else in his team passed 15.
126 runs @ 42, SR 161.53, HS 59*, 1 wicket @ 87, economy 9.66, BB 1/6
The sole Australian even close to making this XI, Stoinis is also without doubt its most controversial member.
The last player picked in this team, he’s here for squad balance as much as anything: a sixth bowler who can hit hard in the closing overs is a valuable commodity in world cricket, and Stoinis fits that bill perfectly.
His awe-inspiring 59 off just 18 balls, featuring six sixes, got the Aussies out of a jam against Sri Lanka; while scores of 35 and 25 against Ireland and Afghanistan also proved vital in nervy wins.
It wasn’t enough to drag the team into the semi-finals, but Stoinis is the sole Australian to come out of the tournament with reputation enhanced. Amid doubts over his spot in the team heading in, he is now clearly the designated finisher, and alongside Adam Zampa looms as being first picked for the 2022 tournament already.
98 runs @ 24.5, SR 168.96, HS 52, 11 wickets @ 15, economy 6.34, BB 3/22
When Pakistan need a key breakthrough in the middle overs, they turn to Shadab. When Pakistan need a quick flurry of runs in the closing stages of an innings, they turn to Shadab. And when Pakistan need a moment of brilliance in the field to turn a game, they turn to, yep, Shadab.
The 24-year old vice-captain is pure, solid essence of match-winner, in every facet of the game.
Claiming an equal-team high 11 wickets and never failing to keep things tight, he removed Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan in successive balls in their do-or-die group stages game in Bangladesh, shifting the match Pakistan’s way just when they seemed in strife.
His batting, such is life for a finisher, wasn’t quite as consistent, but his glorious 22-ball 52 against South Africa, coming in at 5/95, helped Pakistan add 90 off the last seven overs, won the game at a stroke and turned the whole tournament upside down. (He also knocked over Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram in the same over to break the back of the run chase, as it happens.)
Then, in the semi-final, his dead-eye run out of the dangerous Devon Conway ensured Pakistan had a choke hold on the match that they’d never release.
World cricket has brilliant fielders, devil-may-care batters and incisive spinners; but no one combines the three anywhere near as spectacularly as Shadab Khan.
Shadab Khan of Pakistan celebrates taking the wicket of Aiden Markram of South Africa. (Photo by Matt King-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
13 wickets @ 11.38, economy 6.52, BB 5/10
There is no harder skill to perfect in T20 cricket than death bowling. Miss your mark by a fraction, and free-swinging batters send you to the pickets or beyond. So it’s little wonder that in a tournament characterised by fast bowling, the man adjudged the pick of the bunch hit those marks a little bit better than everyone else.
In all formats, Curran has become a bit of a talisman for England, winning games with both bat and ball without every truly solidifying his place in any XI. But his performance in Australia these past three weeks should put any lingering doubts to bed: he is not only assured of his spot in the T20I line-up, at least, for the foreseeable future, but he now might be England’s premier white-ball bowler.
Finding swing in the early overs, and nailing his yorkers and variations at the death, Curran saved his best for last (his five-wicket haul against Afghanistan has an Afghanistan-sized asterisk next to it), strangling the life out of Pakistan in the final.
His figures of 3/12 made him an obvious player of the match as well, despite his protests that it should have gone to Ben Stokes; nothing he bowled was particularly special, but his unerring accuracy, crafty use of angles and early swing left the Pakistan batters trying to manufacture things off him that brought about their downfall.
It’s just a shame England’s deep batting line-up meant he was seldom required to swing the willow, because he’s every bit as deadly in that facet as well.
8 wickets @ 17, economy 7.16, BB 3/13 (Super 12s statistics only)
Hasaranga’s tournament stats are even more remarkable when you consider two caveats: one, they exclude his seven wickets taken against Associate nations in the tournament qualifiers, and two, they come despite the merciless pummelling he copped at the hands of Australia and Marcus Stoinis in Perth.
That 0/53 off three overs would have automatically disqualified a lesser bowler from this team; but after that, Hasaranga returned to his best and proved virtually unhittable for the rest of the tournament.
In his last three games, against more than decent opposition in New Zealand, Afghanistan and England, he took six wickets and conceded just 58 runs in his 12 overs. He’d go for just three boundaries, and only one six, in that time. Some comeback.
All that Australian onslaught in the end meant was that he was no longer an automatic inclusion; but he still clearly merited a spot in this XI, beating out Mitchell Santner among rival spinners and Paul van Meekeren and Tim Southee of the quicks.
11 wickets @ 14.09, economy 6.15, BB 4/22
A left-armer who swings the ball at high pace and zeroes in on the stumps with menacing yorkers, Afridi has officially taken over from Mitchell Starc as world cricket’s premier southpaw.
Watching him bowl was like getting into a time machine and going back to see Starc in his pomp at the 2015 ODI World Cup; right up until he injured his knee taking a spectacular catch in the final, he was THE man for Pakistan.
He made no less a batter than Hales, in the form of his life, look like a club cricketer with a monster of an inswinger in his first over; indeed, had he not been hurt, there is every chance Pakistan would have hung on for a famous victory.
As it was, his nine wickets for just 60 runs in crunch group stages wins over Bangladesh and South Africa plus the semi-final triumph over New Zealand were enough to earn him this spot on their own.
Remarkably, in three of their last four games (Bangladesh the only exception), Afridi took a wicket in the first over of the innings: he is DEADLY when the ball is moving, and dangerous even when it’s not.
11 wickets @ 8.54, economy 5.37, BB 4/10
There are many excellent fast bowlers in the world, but Nortje is clearly the fastest now. And on pitches that suited his pace and bounce to a tee, he was far and away the World Cup’s premier bowler.
From Associates to Full Members, it was a struggle to even put bat on ball against Nortje, never mind score with any fluency. No one else with five wickets or more in the Super 12s stages had an economy rate of below a run a ball – Afridi was closest at 6.15. The Proteas demon’s was down at 5.37.
Only Shadab Khan truly took to him all tournament, with Nortje’s final two overs against Pakistan hit for 31 to ruin his figures that evening (he’d still take four wickets, including Shadab’s).
The highlight was in the Proteas’ disastrous loss to the Netherlands; in a match in which nearly all his teammates spectacularly capitulated, Nortje kept up his end of the bargain, conceding only 10 runs from his four overs. To put that into perspective, Kagiso Rabada, one of the world’s most exciting pacemen, was clobbered for 37 from just three
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