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Opinion
With only the World Cup final remaining, it’s time to put on the selector’s hats and come up with a team of the tournament.
The Indians have been dominant throughout the tournament, blitzing their way through the group stage and making it 10 on the trot with their semi-final triumph over New Zealand.
Australia, who they will face in the final, and South Africa have been the other in-form sides while developing nations like Afghanistan and the Netherlands have surprised the cricketing world with their improved performances.
Virat Kohli, Quinton de Kock, Adam Zampa and Mohammed Shami are in contention for player of the tournament honours with “King Kohli” the odds-on favourite after the star Indian batter topped the run-scoring tally with 711 in a new World Cup record.
After we came up with a Team of the World Cup so far midway through the World Cup, the Roar HQ cricket nuffies have finalised their their respective teams and we also eventually came up with a consensus XI.
The batting line-up was a relatively smooth process at the selction table.
Proteas keeper Quinton de Kock was an obvious choice as one of the openers after smashing four tons to trail only Kohli in the runs department while Rohit Sharma (550 at 55) surged ahead of Australian veteran David Warner (528 at 52.8) for the other spot.
Kohli, with three hundreds and five half-centuries in his 10 innings, is averaging an extraordinary 101.57 while New Zealand young gun Rachin Ravindra was the breakout star of the tournament with 578 runs at 64.22, including three tons.
His Kiwi teammate Daryl Mitchell reaffirmed his class with a similar output (552 at 69 with two tons) while Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was an automatic selection for his whirlwind ton early in the tournament followed by his astounding double ton to sink Afghanistan.
Glenn Maxwell celebrates the greatest one-day innings of all time. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Choosing the other all-rounder or middle-order batter was problematic but after a verbal joust and a few threats of retribution around the selection table, South Africa’s Marco Jansen (17 wickets at 26.47 and 157 runs at 31.4) got the nod ahead of Indian duo Ravindra Jadeja (16 wickets at 22.18 and 111 runs at 55.5) and Shreyas Iyer (526 runs at 75.14).
In the bowling department, Mohammed Shami came from the clouds to gazump Adam Zampa as the Cup’s leading wicket-taker and holds a 23-22 advantage heading into Sunday’s final at Ahmedabad.
Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (18 wickets at 18.33) and Sri Lankan left-armer Dilshan Madushanka (21 wickets at 25) snared the other two spots although Proteas seamer Gerald Coetzee proved he can be a long-term cornerstone of their attack by taking 20 wickets at 19.8.
| Paul Suttor | Tim Miller | Mike Meehall Wood | Consensus Team of the Cup |
| Quinton de Kock (wk) | Quinton de Kock (wk) | Quinton de Kock (wk) | Quinton de Kock (wk) |
| Rohit Sharma (c) | Rohit Sharma (c) | Rohit Sharma (c) | Rohit Sharma (c) |
| Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| Rachin Ravindra | Rachin Ravindra | Rachin Ravindra | Rachin Ravindra |
| Daryl Mitchell | Daryl Mitchell | Shreyas Iyer | Daryl Mitchell |
| Glenn Maxwell | Glenn Maxwell | Daryl Mitchell | Glenn Maxwell |
| Marco Jansen | Ravindra Jadeja | Glenn Maxwell | Marco Jansen |
| Mohammed Shami | Gerald Coetzee | Shaheen Shah Afridi | Mohammed Shami |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Mohammed Shami | Mohammed Shami | Jasprit Bumrah |
| Dilshan Madushanka | Jasprit Bumrah | Dilshan Madushanka | Dilshan Madushanka |
| Adam Zampa | Adam Zampa | Adam Zampa | Adam Zampa |
How did we go? Who was lucky to make the team of the tournament and who should have made the cut?
Have your say in the comments below.
And for those wondering about moral victories, we have also put on our thinking caps to select the Moral Victory First XI in honour of defending champion England’s propensity for classing these “wins” above the competition table.
Bangladeshi skipper Shakib Al Hasan was a deserved selection for upholding the morals of the Laws of Cricket by ensuring the time-honoured Timed Out dismissal was given a run by appealing against Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews after his helmet malfunction.
England of course featured strongly in the rest of the team due to the way in which they plaeyd the game, never mind the fact that they finished seventh with a 3-6 record after looking like they’d finish last before jagging an actual win in their last dead rubber against Pakistan.
1 Dawid Malan
2 Jonny Bairstow
3 Joe Root
4 Ben Stokes
5 Jos Buttler
6 Shakib Al Hasan (c)
7 Moeen Ali
8 Chris Woakes
9 David Willey
10 Adil Rashid
11 Mark Wood
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