Wisden names Men’s T20 World Cup XI of all time
Wisden has compiled the list of 11 players all-time men’s T20 World Cup XI. The marquee event is set to return later this year in India. In a bid to celebrate the previous six editions, Wisden put together a playing XI based on disciplines of batting and bowling at those tournaments. The ratings were estimated by scoring each individual batting and bowling performance in several criteria.
West Indies international opener Chris Gayle who has been recently named in the national team set-up for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka has been picked by Wisden. He scored 920 runs in 28 games at a strike-rate of 146.73. Mahela Jayawardene to open the innings alongside Gayle as per Wisden.
Having played 31 games, Jayawardene scored 1016 runs at the strike-rate of 134.74. He is the only player to score more than 1000 runs in World T20. Coming to No.3, Indian captain Virat Kohli is the best batsman across formats. Kohli who is yet to win the T20 World Cup scored 777 runs in 16 games at a strike-rate of 144.04. Kevin Pietersen comes next in the line-up.
Marlon Samuels – Star of two T20 World Cup
Marlon Samuels has been the undisputed king of the West Indies in the T20 World Cup tournament finals. The right-handed batsman saved West Indies by chipping in with a match-winning 56-ball 78. In the 2016 World T20 final, he scored 85 off 65 balls to help West Indies script a historic win against England at Eden Gardens.
Popularly tagged as Mr Cricket, Mike Hussey was one of the vital cogs of the Australian team set-up in his heydays. Hussey has also been featured in Wisden’s XI. Coming next is wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni, who is a brilliant cricketing brain and has won three ICC trophies (ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC ODI World Cup 2011, ICC Championship Trophy 2013). He has been picked as the captain and wicketkeeper of the team.
While 2 Indians were featured in playing XI, Wisden selected three from Pakistan. Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal earned their place in the playing XI for T20 World Cup. Afridi took 39 wickets in 34 games while Gul and Ajmal picked 35 wickets (24 matches) and 36 wickets (23 games). Lasith Malinga who took 38 wickets in 31 games and steered his side to a memorable win against India in 2014 World Cup final is also featured in the XI.
Wisden’s XI:-
Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene, Virat Kohli, Kevin Pietersen, Marlon Samuels, Mike Hussey, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Lasith Malinga and Saeed Ajmal.
