07 April,2014 06:27 PM IST | | Agencies
His side may have lost in the final, but MS Dhoni has been named captain of the 2014 ICC World Team of the Tournament that figures 3 other Indians -- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin
MS DHONI
Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Monday announced the men's Team of the Tournament for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, with India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its captain.
The team includes four players from India, two each from South Africa and the West Indies, and one each from Australia, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
Chosen by a select group of experts, the team was aimed at being suited for Bangladeshi conditions, on the basis of performances at the just-concluded World T20 tournament. Statistics were used but were not the sole basis for selections.
MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Virat Kohli are part of ICC's World T20 squad.
Selection panel chairman and member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, David Boon, said: "It was a very difficult task for the panel to pick a team of 11 from the exciting players who featured in this tournament.
"As the selection criteria for the Team of the Tournament are the performances of players in the conditions during the ICC World Twenty20 2014, some of the best players in world cricket had to be left out of the team.
"Bowlers in particular performed strongly throughout this tournament, and the side we have selected includes three of the most impressive bowlers in Dale Steyn, Samuel Badree and Lasith Malinga.
"The team also contains six specialist batsmen, including Stephan Myburgh from the Netherlands as an opening batsman, as well as three all-rounders, including Dhoni as a wicket-keeper batsman."
Kohli was adjudged Player of the Tournament for amassing 319 runs with the help of four half centuries, including knocks of 72 and 77 in the semifinal and final of the showpiece event.
The panel faced a difficult choice for a number of positions, and players who were considered but who did not ultimately make the team included India's Amit Mishra, Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad, South African duo of AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir, Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath, and West Indies' Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine.
Other members of the panel included Marais Erasmus of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, ex-England captain Nasser Hussain, former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop and Utpal Shuvro, one of Bangladesh's senior-most cricket correspondents.
