By Adrian Meredith
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| Chris Gayle would be part of any World Twenty20 XI |
VICTORIA, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) October 11, 2012: A lot has been written about the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 XI and former cricketers like Alec Stewart has also come up with his selection of the best players of the tournament. Time is now to check out my 2012 ICC World Twenty20 XI.
Shane Watson (Australia) won the player of the tournament award after getting 4 man of the match awards in the first 4 matches, before failing in the last 2. He ended up with 249 runs at an average of 49.80 and strike rate of 150.00, the most runs of anyone in the tournament. On top of that, he ended up with 11 wickets at an average of 16.00 and an economy of 7.33, second only to Ajantha Mendis for most wickets. Australia won all 4 matches that he was man of the match in - by a long way. They lost the last 2 matches, in which he failed. This says everything that you need to know about him, really. Nobody else won more than 2 man of the match awards.
Chris Gayle (West Indies) didn't do quite as well as Watson but was such a big prospect that he slots in due to his presence. He finished with 222 runs at 44.40 and a strike rate of 150.00, 4th on the run scoring list. He also took 3 wickets at an average of 26.33 and an economy 7.64, though he wasn't really known for his bowling. He was man of the match in the semi final and also won West Indies their Super 8 match against England. But it was his presence that made all the difference, as highlighted by the fear he brought to Australia in the semi final, just by being not out, even though he hadn't faced many balls, and that, even though he was out cheaply against Sri Lanka, he was still a major part of why West Indies won the final.
Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) (wicket keeper) really only had one good innings, but what an innings it was! 123 off 58 balls, the highest ever score in T20 internationals, and on top of that it was a match that let New Zealand into the Super 8 stage of the tournament, as, without his effort, Bangladesh probably would have won the match and qualified in their place. New Zealand nearly made it to the semi finals, were it not for their Super Over loss to West Indies in their final match. He only finished with 212 runs in total, at an average of 42.40 and a strike rate of 159.39, adding only 89 runs in the other 4 matches combined. He only took 1 catch from the 5 matches, a pretty poor return, but having finished 5th on the run scoring list for the tournament, he was good enough as a batsman alone.
Virat Kohli (India) can do no wrong and is in the best form of anyone in the entire world, in all 3 formats, over the last year. Sure so he didn't top the run scoring list, but he was still pretty high up there with 185 runs at an average of 46.25 and a strike rate of 122.51, which included a match winning 78 not out against Pakistan that all but qualified India for the semi final - if not for some lame captaincy decisions in their final Super 8 match, when the team failed to take risks. Having Kohli in the team is a must. Luke Wright may have scored more runs - and at a higher strike rate - but his 99 against Afghanistan doesn't count for much, and, other than that and a 76 against New Zealand (who themselves only won 1 game), he barely scored a run - while Kohli in comparison scored runs when it mattered.
Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) (captain) was consistent the whole way through, scoring 243 runs at an average of 40.50 and a strike rate of 116.26, to finish 2nd on the list of most runs scored. The strike rate was a little disappointed but he was important in saving matches for Sri Lanka, such as his match winning 65 not out against West Indies in the Super 8 stage. He scored over 30 in his last 5 matches in a row, though he did start off slowly in the first 2 matches. He was a really good captain too, surely the best captain in the entire tournament. I am sorry but Darren Sammy's decision to use Marlon Samuels to bowl the final over against New Zealand in their crucial final Super 8 match, and then in the Super Over, while they did win, were surely seriously stupid mistakes. Jayawardene made no such mistakes. He may have stepped down as captain after their loss in the final but really he did nothing wrong.
Marlon Samuels (West Indies) was the man of the match in the final, when he took West Indies from 4 runs per over after 11 overs to post a total of 137, which turned out to be match winning. He did pretty darn well in the semi final as well. Indeed, his 230 runs at an average of 38.33 and a strike rate of 132.94 was the 3rd highest in the tournament. He scored 50 in their first up loss to Australia, 50 in their Super 8 loss to Sri Lanka, and a match winning 78 against Sri Lanka in the final. He bowled a bit too but his bowling was decidedly ordinary, though West Indies did win the match when he bowled the final over - and the Super Over - against New Zealand - that qualified them for the semi final stage.
Ross Taylor (New Zealand) scored 147 runs at an average of 49.00 and a strike rate of 145.54, to hold things together for New Zealand for all but the first match, when Brendon McCullum scored his amazing 123. Taylor got 14 not out, 26, 23, 22 and 62 not out against West Indies, that all but won them the game. He scored quickly and was a real danger man, the one who could win it from anywhere and the one that they had to get out to have a chance of victory.
Mitchell Starc (Australia) took 10 wickets at an average of 16.40 and an economy of 6.83, to be 3rd on the wicket taking list, just behind fellow Australian Shane Watson. Starc was considered a fringe player just before the tournament, as the likes of Justin Patterson and Mitchell Johnson had been preferred but he showed just what advantage being coached by Wasim Akram is. He was the best fast bowler in the tournament, in conditions that suited spinners, not pacers.
Lakshmipathy Balaji (India) may have only played in 4 games, but he still managed 9 wickets at an average of 9.77 and an economy of 7.33 to be 4th on the wicket taking tally, and the 2nd highest of the fast bowlers. He had the lowest average and the most wickets per match. His tournament was highlighted by 3/22 against Pakistan and 3/37 against South Africa, both in the Super 8 stage. If only he had played against Australia perhaps India would have won and qualified for the semi finals.
Sunil Narine (West Indies) took 9 wickets at an average of 15.44 and an economy of 5.63, the lowest economy of anyone with more than 6 wickets. He started poorly but in the final 3 matches he took 3/20 in the crucial match against New Zealand to be the standout player, 2/17 in the semi final against Australia and 3/9 in the final against Sri Lanka. West Indies won all 3 of those matches, and only won one other match when he didn't do amazingly well. He was someone that struck fear into oppositions and had an outstanding tournament.
Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka) topped the wicket taking tally with 15 wickets at an average of 9.80 and an economy of 6.12, 4 wickets more than the next highest wicket taker, Shane Watson. Mendis even missed a match. One big criticism is that against New Zealand he did poorly (1/48) and against England was even worse (0/40) but in amongst that he had the best return in T20 international history (6/8 against Zimbabwe) and also took 4/12 against West Indies in the final, which all but won them the match. 2/12 against West Indies in the Super 8 stage was crucial too, while 2/27 against Pakistan was pretty decent too. As the story goes, he is unplayable if you aren't used to him but once you are he becomes easy to bat against. Nonetheless, some oppositions just can't handle him so he is very useful to have in the team.
12th man: Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan) wasn't far away but I felt that 3 specialist spin bowlers probably wasn't a good idea and I'd rather have a specialist batsman at number 7. Ajmal did reasonably well but was a bit behind Narine in the final analysis and Ajantha Mendis, while unpredictable, at his peak was simply the best. With Shane Watson bowling so well, I didn't feel the need to have 5 specialist bowlers, especially also given that Gayle and Samuels can bowl if needed, to give 7 bowling options (or 8 if you count Kohli); however, if we did need to have 5 specialist bowlers, or if we wanted 3 specialist spin bowlers, I would have had Saeed Ajmal as my 5th, and therefore Ajmal would be 12th man.
