The Greatest Players of the CWC23 Put Together!
As the Greatest Cricket Tournament came to its conclusion, let’s put together the team of the tournament!
Now, before moving forward, I’d like to clarify that I’m making a team that I feel is THE STRONGEST.
I’m not having any constraints like ‘only a certain number of players from a nation’.
Also, many experts when selecting the team of the tournament pick ‘the best players’ instead of picking ‘the best player for the position’.
OPENERS
So, to begin with, let’s talk about openers. There are quite a few great options here. The evergreen Rohit Sharma and David Warner. The emerging player of the tournament, Rachin Ravindra, and obviously the explosive Quinton de Kock.
Quinton de Kock is my no-brainer pick, the third-highest run scorer with four centuries plus he’s one of the best keepers in the world!
For my second opener, I chose Rohit Sharma. There is not much of a difference in runs between Warner, Rohit, and Rachin. Rachin offers a bowling option but he hasn’t been significant enough in the tournament
For me, Rohit edges both of them just because of his tactical brilliance on and off the field as a Captain and his fearless batting approach which places him as the second-highest run-scorer in this tournament.
NO. 3
No. 3 is a no-brainer.
VIRAT KOHLI- THE HIGHEST RUN SCORER OF THE TOURNAMENT
NO. 4
No. 4 came to toss between many extremely classy batsmen like Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer, Daryl Mitchell, Mohammad Rizwan, and Sadeera Samarawickrama.
But in the end, I could look no further than Daryl Mitchell. It’s not just the loads of runs that he scored, but he was consistent throughout, being the main man in that Kiwi middle-order. In the absence of Kane Williamson, he had a tough job in the middle and he excelled in that, ending his campaign as the 5th Highest run scorer with an average of 69.
NO. 5
Now for No. 5, it came down between the KLass of Rahul and the Power-hitting of Klassen. Both of them offer very different qualities, but ultimately I wrote down KL for no. 5.
In the original draft of this article, I chose Klassen. But after those two knockout performances from KL, I couldn’t ignore the consistency with which he scored his runs. Scoring 450+ runs with an average of 75 is no mere feat. Add 50 overs of quality keeping to that and you’ll know how great of a tournament he had.
NO. 6
For No. 6, who do you want? An Explosive finisher who can bowl a bit, but he should also be able to bat longer if early wickets fall. That alone is a tough criteria to tick. I want to add one more criterion, HE SHOULD’VE PLAYED THE GREATEST ODI KNOCK EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME.
I mean who other than Glenn Maxwell – The only non-opener to have an ODI DOUBLE HUNDRED to his name!!!
NO. 7
No. 7 is a split between a Kiwi and a Proteas. Both of them are capable of bowling 10 good overs and also being responsible with the bat. You choose which one you want, based on whether you want a spinner or a (tall, very tall) pacer, Mitch Santner and Marco Jansen. Both of them have nearly the same number of wickets. Both are great, you pick one and the other is your 12th guy.
NO. 8, 9 & 10
No. 8, 9, and 10 belong to the absolute best pacers in the tournament; Gerald Coetzee, Mohd. Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. All three of them are among the top 5 wicket-takers, they have great economies, strike rates, and averages.
But Shami just has some crazy numbers that deserve a special mention. Played only 7 matches, took 24 wickets, best of 7/57, an AVERAGE OF 10.70, an economy of 5.25, and a STRIKE RATE OF 12.20, which means a wicket in every 2 overs, and also just 3 five-wicket hauls.
NO. 11
No. 11, spinner with the most wickets, part of the winning team, and overall the 2nd highest wicket-taker of the tournament, ADAM ZAMPA. He’s simply been the best spinner in the tournament, that alone is enough for him to be part of this TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT.
OK, now a quick overview of my TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT!
- Rohit Sharma (C)
- Quinton de Kock (wk)
- Virat Kohli
- Daryl Mitchell
- KL Rahul
- Glenn Maxwell
- Mitch Santner / Marco Jansen
- Gerald Coetzee
- Mohd. Shami
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Adam Zampa
And that’s a wrap. If you made it this far, I’d appreciate a share. Let’s build a great community of cricket lovers. If you need updates on when I post, you can follow my WhatsApp channel, just search ‘PAVILION PERSPECTIVES’. And don’t stop reading 🙂