2013 Champions League T20 best XI

Ajinkya Rahane

Over the past twenty days, there has been some non-stop entertainment for the cricket fans around the world. Over 230 sixes were scored in 29 matches, more than 250 wickets fell in the mean time and the world saw the emergence of some promising talents like Jimmy Neesham and Evin Lewis.

There were a total of 12 teams gunning for glory out of which Mumbai Indians were crowned as the champions by beating Rajasthan Royals by 33 runs in the finals.

This tournament also saw two legendary batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid playing their last game of their careers wearing a coloured jersey.

The league had a total of 182 players representing their respective sides. Out of the 182, we bring you twelve top performers who earned themselves a spot in the CLT20 XI.

The team:

1. Dwayne Smith (Mumbai Indians)

The strongly built man from Barbados had a terrific CLT20 for Mumbai Indians. The Mumbai opener made sure his team used the field restrictions well in almost all matches. He gave Mumbai innings a great start time and time again and thereby setting the platform for Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard to go after the bowlers from the word go.

In the tournament, he has scored 233 runs in 5 innings at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 143 runs per 100 balls. He also took some crucial catches in the field.

In simple words, whenever Dwayne Smith started the Mumbai innings with a bang, the team did well. He was also adjudged the Player of the tournament.

2. Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals)

Once again, the young Rajasthan Royals opener proved that T20 is not about slogging and pinch hitting, even some classical Test match shots will fetch you runs.

He led the Royals batting line up with more responsibilities and finished the tournament with 288 runs under his belt with an average of 58 striking at 119 runs per 100 balls.

He held the Royals innings together and made sure that his side was in the driver’s seat in each and every game. He defined the term consistency by scoring 4 consecutive fifties in 6 innings in the CLT20.

He was also the winner of the “Golden Bat” award that is awarded to the leading run scorer of the tournament. Despite these consistent performances, he could not help Royals cross the line in the finals.

3. Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings)

When you form a T20 XI, it is very difficult to leave out this promising young batsman from it. Even though Chennai Super Kings failed to reach the finals, this man had a fantastic tournament.

After the fall of an early wicket (most of the times it was Murali Vijay) he made sure that there was no further hiccups in their innings. He played fearless cricket over the past two weeks and took CSK to the semis.

He played a crucial innings in the semis against the Royals but didn’t get the kind of support he would have hoped for from the other end. He also contained the flow of runs when CSK’s spinners Jadeja and Ashwin didn’t make much impact with the ball.

With an average of 45 in the tournament, he scored 221 runs for his team at a strike rate of 145.