T20 World Cup 2021: Dinesh Karthik and Simon Doull pick their 'Team Of The Tournament'
Former cricketer Simon Doull and wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik picked their respective teams for the 2021 T20 World Cup following the culmination of the league stage.
We're down to the final four!
Your ultimate guide to the business end of the #T20WorldCup 👇
bit.ly/3CX2zKn
Dinesh Karthik went spin heavy in his team with three different kind of spinners constituting the playing XI. He chose Babar Azam as the captain of the team with only one Indian making the cut in the form of Jasprit Bumrah. While speaking to Cricbuzz, Karthik said:
"Babar Azam, Jos Buttler, Charith Asalanka, Rassie van der Dussen, Shakib al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Wanindu Hasaranga, Adam Zampa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi. Would have ideally liked Morgan as he has been the best captain for me, but has not done enough as a batter. So, I went for Azam. Van der Dussen is a very clever batsman."
Karthik also proceeded to explain the reason behind choosing a tournament playing XI packed with bowlers. He added:
"The tournament has been dominated by bowlers. So, you can see I have picked 7 proper bowlers. If Australia is in the semi final, a huge hand has to go to Zampa. Afridi has looked class apart from the rest"
The team also consists of three all-rounders who will have to assume control of the late middle-order and the lower order as well.
The playing XI potentially lacks a genuine lower-order batsman who can kick things up a notch in death overs. As far as bowling is concerned, there are two-left arm seamers among the three pacers in the eleven.
You can find the full T20 World Cup match list here.
No reputation at all, this is purely on tournament merit: Simon Doull on his Best XI from the T20 World Cup 2021
Simon Doull also proceeded to choose his best XI from the Super 12s stage of the tournament. He employed the same top order as Dinesh Karthik, but the team combination is vastly different. Doull chose an entirely different middle order which had Aiden Markram, Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali. Doull explained his selection strategy:
"Babar Azam, Jos Buttler, Charith Asalanka, Aiden Markram, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Moeen Ali, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Trent Boult and Haris Rauf. Asalanka has been a revelation. No reputation at all, this is purely on tournament merit. Best skipper as far as I'm concerned has been Babar Azam.
'Markram has been impressive, he is an option with the ball as well. Can't go past Ali and Malik, they've won and finsihed games. Needed some raw pace to ruffle feathers and knock some helmets off, and for that I have gone for Haris Rauf."
Pakistan go five from five, Kane's cool head and Afghanistan's missed #T20WorldCup opportunities.
There was a lot to mull over in Group 2 action yesterday 👇
t20worldcup.com/news/2342800
The top three were unanimous for both teams. Leading wicket-taker Wanindu Hasaranga, Moeen Ali and Trent Boult also emerged as common entities between the two teams of the tournament. However, Moeen Ali in particular would be playing a vastly different role.