Pakistan’s pace bowler Umar Gul was the lone Pakistani in ICC’s One-Day International (ODI) Team of the Year on Monday. The team was chosen by a specially appointed selection panel chaired by West Indian batting legend and former captain Clive Lloyd. The rest of the panel were former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas, former England captain Mike Gatting, former New Zealand bowler Danny Morrison and former South African bowler Paul Adams.
The announcement was made at a special function ahead of the ICC Awards ceremony which is being held in London. India’s Cricket World Cup 2011 Captain Mehendra Singh Dhoni has been named the captain of the team. Dhoni, who has yet to register a win against England on the tour which has also seen them lose their number one test ranking to their opponents, is one of four Indians who won the World Cup earlier this year named in the side.
Three of their Sri Lankan opponents who lost to India in that final are also in the side, opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, exciting batsman Kumar Sangakkara and unorthodox pace bowler Lasith Malinga, who squeaks in as Twelfth Man. Aside from Dhoni there are just two players from last year’s team retained in this one, Australian opener Shane Watson and AB de Villiers of South Africa.
“This has been an outstanding year for 50-over cricket. I think everyone saw in the ICC Cricket World Cup how exciting this format can be,” said Lloyd, who captained West Indies to the 1975 and 1979 World Cup trophies but were surprisingly defeated by India in the 1983 edition.
“The ICC Cricket World Cup was rightly applauded as one of the greatest in history and no one who was in Mumbai would forget that remarkable evening,” he added.
“The ODI team of the year reflects the success of India with four players selected – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan,” he said.
“Yuvraj was, of course, the player of the tournament and MS Dhoni, the man of the match in the final, whilst fellow finalists Sri Lanka has three players in the side.”
TEAM (in batting order): Tillakaratne Dilshan (SRI), Virender Sehwag (IND), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI), AB de Villiers (RSA), Shane Watson (AUS), Yuvraj Singh (IND), MS Dhoni (IND, wkt/capt), Graeme Swann (ENG), Umar Gul (PAK), Dale Steyn (RSA), Zaheer Khan (IND), 12th Man – Lasith Malinga (SRI)
Gul only Pakistani in ICC ODI Team of the Year
