2016 World T20 XI - Kohli to captain, Dhoni fails to make the cut

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

04/04/2016

The 2016 World T20 came to pulsating finish on Sunday after West Indies won the title, defeating England by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. With the tournament producing a plethora of stars, we select our pick of best 11 players from the event to form the World T20 XI.

1. Jason Roy – England (Matches 6, Runs 183, Average 30.50, Strike rate 148.78)

The Englishman single-handedly destroyed the Kiwi bowling line-up in the semis with a knock of 78 off 44 balls to take his team to the final. Although he returned to the pavilion for a duck in the finale, the Surrey opener was instrumental in taking the Three Lions to the final of the World T20. His 43 against South Africa and 42 against Sri Lanka gave England the perfect start they needed to chase down the target or set a high score. With a strike rate of 148.78, he is the perfect man to open the innings for the World T20 XI with another smash specialist in Martin Guptill.

2. Martin Guptill – New Zealand (Matches 4, Runs 140, Average 35, Strike rate 157.30)

He started the tournament by smashing Ashwin for a six and gave the Kiwis the start they needed by taking the attack to the bowlers. Guptill’s best came against Pakistan at Mohali, where he scored 80 off 48 balls to take the team to a hefty total. Scoring at a strike rate of 157.30, Guptill was one of the main reasons for the Kiwi juggernaut in the tournament, and the right-hander’s dismissal for 15 in the semi-final against England played a part in the moderate total scored by New Zealand.

Although South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and Australia’s Usman Khawaja have slightly better numbers than the Kiwi opener, the match-winning ability of Guptill has seen him take the spot ahead of the other contenders.

3. Virat Kohli (c) – India (Matches 5, Runs 273, Average 136.50, Strike rate 146.77)

The Player of the Tournament awardee had a sensational tournament scoring 273 runs with the average and strike rate almost matching each other. With the other top-order batsmen failing in the Indian line-up, Virat often took the team out of the woods before producing some scintillating knocks to take the team to victory. An unbeaten innings of 55 against arch-rivals Pakistan and an unbelievable innings of 82* against Australia in the virtual quarter-final at Mohali have elevated Kohli to the ‘Sachin Tendulkar-esque’ status.

Although he once again starred with the bat in the semis, India’s run was ended by the West Indies, leaving the Player of the Tournament on his knees. With no captain in the World T20 making it to the XI, Kohli will shoulder the additional burden of the captaincy for the fantasy team after successfully leading India in the Tests.

4. Joe Root - England (Matches 6, Runs 249, Average 49.80, Strike rate 146.47)

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan asked, “Root who?, when Andrew Flintoff put the Englishman ahead of Kohli. But, if there is one man in the tournament, who can match up to the standards of the Indian, then it is definitely Joe Root. After playing a magnificent 83-run knock against South Africa in the group stage, the 25-year old almost took his team over the ropes in the final, first by taking the team from 23/3 to 155/9, scoring 54 runs off 36 balls and then he removed the dangerous openers in the Windies line-up with his off-spin.

5. Marlon Samuels – West Indies (Matches 6, Runs 181, Average 36.20, Strike Rate 112.42)

“I don't worry about semi-finals because when it comes to finals I always turn up and do well for the team,” said Samuels after winning the World T20. Two World T20 titles for West Indies and two man of the match awards in the final for Samuels. He is the epitome of a big-match player and has always delivered when it has mattered. The 35-year old always turned up for the Windies in the tourney, first by scoring 43 against South Africa to take the team to the semis and then in the final. When all hope was lost for the Caribbean team after losing three wickets for 11 runs, Samuels stood up and took the team to victory by scoring 85 off 66 balls.

Although his low strike rate and nature of going missing in low-key matches might question his inclusion, Samuels deserves a place in the World T20 XI after taking his team to the title. The No.5 spot could have also gone to an all-rounder in Shane Watson or Shakib Al-Hasan, but we opted for Samuels keeping his record of delivering in big matches.

6. Jos Buttler (wk) – England (Matches 6, Runs 191, Average 47.75, Strike rate 159.16)

The team needs a wicketkeeper and who better to have than Jos Buttler. The Englishman was a catalyst for the Three Lions in their run in the tourney and will also don the wicketkeeping gloves for the World T20 XI. The average and strike rate are brilliant and his scoops will definitely take care of the scoring rate in the final overs. Buttler’s best knock of the tournament came against Sri Lanka in a must-win match for England against Sri Lanka. He scored 66 off 37 balls and helped England set a challenging score on the board before beating the Lankans to enter the semis.

With Kohli taking the captaincy responsibilities and Buttler the wicket-keeper for the World T20 XI, Indian skipper M S Dhoni will be the most notable omission from the team after failing to make it in both counts. Dhoni’s numbers in the tourney don't allow him to be selected ahead of Buttler and just selecting a player for his captaincy abilities will be an injustice to others.

7. Andre Russell – West Indies (Matches 6, Runs 91, Strike rate 142.18, Wickets 9, Economy rate 7.87)

Andre Russell makes it to the XI on the back of a good all-round showing in the tournament scoring 91 runs with the bat and taking nine wickets with the ball. Russell has been a consistent threat with the ball and has produced big hits late in the innings for the team. His highest score of 43* came against India in the semis, where he along with Lendl Simmons destroyed the Indian bowling line-up. Although Russell flopped in the final with the bat, the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of IPL 8 will be a great asset to any team at No.7.

8. Mitchell Santner – New Zealand (Matches 5, Wickets 10, Average 11.40, Economy rate 6.27)

The Kiwi left-arm spinner, who played a big part in them reaching the semis, also makes it to our World T20 XI after emerging as the best spinner in the “proper stage” of the tournament. In the opening match, he destroyed the Indian batting line-up by picking 4/11 at Nagpur; he followed it up with two-wicket hauls against Australia and Pakistan. His only blemish in the tournament came, when he faced up against Jason Roy in the semi-final at Delhi.

9. Samuel Badree – West Indies (Matches 6, Wickets 9, Average 13.77, Economy rate 5.39)

In addition to Samuels and Russell, the third 2016 World T20 champion to enter the XI is leggie Samuel Badree. Although he started without any wickets against England in the first match, Badree picked his game up in the next matches and took three wickets against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan before running through the England top-order in the final. The 35-year old took the important wickets of Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan in the final and that gave England a horror start from which they never really recovered.

Badree edged out another leggie, Ish Sodhi from New Zealand to make it to the XI. Although Ish Sodhi has taken one more wicket than Badree in the tournament, the Windies bowlers’ economy rate and performance in the final turned it in favour of him.

(Take a look at our World T20 Flop XI - The big names that disappointed)

10. Mustafizur Rahman – Bangladesh (Matches 3, Wickets 9, Average 9.55, Economy rate 7.16)

A surprise inclusion in the bowling department for the World T20 XI is Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman. After recovering from a side strain he suffered in the Asia Cup T20 in February, Mustafizur returned to the team for the match against Australia and was one of the star performers for Bangladesh in the tournament. In a poor campaign for the Asia Cup runners-up, which saw them losing all the four matches in the group stage, the left-arm pacer picked nine wickets in just three matches, including a five-wicket haul against the Kiwis.

England’s David Willey came close to making it to the XI after his three-wicket haul in the final, but we opted for Mustafizur keeping in mind his return from injury and performance against New Zealand.

11. Ashish Nehra – India (Matches 5, wickets 5, Average 22.60, Economy 5.94)

Although the hosts’ challenge for the title ended in the semis, the veteran, Ashish Nehra was one of the star performers for India with the ball by conceding just 5.94 runs an over. Nehra picked five wickets in the tournament and was a consistent in every match picking one wicket each. Even when other bowlers were going at more than 8 runs per over, Nehra kept it under the 6 run mark, with only going above it once. The left-arm pacer will also be an asset at the death to keep the scoring rate down.

So who do you think would have made it to your World T20 XI? Share your thoughts.

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