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LONDON (SW): The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the Team of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, which includes players from five of the eight participating sides, with Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed as captain.
The side was selected by a jury of cricket experts, which included former captains Michael Atherton of England, India’s Sourav Ganguly, Ramiz Raja of Pakistan as well as Lawrence Booth (Editor, Wisden Almanack and cricket writer, The Mail) and Julian Guyer (cricket correspondent, Agence France-Presse), with ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, as chairman.
The jury was tasked with picking a balanced side on the basis of performances in the tournament. Statistics were used, but were not the sole basis for selection. The side includes four Pakistanis, three Indians, three Englishmen and one Bangladeshi, with Kane Williamson of New Zealand as 12th man.
The Team of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 (in batting order) is:
i) Shikhar Dhawan (India) (338 runs)
ii) Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan) 252 runs)
iii) Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh) (293 runs)
iv) Virat Kohli (India) (258 runs)
v) Joe Root (England) (258 runs)
vi) Ben Stokes (England) (184 runs and three wickets)
vii) Sarfraz Ahmed (Pakistan) (captain) (wicketkeeper) (76 runs and nine dismissals)
viii) Adil Rashid (England) (seven wickets)
ix) Junaid Khan (Pakistan) (eight wickets)
x) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India) (seven wickets)
xi) Hassan Ali (Pakistan) (13 wickets)
xii) Kane Williamson (New Zealand (12th) (244 runs)
Pakistan had entered the tournament ranked eighth on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings, but courtesy its victories against higher-ranked sides, finished in sixth place, which means it now looks well set to qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
ENDS
