INDIA captain MS Dhoni had something to smile about after a demoralising tour of England when on Monday (September 12) he was named for the fourth successive year in the ICC One Day International team of the year.
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.
The team was chosen by a select panel of former players headed by West Indian great Clive Lloyd.
“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 will forget that remarkable evening.
“The ODI team of the year reflects the success of India with four players selected – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni and Zaheer Khan.
“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.”
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.
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)
