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Slump follows Cup failure

8 October 2012

Kohli lone Indian in world Twenty20 XI, Raina chosen 12th man

sns & agencies
COLOMBO/DUBAI/NEW DELHI, 8 OCT: Nothing fails like failure. And, after the Twenty20 World Cup, not only have most of India's superstars fallen like Humpty Dumpty but India, for all their money, have taken a tumble too. Virat Kohli is the lone Indian cricketer to have found a place in the International Cricket Council's World Twenty20 men's XI, which came to be dominated by champions West Indies and runners-up Sri Lanka.
Kohli scored 185 runs in India's five matches. Suresh Raina was named 12th man of the men's team. Also, India's failed campaign pushed them into the third place in the ICC's Twenty20 rankings while the West Indies jumped five places to grab the second spot. In the women's XI, Poonam Raut was the only Indian to make the cut.
Sri Lanka and the West Indies contributed a total of five players to the men's team with Mahela Jayawardene named as captain, the ICC said in a statement. In the women's team, finalists Australia and England provided nine players with, again, the losing captain in the final, Charlotte Edwards, selected to lead the team. Edwards was also named yesterday as the women's Player of the Tournament.
Chosen by a group of experts, the men's team were required to suit Sri Lankan conditions. Performances in only the Twenty20 World Cup were taken note of but statistics were not the sole basis for the selections. There were three players from Sri Lanka and two from the West Indies while Australia, England, New Zealand and Pakistan were also represented in the 12-member men's squad.
Skipper Mithali Raj was the highest placed Indian in the women's rankings as she remained No 3 in batting and Jhulan Goswami lost a place to be fourth on the bowling list. Players who were considered for the world XI included AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn of South Africa, David Warner of Australia, Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith and Sunil Narine of the West Indies. India, ousted at the Super Eights stage, are a point behind the Caribbeans at 120 in the rankings which continue to be headed by Sri Lanka, the ICC said.
In the rankings for players, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli held on to their fifth and 10th positions, respectively. The West Indies' success was reflected in the player rankings with the final's Man of the Match, Marlon Samuels, and spinner Sunil Narine, rising 20 notches on the batting and bowling lists, respectively. Samuels leapt to 18th in the batting rankings and was up seven places to be number nine on the all-rounders' list.
Chris Gayle, who dominated the event's semi-final against Australia, moved into second place in the batting rankings behind the New Zealand's Brendon McCullum. Gayle leapfrogged Player-of-the-Tournament Shane Watson, of Australia, who dropped to third in the batting rankings but held on to his position as the world's No 1 all-rounder and was still sixth in the bowling rankings.