ICC World Cup 2019: Aakash Chopra picks his team of the tournament

New Zealand and England were involved in a humdinger of a World Cup final at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. It was the Eoin Morgan-led Three Lions, who came out trumps on the basis of ‘boundary count’ after the match went right down to the Super Over. The game at the Home of Cricket was worthy of a Grand Finale and it kept one and all guessing until the very last delivery.

After the conclusion of the mega event, the experts are busy picking their best XI. The latest to join the bandwagon is former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra. He picked the deadly combo of Jason Roy and Rohit Sharma as his opening duo. Rohit became the first player with five centuries in a single World Cup edition. Roy didn’t disappoint by any means and scored runs at an average of over 60.

Six seam-bowling options in Chopra’s lineup

Kane Williamson, the Player of the Tournament, was Chopra’s number three. Williamson notched a couple of tons with 500 plus runs and was incredible as the skipper. Shakib Al Hasan racked up 606 runs and picked up 11 wickets and it didn’t spring a surprise that Chopra went for him. At number five, Chopra picked Ben Stokes, who got the Player of the Match in the final for his knock of 84.

Alex Carey played some priceless knocks for Australia lower down the order and he was Chopra’s wicketkeeper. James Neesham couldn’t take the Kiwis through to glory in the final, but his performances were good enough to get him in Chopra’s XI. Jofra Archer bowled the most number of dot balls in the tournament and was also England’s leading wicket-taker. Chopra went for him as well.

Mitchell Starc got 27 wickets and broke Glenn McGrath’s record of most wickets in a single edition of the World Cup. The left-arm speedster got a place in Chopra’s XI. Jasprit Bumrah has delivered whenever his captain needed him to and he was included. It can be said that Mohammad Amir was Pakistan’s standout bowler in the tournament. Chopra picked him to complete his eleven.

Here is Chopra’s World Cup XI: Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Kane Williamson, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Stokes, Alex Carey, James Neesham, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Amir

Fabulous 7 weeks of #CWC19 cricket…heart-stopping final to cap it off. Now time for a fun exercise. Let’s pick a World Cup XI of 2019. Who’s going to make it to your team? Share your XI in the comments, let’s compare our sides guys. All that and more on this #AakashVani. pic.twitter.com/TOd12TcBoc

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 16, 2019