Sangakkara named captain for ICC’s World Cup XI

Kumar Sangakkara has been announced the skipper of the ICC's World Cup XI that is dominated by the players from India and Sri Lanka having seven going to the finalists. The side was selected on the basis with subcontinent conditions in mind and individual performances in the tournament. It was chosen by the same jury of the officials and media team who proclaimed Yuvraj Singh as the Player of the Tournament.

Tillakaratane Dilshan and Sachin Tendulkar would be the team's openers on the basis of their top scores of the tournament, while Zaheer Khan, who was jointly wicket-taker with Shahid Afridi, and Dale Steyn having one of the best bowling averages, will open with new-ball. Muttiah Muralitharan will play the specialist spinner role and Shane Watson and Shahid Afridi joined Yuvraj Singh as the team's all-rounders. Mahela Jayawardene and AB de Villiers participate in the middle order. Tim Southee, the second-highest wicket taker of the tournament, was named 12^th man.

Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann, Kevin O'Brien, Kemar Roach, Kieron Pollard, Imran Tahir, Ryan ten Doeschate, Upul Tharanga and Lasith Malinga were also called for discussion during the assembling of team.

I have found the best captain Dhoni - Tendulkar

After the crowning of World Champions, Sachin Tendulkar, Indian batsman, has rated Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the best skipper he has played under during his 22 years cricket career. Tendulkar has played under six captains, including Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. He said, "Dhoni is the best captain I have played under. He is very smart and active in the ground. He studies the circumstances well and is open to sharing ideas. He has always made discussions with the batsman, bowlers separately. He is always calm and never shows his frustration. There are some qualities in a human being which have made him such a good captain".

India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final in Mumbai after coming through the knockout stages with hard-fought prevails over Australia and Pakistan. Tendulkar said, "In the knockout stage we elevated at the right time; it was most significant. We knew either the batting was clicking, or bowling, or fielding, but in the last three vital games. Everybody contributed, right from seniors to the juniors in the team".

Tendulkar said, "The crowning of World Champions, every member of team focused to restrict Sri Lanka to a par score, we went through the process and accomplished the task. The pre-World Cup preliminary camp the team had in Bangalore also played a momentous role in the team's preparation".

After the victory in the final, Dhoni said, "The team felt the pressure right through the tournament". Tendulkar said, "The key to handling that pressure lay in focusing on individual performances. Pressure and expectations are always so high and we are looking for best performances. The responsibility is on all the team members equally to lift the trophy as it was the dream of all the team members to get the World Cup".

Next two World Cups will be 10-team events - ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has assured that ten teams will play in next two World Cups. Australia and New Zealand will host the 2015 edition of the premier 50-over tournament whereas the 2019 World Cup will be hosted by England. The ICC chief-executive, Haroon Logart said that the 1992 World Cup format could be revised wherein all the teams play each other in group matches and the top four make the places in the semi-finals.

The recently concluded World Cup featured 14 teams and the group stage was played among seven teams each, having top eight fighting in the quarter-finals. The trimming of the event means that associates teams will not participate in next contest while the T20 World comprises 16 teams, having six Associate of Affiliate members a chance to play in a premier World event every two years. For 2019, there will be a qualification antagonism, the nature of which is yet to be defined.

Logart said, "We have got a programmed in place. The way Ireland is now performing is a corollary of that. Similarly, Netherlands have improved. To some extent you may say that we were disenchanted with the way Kenya and Canada have in fact in some respects gone backwards. We do spend a lot of time on the high-performance countries, and going into the next strategic plan we want to bring into play what we call targeted investment, which will further support those sorts of high-performance countries".