Gautam Gambhir names his 2023 World Cup dream team, picks four Indians

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has named his dream team for the recently concluded 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup. Gambhir’s XI features four Indians, three South Africans, two players from Afghanistan, and one each from Australia and New Zealand.

While the Aussies lifted the World Cup courtesy of a magnificent team effort, there were a number of brilliant individual performances from Indian and South African players during the course of the ICC event.

Gambhir chose the prolific duo of Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma as his openers. Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchell, and Heinrich Klaasen feature in the middle order. There are four all-rounders in Gambhir’s World Cup dream team - Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, and Rashid Khan.

As for the frontline pace bowlers, it was no surprise that the former international cricketer went for the Indian fast-bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Gautam Gambhir’s 2023 World Cup dream team: Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchell, Heinrich Klaasen, Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.

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How Gambhir’s dream team fared in the World Cup

If we look at the performances of players that feature in Gambhir’s World Cup XI, Proteas opener De Kock smashed 594 runs in 10 innings at an average of 59.40 and a strike rate of 107.03. The left-hander hit four hundreds — the most by any player during the edition.

Indian captain Rohit scored 597 runs in 11 innings at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.95, with one hundred and three fifties. Kohli was the leading run-getter in the World Cup, with a record tally of 765 in 11 innings at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.32. Kohli notched up three hundreds and six half-centuries.

New Zealand’s Mitchell scored 552 runs in nine innings averaging 69, while Klaasen contributed 373 runs in 10 innings averaging 41.44. Further, Maxwell’s 400 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 150.38 included a double hundred against Afghanistan and the fastest World Cup hundred against the Netherlands (40 balls). He also chipped in with six wickets, including that of Rohit in the final.

Afghanistan’s Omarzai hit 353 runs in eight innings' work, while Proteas’ left-arm pacer Jansen claimed 17 wickets in nine matches at an average of 26.47 apart from chipping in with handy contributions with the bat.

Seasoned leggie Rashid claimed 11 scalps in nine games with a best of 3/37. Shami was the leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven games at an average of 10.71, while Bumrah finished the 2023 World Cup with 20 wickets in 11 matches, averaging 18.65.