World Cup 2015: Team of the Week (2nd March - 8th March)

Picking the team of the week isn't always an objective exercise, considering there are high class performances against weaker teams and critical performances against better teams in tougher situations that are statistically not at the top. It is also hard to pick a team, considering there are several good players from the same position and none sometimes from another position.For example, this week had none of the openers performing really well at the top in a pressure situations barring Hashim Amla and Dilshan Tillakaratne. Yet, neither of them went on to score big and win the match for their team.Similarly, there is a cluster of middle order players all of who have done really well against Associate teams. So, while it is hard to pick a team of XI as they would play in an ODI, ignoring their stature and considering just their week's performances, here's an attempt for this week.Andy Balbirnie and Brendan Taylor both miss out narrowly from the team and would both qualify to be the 12th man.

#1 Hashim Amla

Amla was one of the few impressive openers in a week where most good knocks came against weaker bowling attacks. 159 in 128 balls against Ireland was a decent effort, which combined with his 38 against Pakistan, wins him this place ahead of Australia’s David Warner, who had one good outing against Afghanistan but another failure against Sri Lanka. Amla also edges out Kyle Coetzer’s excellent 156 against an average Bangladesh bowling lineup.

#2 Tillakaratne Dilshan

Tillakaratne Dilshan wasn’t the best of openers this week, in terms of numbers. Yet, he was picked ahead of Warner and Coetzer for two important reasons. His 60 ball 62 came against one of the best bowling line-ups in the tournament, Australia. More importantly, it came in a high pressure chase, Sri Lanka set a target of 377 by the three-time World champions.

The highlight of the innings, of course, was his six fours off six balls in a Mitchell Johnson over. Good enough to be picked as opener, if you can smoke Johnson all around the ground.

#3 Kumar Sangakkara

Steve Smith is an excellent contender for this spot but it is hard to not pick the first man to score three successive World Cup centuries, the last one coming against Australia’s famed bowling lineup chasing 377. Sangakkara scored 104 in 107 balls smoking 11 fours and in the process becoming the second player to reach 14000 ODI runs. When he was going well with Dilshan, Sri Lanka had looked on target to topple the massive score.

#4 AB de Villiers

On most days, AB de Villiers will be the first player to make it to the XI. However, in this case, it was a really tough choice between AB de Villiers and Brendan Taylor. Taylor scored a scintillating 121 off just 91 balls, chasing 332 against Ireland.

He had turned the match on its head, which after a poor start from Zimbabwe was going Ireland’s way. Taylor has also been ZImbabwe’s best batsman this tournament. Yet, AB de Villiers’ 77 off 58 balls was all quality coming against the best bowling lineup of the week.

AB almost won the match single-handedly against Pakistan too, but he ran out of support from the other end, forcing him to try and attack unnecessarily, losing his wicket in the process. AB also wins his place owing to his bowling effort, his golden arm getting South Africa couple of wickets.

#5 Glenn Maxwell

Scoring the second fastest century at the World Cups in just 51 balls, Maxwell waltzes into this team. His 102 off 53 balls was studded with 10 fours and 4 sixes. This brutal innings comes at the back of his 88 against Afghanistan which came off just 39 balls, putting him on course for the fastest World Cup century until he lost his wicket. Maxwell is also capable of turning his arm over, giving a spin option to the skipper, picking a wicket against Afghanistan.

#6 Sean Williams

Sean Williams walks into the team just ahead of Shane Watson, on the back of his sensational 96 that almost won Zimbabwe the match against Ireland chasing 332. Only when Williams was out, caught controversially at the boundary, with John Mooney’s shoe touching the marker, did Ireland breathe a sigh of relief. That is not all. Sean Williams also managed to pick three wickets against Ireland and is a regular contributor with the ball. That makes him the bowling all-rounder in the team.

#7 MS Dhoni

He can walk into the team as a captain alone. As a wicket-keeper, Sangakkara offers a good option but Dhoni is the best finisher in the game and he showed it against a tense chase by India against West Indies. Chasing 183 India were reduced to 107 for 5 and 134 for six in a fine display of pace bowling by West Indies. However, Dhoni, calm and composed saw Indians through, stitching a vital 50 run partnership with R Ashwin. He was not out on 45. His captaincy against West Indies was absolutely top notch too, attacking right through.

#8 Wahab Riaz

In an inspired spell of bowling where he gave 45 runs to pick three wickets, Wahab Riaz showed how good a pacer he is. The bowler who bowled the fastest ball at this tournament clocking 154kph, was fast and accurate against South Africa, picking the wickets of Hashim Amla, Rilee Rossouw and Imran Tahir.

A sprightly fielder, Wahab is also capable of batting, although he was out for a duck against South Africa. Yet, he has been picked here for his bowling alone, also considering his performance against UAE where he picked two wickets.

#9 Mitchell Starc

In a match where 688 runs were scored, Mitchell Starc’s figures read 8.2-0-29-2, the best numbers by a long margin. His economy was below 4 in a match where every other bowler went at more than 5 per over. Starc was also clinical against Afghanistan bowling his 6 overs for just 18 runs and taking two wickets. He is currrently the best death bowler in the tournament capable of bowling inswinging fast yorkers at will.

#10 Mohammad Shami

In his Man of the Match performance against West Indies, Mohammad Shami gave a classical exhibition of fast, accurate swing bowling. His figures of 8-2-35-3 are impressive but do not tell the complete story of how well he had bowled to build pressure against the Windies. He wrecked their openers Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith and then came back to break a middle order partnership by getting the wicket of Darren Sammy with an absolute peach of a delivery.

#11 Mohammad Irfan

Mohammad Irfan virtually bullied the South African batsmen. His figures of 8-0-52-3 don’t do justice to the quality of his bowling. He was fast, intimidating and accurate and his delivery to get rid of Quinton de Kock was probably the ball of the week, bouncing steeply from length around off and taking his edge leaving him looking sheepish and helpless.