Round 1 of the T20 World Cup 2021 has come to an end and four teams, Scotland, Namibia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have made it past the round 1 to enter the Super 12 round with the big boys.
The four teams whose campaign in the T20 World Cup 2021 is over are the hosts Oman, Ireland, Netherlands and debutant Papua New Guinea.
Group A of the round 1 was topped by as expected, the Sri Lankan team. Sri Lanka won all three of their matches and finished at the top with 6 points and a net run rate of +3.754. Namibia is the other team to progress through to the next round by shocking the world in their debut T20 World Cup appearance. They finished with 4 points with 2 big wins against Netherlands and Ireland.
Scotland topped the Group B with a perfect record having won all three of their matches. Bangladesh also, as expected, made it through, but not as group toppers, which might be a big concern for the Bengal Tigers.
Best Combined Playing XI from Round 1: T20 World Cup 2021
Today, we take a look at the best combined Playing XI from the round 1 of the T20 World Cup 2021.
Openers: Max ODowd and Jatinder Singh
For us, and probably for everyone, the opening duo of this team has to be Netherlands player Max ODowd and Oman’s Jatinder Singh.
Max ODowd was the only positive in a frustrating campaign for Netherlands who finished at the bottom of their group. Max finished the campaign being the top run getter with 123 runs in 3 matches.
He will be accompanied by Oman’s opening batsman Jatinder Singh. Jatinder Singh finished as the 2nd highest run scorer of round 1 with 113 runs. He played a brilliant 73 runs inning against Papua New Guinea on the opening day, scoring 73 runs of 43 balls.
Middle-Order: Gerhard Erasmus, Richie Berrington, Matthew Cross (WK)
The team will be given solidarity at the middle by Namibia cricket team captain Gerhard Erasmus, under whom, Namibia has scripted history. Gerhard finished as the highest scorer for Namibia with 105 runs and a captain’s knock in the decider against Ireland, which guided them to the Super 12.
He will be joined by Scottish middle-order batsman Richie Berrington. Richie Berrington was in top form in round 1 scoring 103 runs in the 3 matches, with an average of over 50.
Wicketkeeping duties will be in the hand of the Scotland wicketkeeping batsman Matthew Cross. Matthew Cross is a Scottish veteran at just 29 years of age. He amassed a total of 82 runs in 3 matches.
All-Rounders: Shakib Al Hasan, David Wiese, Wanindu Hasaranga
We have included three top class all-rounders from round 1. First is the world’s best all-rounder, the Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib contributed with both the bat and the ball. With the bat he scored 108 runs, while with the ball, he finished as the highest wicket-taker in the round with 9 wickets.
Then comes a power-hitting batsman from the Namibia cricket team, David Wiese. Wiese scored 100 runs in the tournament that included a powering 28 runs of 14 balls to take Namibia through to the Super 12. With the ball, he managed to get 3 wickets.
Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga is next on the list. He played crucial role in Sri Lanka’s campaign so far, picking up 6 wickets and by scoring 71 runs.
Bowlers: Maheesh Theekshana, Josh Davey, Lahiru Kumara
The bowling attacks contains of Sri Lankan duo Maheesh Theekshana and Lahiru Kumara. Both the bowlers were in top form picking up 8 and 7 wickest respectively, combined total of 15 wickets between the two.
They are joined by Scotland pace bowler Josh Davey. Davey was always expected to lead the bowling attack for Scotland, and he did stepped up to that. Josh Davey picked 8 wickets in the round 1 and will continue to lead their bowling in Super 12.
