Dubai-based International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its World Cup XI: In batting order, the team is: Martin Guptill (New Zealand), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand, captain), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper), Steven Smith (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Glenn Maxwell (Australia), Corey Anderson (New Zealand), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Trent Boult (New Zealand), Morne Morkel (South Africa), Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe, 12th man).

That list comprises, besides McCullum, four more New Zealanders – all-rounder Corey Anderson, paceman Trent Boult, batsman Martin Guptill and spin bowler Daniel Vettori – three Australians (Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc), two South Africans (AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel), with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara as wicketkeeper-batsman. Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor, is the 12th man. But there is no Indian – or any player from any other country.

“McCullum was chosen as the captain following his aggressive, innovative and inspirational leadership during the 44-day tournament that was the cornerstone of his team’s progression to the final where it lost to Australia by seven wickets,” the ICC said in a statement.

A select group of experts was given the task of picking a side that was balanced on the basis of performances in the tournament. Though statistics were relied on, they were not the sole basis for any selection.

According to ICC general manager (Cricket), Geoff Allardice, who chaired the panel,

Indian off-spinner R Ashwin (who snapped up 13 wickets) as well as pacemen Mohammad Shami (17 wickets) and Umesh Yadav (18 wickets – the third highest in the tournament – behind man-of-the-tournament Mitchell Starc of Australia and New Zealand’s Trent Boult who bagged 22 wickets a piece) were in the running.

He explained that, “The panel had an extremely difficult choice of selecting a 12-member squad at the back of an outstanding tournament, highlighted by some eye-catching individual performances including two double-centuries, 38 centuries, two hat-tricks and 28 four-wicket hauls.”

He elaborated: “There were a number of other players that were discussed as possible selections in the team. These included batsmen Mahmudullah (Bangladesh) and Shaiman Anwar (UAE), fast bowlers Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami (both India), Wahab Riaz (Pakistan) and spinners Imran Tahir (South Africa) and R Ashwin (India).

“But there were so many brilliant individual performances during the tournament that it was not possible to fit them into the team. The panel eventually came up with this side, which, in their view, was the most balanced outfit that is capable of beating any side on any given day.”