Muslims Named to Team of the Tournament

India’s Yuvraj Singh lifts the trophy at the Taj hotel the day after India defeated Sri Lanka in the ICC Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai April 3, 2011. REUTERS/Philip Brown

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

It was a fairy-tale ride for the Indian national cricket team as they fought their way to the 2011 ICC World Cup title. While Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh grabbed many a headline as batsmen for India, the Indian bowlers were no less responsible for their title run. And the chief of the bowling staff for India’s World Cup run was Zaheer Khan, who was acknowleded for his efforts by being named to the 2011 ICC Team of the Tournament. Khan put in 10 overs of work in just about every one of India’s tournament matches. And it was his clutch bowling that shut down the Pakistani batsmen in their semifinal clash.

The only other Muslim representative on the Team of the Tournament was Pakistani ace bowler Shahid Afridi. The skipper of the Pakistani team, Afridi led a much-maligned bowling crew for Pakistan, but he ended up tying for the tournament lead in total wickets taken. Afridi really bowled out of his skin in this tournament, as his spinners were giving the opposing batsmen fits. At times he was carrying the entire team on his back, especially in the earlier rounds. Should one of the fast bowlers on the Pakistani staff round into form, they could have the makings of a real bowling one-two punch.

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