Yuvraj Singh named as World Cup player of the tournament
India batsman Yuvraj Singh was on Saturday named as the player of the tournament at the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Wankhede, Mumbai.
Yuvraj was the unanimous choice of a select group of experts* following his sensational form that helped guide his side to the title before an adoring home crowd. The 29-year-old batted eight innings in the tournament, scoring a total of 362 at an average of 86.19.
He also took 15 wickets at an average of 25.13 and an economy-rate of 5.02 with his more-than-useful slow left-arm bowling.
During their deliberations, the members of the panel discussed several names, highlighting such players as Sri Lanka?s inspirational captain Kumar Sangakkara, joint-top wicket-takers Shahid Afridi of Pakistan and Zaheer Khan of India, as well as leading run-scorer TM Dilshan and Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka, and AB de Villiers of South Africa.
But the panel decided Yuvraj?s crucial contributions to his team?s victories with both bat and ball were deserving of the player-of-the-tournament award.
The selection panel that chose the men?s ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 player of the tournament consisted of:
David Richardson (ICC General Manager ? Cricket and former South Africa wicketkeeper)
Anand Vasu (Deputy Editor of Sports Illustrated)
Aleem Dar (Member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Umpire of the Year 2009 and 2010)
Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Match Referee and former Sri Lanka batsman)
Christopher Martin-Jenkins (journalist and broadcaster)