Iceland Cricket has named a special captain-only World XI for the limited-overs matches. The team is selected based on the captains who won the ODI or T20I World Cup.
The named team includes three captains from Australia, two each from India, West Indies, Pakistan, one each from England and Sri Lanka.
They had chosen West Indies legend Clive Lloyd to lead this team. Considered one of the greatest captains of all time, Lloyd led West Indies to three World Cups in 1975, 1979, and 1983, winning them in 1975 and 1979.
Jos Buttler and Ricky Ponting named as openers. Buttler helped England win the T20 World Cup in 2022 after defeating Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. On the other hand, Ponting is also regarded as one of the greatest captains the game has ever seen and under him, Australia won two consecutive ODI World Cups in 2003 and 2007.
Former Indian captain M.S. Dhoni, former Pakistan captain Younis Khan and Australian all-rounder Allan Border have been named in the middle order of the special playing XI. Dhoni was one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket, winning major ICC titles such as T20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011), and Champions Trophy (2013). Similarly, Younis led Pakistan to victory in the 2009 T20 World Cup, while Border led Australia to their first World Cup win in 1987.
Another Australian, Steve Waugh, is also picked 9th by Iceland Cricket, who is considered one of the toughest captains, but he is ahead of two great all-rounders, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev. Notably, Waugh led Australia to an ODI World Cup victory in 1999, while Imran and Kapil led Pakistan and India to World Cup victories in 1992 and 1983 respectively.
Darren Sammy and Lasith Malinga were the remaining two players selected by the Iceland Cricket Team for their Special XI. Sammy led West Indies to two T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, while Malinga led Sri Lanka to T20 World Cup victory in 2014.
Iceland Cricket World XI: Jos Buttler, Ricky Ponting, Clive Lloyd (C), Younis Khan, MS Dhoni (WK), Allan Border, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Steve Waugh, Darren Sammy, Lasith Malinga
Iceland Cricket World XI reserves: Arjun Ranatunga, Ian Morgan, Michael Clarke, Aaron Finch and Paul Collingwood