London, Sep 12 (IANS): The 2011 ODI team of the year announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Monday features four Indians and has Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its captain.

The team was chosen by a specially-appointed selection panel chaired by West Indian legend and former captain Clive Lloyd.

The other Indians in the side are Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, who won the man of the series award in the 2011 World Cup.

World Cup winning captain Dhoni makes it to the team for the fourth year in a row.

The announcement was made at a special function ahead of the ICC Awards ceremony which will be held later in the evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel here.

The Test team declared last month only had one Indian in Sachin Tendulkar.

"This has been an outstanding year for 50-over cricket. I think everyone saw in the ICC Cricket World Cup how exciting this format can be. The ICC Cricket World Cup was rightly applauded as one of the greatest in history and no one who was in Mumbai will forget that remarkable evening," said Lloyd.

"The ODI team of the year reflects the success of India with four players selected - Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni and Zaheer Khan. Yuvraj was, of course, the player of the tournament and Dhoni, the man of the match in the final, whilst fellow finalists Sri Lanka have three players in the side," he said.

Lloyd was joined on the panel by former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas, former England captain Mike Gatting, former New Zealand bowler Danny Morrison and former South African bowler Paul Adams.

The team (in batting order):

Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
AB de Villiers (SA)
Shane Watson (Aus)
Yuvraj Singh (Ind)
MS Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper/captain)
Graeme Swann (Eng)
Umar Gul (Pak)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Zaheer Khan (Ind)
12th Man - Lasith Malinga (SL)