Analysis of individual batting and bowling performances in the Champions League Twenty20
Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan22-Oct-2012In ESPNcricinfo’s analysis of individual performances in Champions League Twenty20 matches, David Warner and Samuel Badree take the honours on the batting and bowling fronts respectively. Warner, one of the highest run-getters in the Twenty20 format, is on top for his superb 135 off 69 balls against Chennai Super Kings in the 2011 tournament. Kieron Pollard slots in at second place for his stunning 54 off 18 balls against New South Wales in 2009. The top-ten list in batting is dominated by the big hitters with Warner, Pollard and Suresh Raina featuring twice each. Chris Gayle, the leading century-getter in Twenty20 matches (eight centuries) comes in at ninth for his 92 off 41 balls in the 2011 semi-final against NSW.Trinidad & Tobago, the runners-up in the inaugural tournament, have both their spinners Badree and Sunil Narine in the top three. While Badree leads the way for his 2 for 7 in the qualifying game against Leicestershire, Narine comes in third for his impressive 3 for 8 in a low-scoring encounter against Chennai Super Kings in 2011. Shaun Tait’s 5 for 32 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011, which is in the second place, was an exceptional effort in an extremely high-scoring game. Auckland have two bowlers in the top ten with Kyle Mills’ 2 for 6 against Sialkot Stallions in the fourth position and Azhar Mahmood’s 5 for 24 against Hampshire in the sixth spot. The top ten is rounded off by L Balaji, who picked up 4 for 19 in Kolkata Knight Riders’ crushing 99-run win in their last group game against Titans.Warner dominated the tournament in 2011 ending as the highest run-getter. His 135 in the group game against Chennai was scored at a strike rate of 195.65 with 92 runs in boundaries. The combined strike rate of the other batsmen in the game was just 126.66 and none of them managed a score over 40. In the game against NSW, Pollard walked in with T&T requiring 54 runs off 28 balls with four wickets in hand. His explosive 54 (strike rate of 300) swung the game around completely with T&T knocking off the remaining runs in 19 balls. Pollard, who scored 50 of his runs in boundaries, had a strike rate that was nearly three times the corresponding figure of the other T&T batsmen (116.12). In third place is Wes Durston’s 57 off 32 balls for Somerset against Eagles in 2009. Durston’s strike rate of 178.12 was comfortably higher than what the rest of the batsmen managed (92). Both Pollard and Warner make their second appearance in the top ten at fourth and sixth positions respectively. However, Warner’s second century of the tournament (123) was unable to prevent defeat in the semi-final against Royal Challengers, who overhauled the huge target of 204 with the help of Gayle’s 92 (strike rate 224.39), which slots in at ninth. The two other centuries scored in the Champions League Twenty20 come in at tenth (Andrew Puttick) and 12th (Daniel Harris). The only knock from this year’s tournament that makes it to the top 15 is Gary Ballance’s 64 off 25 balls for Yorkshire in their qualifying match against T&T.
BatsmanTeamOppositionRunsBalls facedPointsDavid WarnerNSWChennai Super Kings1356970.43Kieron PollardTrinidad & TobagoNSW541867.49Wes DurstonSomersetEagles573260.82Kieron PollardMumbai IndiansGuyana723058.20Suresh RainaChennai Super KingsRoyal Challengers Bangalore944858.03David WarnerNSWRoyal Challengers Bangalore1236856.20JP DuminyCape CobrasRoyal Challengers Bangalore995253.76Suresh RainaChennai Super KingsWayamba874453.16Chris GayleRoyal Challengers BangaloreNSW924151.73Andrew PuttickCape CobrasOtago1046250.94Richard CameronLionsGuyana784250.51Daniel HarrisSouth AustraliaRoyal Challengers Bangalore1086150.02Aaron FinchVictoriaCentral Districts936049.88Roelof van der MerweSomersetKolkata Knight Riders734049.66Gary BallanceYorkshireTrinidad & Tobago642547.53Badree’s 2 for 7 in the qualifying game against Leicestershire is the best bowling performance followed by Tait’s 5 for 32. Badree finished with an economy rate of just 1.75 in a game where the run-rate was over seven runs per over. In addition, both his wickets were those of top-order batsmen. In a game dominated by batsmen (run-rate of 10.72), Tait’s figures were outstanding. All five of his wickets were those of top-seven batsmen including Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli, the top scorers for Royal Challengers. Narine’s effort came after T&T had been restricted to just 123. He dismissed M Vijay and Raina before returning to remove the dangerous MS Dhoni as T&T managed to defend the low target. Despite the game being a low-scoring one, Narine’s economy rate of 2.00 was well below the match run-rate of 5.85. Both Azhar Mahmood’s 5 for 24 against Hampshire in the qualifying game and Lasith Malinga’s 5 for 32 in the dead-rubber clash with Chennai finish in the top ten. Despite the lack of wickets, Dilshan’s 1 for 10 against NSW is in 11th place because of the top-class economy rate (2.50) in an extremely high-scoring game (run-rate 10.57). No other bowler in the game ended with an economy rate below seven runs per over.
BowlerTeamOppositionWicketsRunsPointsSamuel BadreeTrinidad & TobagoLeicestershire2772.13Shaun TaitSouth AustraliaRoyal Challengers Bangalore53271.25Sunil NarineTrinidad & TobagoChennai Super Kings3867.91Kyle MillsAucklandSialkot Stallions2667.60JP DuminyCape CobrasChennai Super Kings42067.31Azhar MahmoodAucklandHampshire52466.68Andrew McDonaldVictoriaRoyal Challengers Bangalore42166.33Cornelius de VilliersEaglesSomerset41765.38Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansChennai Super Kings53265.34L BalajiKolkata Knight RidersTitans41965.13Tillakaratne DilshanRoyal Challengers BangaloreNSW11061.34Aaron PhangisoLionsSydney Sixers31461.27Ravi RampaulTrinidad & TobagoLeicestershire41461.26Pat CumminsNSWRoyal Challengers Bangalore44561.23Dirk NannesDelhi DaredevilsWayamba42460.72
