CricTracker fan poll – 5 Best ODI bowlers of the year

The year of 2016 saw a great contest between the bat and the ball. The batsmen ruled on a few occasions with unprecedented success. Herculean knocks came to the fore in all the three formats of the game. Australia’s David Warner ruled the ODIs and India’s Virat Kohli was the man of the T20Is. England’s Joe Root had a dream Test run this year. Cricket is often believed to be a game of batsmen. With most rules giving the ‘benefit of the doubt’ to the batsmen, things are definitely not easy for the bowlers. However, just as ever before, some bowlers made the ball do the talking this year. They did not let the batsmen dominate the proceedings and were often the key men for their sides. We gave CricTracker fans an opportunity to pick the best ODI bowler of the year among the five top names and with almost 3500 voters participating it was a fair poll to crown the best bowler from amongst the best. The year of 2016 kick started with a lot of ODI action. The mid phase saw the T20s dominate with the World T20 and IPL hogging the news. Towards the end of the year, some enriching brand of Test cricket was on display. But there was enough ODI action in the year for the fans to see the ODI format complement the other two formats of the game. The fans witnessed some nerve-wracking 50-over matches and exuberant bowling displays. Here are the fan’s choice 5 best ODI bowlers of 2016: 5. Trent Boult – 2% votes Trent Boult of New Zealand. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Kiwi speedster might have been an out-of-favor bowler in the shortest format of the game. But when it comes to the ODIs and Tests, Trent Boult is one tough customer to deal with. Boult had a phenomenal year with the ball in the ODIs. He finished as the leading wicket-taker for his side and the most successful non-Australian pacer of 2016. He bagged 25 wickets in the 13 matches that he featured in (including the first ODI against Bangladesh). His bowling average was off 26.72 during this phase. Despite having the economy on the higher side of 5, he still managed to pick key wickets and break crucial partnerships. New Zealand had a tough tour to India and Australia. However, Boult’s performances were commended on both the tours. He ran in hard and bowled with the same rigour. He emerged as the 5th best bowler of the Crictracker fan polls for the best bowler of 2016. 4. Imran Tahir – 9% votes South African cricketer Imran Tahir. (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) South African leggie Imran Tahir is big match player. Time and again, he has proved why he is the number one spinner in the South African bowling attack. He emerged as one of the most popular choices for the best Bowler of 2016 in the CricTracker fan poll. Truly, the veteran leggie was one of the top bowlers in 2016. He finished the year as the 4th leading wicket taker with 27 wickets to his name in 15 ODI matches. Among all the bowlers in the top 15 leading wicket takers of 2016, Tahir remains to be the only one with 2 four-wicket hauls. His best of 7/45 was the most powerful bowling spell in ODIs this year against West Indies. Tahir averaged 25 with the ball and bowled with an economy of just over 5 and a strike-rate of 29.1. 3. Mitchell Starc – 25% votes Australia’s Mitchell Starc. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images) The bowling prowess of Mitchell Starc is not unknown. Even before the year started, Mitch Starc was tipped as one of the players to watch out for in world cricket. Starc missed out on nearly half of the action due to an injury he sustained in late 2015. However, the left-arm quick more than just covered up with his plethora of wickets in the ODIs this year. Starc bagged 26 wickets in the 13 matches that he played this year. He bowled close to 114 overs in ODIs this year and bowled 7 maidens which come to a brilliant ratio of 1:17. He averaged 19.69 with the ball – the best among all the pacers in the top 10 leading wicket takers this year. The kind of form Starc is in, he is looking as a threatening prospect for the opposition and a legend in the making. In the polls, he finished at the third spot with 25 percent of the total votes. 2. Jasprit Bumrah – 29% votes (Photo Source: BCCI) Pacer Jasprit Bumrah shot to fame when he hogged the limelight with his unusual action in the Indian Premier League a year ago. This year, he found himself drafted in the Indian team. When India were drubbed 4-0 in the first 4 matches of the 5-match ODI series down under, Bumrah was summoned to the Indian side. He made a mark straightaway and bagged two key wickets. Soon he was seen in the T20I series as well where India whitewashed Australia 3-0. MS Dhoni had called him the find of the tour. He continued his good form with the ball throughout the year in the ODI format. He scalped 17 wickets in just 8 matches at an average as low as 14.64 and economy of 3.63. His best figures this year were that of 4/22 against Zimbabwe. In the fan poll, Bumrah finished on the second spot with 29 percent of votes. Team India will be hopeful that the pacer continues his good run in the year of 2017. 1. Rashid Khan – 35% votes Rashid Khan of Afghanistan. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images,) Young Afghanistan tweaker Rashid Khan did an exceptional task for his side this year. With his spectacular performances, he managed to rub shoulders with the biggest names on the list of top bowlers. Having started off with T20Is, Rashid soon made his mark in the ODI format. The key to his success in the ODIs this year was his impressive average with the ball. He averaged just 19.50 with the ball this year and that remains to be the best average for any bowler this year among the top 15 leading wicket takers of 2016. In the 12 matches that he played, he bagged 22 wickets for his team with a four-wicket haul to his name. He bowled with an economy of 4.12 this year. Certainly, the young bowling sensation was one of the key contenders for the ICC Emerging Player of the Year award but lost out narrowly to Mustafizur Rahman. In the fan poll, the youngster managed to outplay India’s Jasprit Bumrah to become the best ODI bowler of 2016. This clearly shows that he has some serious fan following too.

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CricTracker fan poll – 5 Best ODI bowlers of the year

4. Imran Tahir – 9% votes

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