ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Best player in each team

If the rain gods had shown some mercy upon us, we would’ve had one of the best Champions Trophy editions of all time, nevertheless, this one was fun too. Pakistan characteristically pulling off something completely out of the blue and Australia’s miserable fortune have to be the best and the worst things about this edition.

Every team needs one of their star players to stand out pretty much every game to ensure they win the tournament. What Yuvraj Singh did for India in the 2011 World Cup or what Glenn McGrath did in the 2007 ICC World Cup is the sort of performances which separates a good unit from a champion unit.

Let’s take a look at that star player in each of these 8 teams, who was splendid in every aspect for their side.

#1 Pakistan- Hasan Ali

The champions will obviously have a baggage of choices for such things, but our vote goes to Hasan Ali. With 13 wickets in 5 matches, he ended up as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament which also earned him the coveted Golden Ball award.

Hasan Ali’s key to success has been his consistency. He was able to bowl the same tight line to batsmen in the middle overs, which forced them to do something silly. Most of the wickets he picked, came that way and his awareness and knowledge of the game really make him a great prospect for Pakistan cricket.

#2 India- Shikhar Dhawan

Who else but “Gabbar” was the best player for India this Champions Trophy. After a sparkling performance in the previous edition of the Champions Trophy, which helped India lift the trophy back then, Dhawan managed to begin exactly from where he left last time around.

Dhawan’s tally of 338 runs at a fantastic average of 67.6 makes him the highest run scorer and the Golden Bat winner of the tournament. There’s something about these ICC events which fuels up his inner spirits and he starts to show some unseen colours of his. The opener replicated everything that he did last time, but this time, the trophy traveled to Lahore and not Mumbai.

#3 England- Eoin Morgan

Talk about skipper leading from the front, Eoin Morgan has been doing exactly that since the ICC World Cup 2015 which turned out to be a disaster for the English. Morgan played a couple of fantastic knocks in the tournament, which helped England finish unbeaten in the group stages.

An embarrassing defeat to Pakistan in the semifinals slayed all their hopes of winning an ICC trophy at home but Morgan has been outstanding for them. He scored 208 runs coming in at number 4 or 5 and all the other 8 batters who are ahead of him in terms of number of runs this tournament are top 3 batsmen. Not just his batting actually, he was just spot on with his field placements or bowling changes throughout the tournament.

#4 Bangladesh- Tamim Iqbal

Somewhere between Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s opener Tamim Iqbal often gets shadowed and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Tamim will remember this Champions Trophy for the rest of his life as his knocks propelled Bangladesh to their first the top 4 entry in an ICC event.

The left-hander scored a brilliant 128 in the Champions Trophy opener against hosts England, but unfortunately in a losing cause. He backed it up with another 90 in the next game and a half century against India in the Semifinals. As a batsman, he did everything he could for his side but their bowling let them down against India in the semifinals which eventually knocked them out of the tournament.

#5 New Zealand- Kane Williamson

Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson proved the world yet again why he’s called a class act. His shots were just as beautiful as Picasso’s painting and if it had not been for the rain which canceled out their game against Australia, things could’ve been very different.

Williamson scored 244 runs in 3 games, which included a 100 that left everyone spellbound and a couple of clinical half-centuries. He got these runs at a brisk pace as well and ended the tournament with a strike rate of 92.42.

#6 South Africa- Hashim Amla

This was a tournament to forget for South Africa as they stuttered yet again, having entered the tournament as the hot favourites to win it. Barely anyone has been sublime for them, due to which they got knocked out so early but Hashim Amla was the pick out of all the players.

He scored a classical hundred against Sri Lanka in their opening game and he ended the tournament with 154 runs in the tournament. Well, this was still not the best that we’ve seen from Amla and given he was performing any where close to his best, South Africa wouldn’t have gone home so soon.

#7 Sri Lanka- Nuwan Pradeep

There was barely anything to cheer for the Sri Lankans in the entire tournament other than that flabbergasting run chase against India. But their star outlet this time around has been Nuwan Pradeep, who kept picking important wickets in the middle overs and gave his best shot for the side.

With 6 wickets in the 3 games they played, Pradeep has been the best player for Sri Lanka this time and he will look to continue the same way in the tournaments to come.

#8 Australia- Josh Hazlewood

When some people started drawing parallels between Hazlewood and the legendary Glenn McGrath, the argument got ridiculed. But now everyone has a different opinion about Hazlewood, a good one at that. Hazlewood currently is at the helm of the ICC Rankings for bowlers in ODIs.

The pacer played just 3 games out of which a lot of time was eaten up by the rain gods. Yet, he picked up 9 wickets and ended as the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament. His spell of 6/53 against arch-rivals New Zealand was one of the best bowling spells you’ll ever see, but rain gods had the last laugh that day as the match got washed out.