ICC Awards 2017: Yuzvendra Chahal wins ICC Performance of the Year
The ICC cricketing awards were announced yesterday, with Indian leggie Yuzvendra Chahal receiving the ICC's Performance of the Year award for his six-wicket haul against England in Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2017 during the second ODI of the teams' T20I series.
India had set a target of 203 runs for the guests in Bengaluru, with Joe Root and Jason Roy putting on a fine display of batting, combining for partnership of 47. After Roy lost his wicket, it was ODI captain Eoin Morgan who took over, and with Morgan's 40-run haul, the Test and ODI skippers together put on a 64-run partnership for the third wicket.
It looked at that point that the visitors, England, were firmly in the drivers' seat and poised for .a clean win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, it was then that the 27-year-old Chahal struck not once, but twice in quick succession, sending Root (42) and Morgan (40) back to the pavilion one after the other.
Dismissing two set batsmen - one of them the skipper - off consecutive deliveries, Chahal quickly turned the momentum of the match on its head, and firmly shifted the balance of power back to the hosts, who had a phenomenal home season last year - in no small part due to Chahal himself.
England, who were at one point 119/2, quickly fell to 120/3, 177/4, and although they were not bowled out by the time they neared the target, they had spent so much time trying to steady the ship that they were not able to reach the score inside their stipulated 20 overs.
Chahal quickly dismissed Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan in quick succession, ending the match with figures of 6 wickets for only 25 runs. The 27-year-old was awarded both the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament awards for his performance in Bengaluru.
His figures are the best of all-time for an Indian bowler in T20 internationals.