ICC Champions Trophy 2017: 5 best batsmen of the tournament
The 2017 Champions Trophy will go down in cricketing folklore as one of the most refreshing tournaments in recent history. With a number of favourites in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand bowing out in the group stage itself, the stage was set for India and England to make this tourney theirs.
However, what transpired between 14th and 18th June made everyone stand up and raise their hats for the Men in Green. The Pakistanis raised their game several notches in the knockout stage and outplayed first England and then India to win their maiden Champions Trophy.
However, one thing that the tournament promised even before it started was that this one was going to be a batsmen’s competition. And it did not disappoint. We saw several world class batsmen exhibit their prowess irrespective of the performance of their teams.
Moreover, along with the usual suspects, some new names like that of Fakhar Zaman made their presence felt. To expand on that, here are the five best batsmen of the tournament.
#5 Tamim Iqbal
Except for the duck against New Zeland, Tamim Iqbal was the lone warrior for Bangladesh in many ways. 293 runs in four innings at 73.25 is by no means, a walk in the park. He was patient in the build up of all his innings and treated deliveries on merit.
Starting with a century against hosts England (128 off 142 balls), he helped the Bangla Tigers post 305 runs on the board. Then against Australia, Tamim, after weathering some early storm went on to score a well-deserved 95, more than half of his team’s total of 182.
His outing against the Kiwis was one off as he returned in the semi-final against India with eyes on another big score. However, after building up a 123 runs partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim, he fell to Kedar Jadhav on 70.
Tamim finished as the third highest run-scorer of the tournament.