5 players who will be playing their first Champions Trophy
The eighth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy (formerly known as the ICC KnockOut) is upon us and all the teams – including the defending champions India – have announced the squads that are to take part in the competition.
The quadrennial eight-team event would see several cricketers playing their first Champions Trophy along with the seasoned veterans who have represented their teams in previous ICC tournaments as well.
While for some cricketers this tournament would be their first chance to test themselves under the rigours of a global tournament, for others it might be the last chance to aim at the elusive ICC trophy.
While Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka have won the tournament previously, England, Bangladesh and Pakistan haven’t, and the latter three teams, especially the hosts, England, would look to make the best use of what looks to be their best chance of winning their first ICC tournament in 50-overs cricket.
Here, in this piece, we enlist five prominent young cricketers who would be playing their first Champions Trophy and who could go on to make an impact for their sides.
#5 Mitchell Santner
Quite famous for ruining India’s party at the ICC World T20 2016, Mitchell Santner, since his debut in 2015, has come a long way from being a left-arm orthodox spinner to being a prospective all-rounder, at least in the shorter formats of the game.
453 runs from 33 ODIs might not speak of a great exhibition of batting, but if you consider that Santner has batted at No. 6 and below for most of these games you’d see that an average of 26.64 and a strike-rate of 85.63 are acceptable.
While Santner hasn’t played a Champions Trophy tournament yet, the experience of having played the ICC World T20 should hold him in good stead, and his 40 ODI wickets at a reasonable average of 31 must have given him the required amount of experience before his first 50-over ICC tournament.