Top 7 Players of the Week - November 14th – 20th
A little delay this week, in getting you the best players of the week gone by. Nevertheless, here we are, to talk about some of the praiseworthy performances. There was plenty of cricket last week. South Africa and Australia played part of their Second Test at Hobart last week although the match didn’t last the distance. India won their second Test against England at Vizag and New Zealand won their first Test against Pakistan at Christchurch.
There is a Tri-Series going on in Zimbabwe involving the host team along with West Indies and Sri Lanka. So here are some sterling players we managed to pick. Some good players like Ben Stokes and Haseeb Hameed miss out despite being impressive.
#1 Virat Kohli
He can do no wrong these days. The Indian Test skipper registered a Player of the Match performance scoring 167 in India’s first innings against England in the second Test at Vizag, walking in at 22 for 2 in the fifth over. He went on to add 226 with Cheteshwar Pujara for the third wicket. Kohli also made it to the top 5 of most runs scored in a Test by an Indian skipper, adding to his 167 in the second innings with a classy, steely and skilful 81. Kohli’s innings was studded with 18 fours as he scored briskly at a strike-rate of over 60.
#2 Cheteshwar Pujara
Pujara has hit a purple patch scoring his third Test century in three Tests. His 119 and marathon partnership set the match up nicely as India went on to post 455. Pujara walked in only in the second over of the Test when India lost KL Rahul for a duck. Pujara, who received a lot of chin music in the first Test, showed plenty of discipline while still scoring at a strike-rate of 58.33.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin is turning out to be quite a wonderful all-rounder for India and he showed it again in the second Test at Vizag. Ashwin scored a priceless 58 in India’s first innings, adding 64 for the eighth wicket with debutant Jayant Yadav, who himself had a good game. Ashwin then took a five-wicket haul with the ball as England were wrapped up for just 255 conceding a 200-run lead. He picked up another three in England’s second innings, taking his match tally to eight wickets.