Top 5 batsmen of CLT20 2014

The sixth edition of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) came to a fantastic end on Saturday with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) getting the better of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 8 wickets, courtesy of a dazzling hundred from Suresh Raina, to win their second CLT20.The tournament was dominated by batsmen, as is the norm in T20 cricket, with two of the top 5 totals in CL T20 history being notched up during this year’s tournament. While CSK scored 242/6 against Dolphins at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, which is the second highest total in CLT20 history, Kings XI weren’t too far behind, amassing a total of 215/5 against New Zealand’s Northern Knights at Mohali.Although the likes of Raina and Robin Uthappa will earn plaudits at the end and rightly so, as they played instrumental roles in getting their side to the final, the performances of the likes of Anton Devcich (206 runs), Umar Akmal (189) among others deserve a mention at the least.  Here are the top 5 batsmen of the 2014 CLT20:

#5 Shoaib Malik

Shoaib Malik might be considered surplus to requirements as far as Pakistan’s T20 team is concerned after a poor World T20, but Malik has shown that he has still got what it takes to succeed at the top level with his performances for Hobart Hurricanes in the CLT20.

Malik, Hurricanes’ sole overseas recruit, scored 172 runs in 5 matches at an average of 86 and was one of the principal factors behind Hurricanes’ entry into the semi-finals. He started off poorly with scores of 14 and 8 in their first two matches but eventually made his vast experience of subcontinent conditions count with scores of 45*, 39* and 66* in the final three games.

It was unfortunate that his innings of 66 not out from 46 deliveries in the semi-final against KKR didn’t get the rewards it deserved. Coming in at 2/13, Malik would have wanted someone to bat alongside him and build a substantial partnership, but the Hurricanes kept losing wickets at the other end. He was stifled for a majority of his innings, as a result, and couldn’t accelerate the scoring rate as early as he would have wanted.

When given the license at the end, Malik showed exactly what he is capable of, as he smashed chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav for 21 runs off the penultimate over of the innings to at least take them to a competitive total of 140.