ESPNcricinfo Awards

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2012 ODI batting nominees: Kohli's blitz, and Amla's record

A supersonic century and nerveless innings while chasing are among our ODI batting nominees

Anamul Haque: Bangladesh's teen centurion © AFP

Virat Kohli
133 not out vs Sri Lanka
CB Series, Hobart

Given India's poor outings with the bat in the CB series, one would have expected them to struggle to chase a target of 321 in 50 overs. They achieved it in 36.4 overs - needing to chase it in 40 to stay alive in the series - and did so with Kohli finishing things off in a blaze of glory. Kohli was in the zone; he dismissed anything that came his way with clinical precision, found the boundary at will whether the field was in or pushed back, ran swiftly between the wickets to catch the fielders off guard, and middled the ball with scarcely believable consistency.

David Warner
163 vs Sri Lanka
first final, CB Series, Brisbane

Warner batted through until the last ball of the innings as Australia made 321, and his first ODI century set up a 15-run victory for Australia in the first final of the CB Series. No Sri Lankan pace bowler went for less than six runs per over. Still, it was a more restrained innings than many of Warner's other limited-overs efforts - his hundred came off 111 deliveries.

Virat Kohli
183 vs Pakistan
Asia Cup, Mirpur

Another huge target, another Kohli blizzard, barely three weeks after his spectacular hundred in Hobart. He came out in the first over of the innings and stayed put till near the end, to complete India's highest successful ODI chase, against Pakistan, who are not exactly a weak bowling side. Kohli scored a career-best 183, his 11th hundred, and his third in four innings.

Hashim Amla
150 vs England
second ODI, Rose Bowl

Amla followed up his 482 runs in the three Tests against England with an ODI career-best 124-ball 150. During the course of the innings he became the fastest man to reach 3000 ODI runs, in just his 57th innings (the previous record-holder, Viv Richards, took 69 innings). His high scores across formats are a testament to Amla's remarkable quality, consistency and adaptability.

Kieron Pollard
102 vs Australia
fourth ODI, Gros Islet

Pollard blocks more balls than most, but when he hits them, he hits so powerfully that the blocking becomes irrelevant. Coming in at 106 for 4, Pollard produced a memorable display of power-hitting, slugging 102 from 70 balls to defeat an Australian side that West Indies had come to regard as virtually unbeatable, and secure a 2-1 series lead.

Thisara Perera
69 not out vs South Africa
fourth ODI, Kimberley

Perera stunned South Africa with sustained hitting to overhaul a stiff target of 300. Playing his first game of the series, Perera was promoted ahead of Angelo Mathews, with Sri Lanka on 196 for 4 at the start of the batting Powerplay. He swung the game in Sri Lanka's favour with consecutive blows over the midwicket boundary off Robin Peterson in the 43rd over, the second bringing up his maiden ODI fifty off only 30 deliveries.

Angelo Mathews
80 not out vs Pakistan
fifth ODI, Colombo

A target of 248 isn't daunting. Unless you are 97 for 4 after 25 overs and 138 for 6 after 35. Amid the wreckage surrounding him, Mathews was a figure of calm and assurance, and not for the first time, he rescued Sri Lanka from trouble and fashioned a thrilling victory with the help of the tail in the series decider. He was judicious in picking the balls he wanted to dispatch, confident in his touch-play, and displayed confidence in his lower-order team-mates, reminding his opponents all the while that his was the decisive wicket.

Anamul Haque
120 vs West Indies
second ODI, Khulna

Bangladesh thrashed West Indies in the second ODI, and they owed their early dominance in this match largely to Anamul, who became the third teenager from the country to score an ODI century. He slowed as he got near his hundred, taking 23 balls in the 90s, but played on till the 49th over to set a competitive target of 293 for West Indies, which they ended up falling short of by 160 runs.

Kieron Pollard: his hitting more than compensates for his blocking © Associated Press

Ian Bell
126 vs West Indies
first ODI, Rose Bowl

Bell marked his return to England's 50-overs side with his second ODI hundred (nearly five years after his first one), helping his team earn an early series advantage with a 114-run victory. Playing as an opener after Kevin Pietersen retired from limited-overs cricket, and a day after getting ten stitches for an injury in the nets, Bell's determination made sure his innings took the hosts to a competitive 288.

Marlon Samuels
126 vs Bangladesh
third ODI, Mirpur

With the series at stake, West Indies saved face with a four-wicket win, set up by a calm century from Samuels, who stayed on till nearly the end. Chasing a target of 228, he walked in when Chris Gayle departed for 4, and scored a patient 126 - his highest ODI score - giving West Indies their first win of the series.

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2012 home

Vishal Dikshit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Comments