World T20 2016: Top 5 finds of the tournament: The sixth edition of the ICC World T20 turned out to a colourful tournament as it testified to several outstanding performances put up by some of the most prominent names in the realms of international cricket. While the individual exploits of well-established players like Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Samuel Badreelit up the 27 day long tournament, quite a few youngsters stepped up to the plate and grabbed the limelight on certain occasions with some startling performances. Thus in many ways, the recently concluded tournament acted as a celebrant of youth and vivacity and promoted a number of fresh faces who could go on to flourish in the international arena in the near future.
In this feature, we present the names of five players that left strong impressions on the minds of spectators in general and critics in particular with some eye catching displays.
- JEFFREY VANDERSAY (SRI LANKA)
In times of some serious turmoil enveloping Sri Lankan cricket, Jeffrey Vandersay’s induction into the squad has come as a breath of fresh air. The 26 year old leg spinner from Wattalamade a rather poor start to his international career in the first ODI of Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand late last year where he was severely mauled by New Zealand’s Martin Guptill who plundered 26 runs from his first over and Vandersay’s bowling figures at the end of the game stood at 2-0-34-0. Since then, he has seemingly worked harder and exhibited remarkable improvement in his game as is evident from his display at the ICC World T20 2016.Interestingly, Vandersay had initially been withdrawn from the Lankan squad named for the tournament but was redrafted soon after LasithMalinga was ruled out of the tournament owing to a knee injury.He didn’t let the opportunity to go to waste as he picked up3 wickets in 4 games with his best performance coming in Sri Lanka’s Group 1 fixture against England at the Feroz Shah Kotla where he claimed 2 wickets for 26 runs from his 4 overs which included the prized scalps of Jason Roy and Joe Root. In a recent interview given to an Indian news channel, Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara lavished praise on Vandersay by calling him a ‘player to look out for’ in the near future. Sri Lanka has had a long tradition of producing outstanding spinners who go on to excel at the international level with unmatched zeal. With RanganaHerath now in the twilight of his career, Vandersay has a mountain to climb if he intends to cement his placein the Sri Lankan side as their premier spinner across all formats. The task will not be an easy one because of the immense competition among spinners in the Emerald Isles.
- ADAM ZAMPA (AUSTRALIA)
Mentored by one of the greatest exponents of the art of leg spin the game has ever witnessed, Adam Zampa has made a reasonable start to his international career since bursting onto the global arena a couple of months ago. The 23 year old from New South Wales (although he now plays for South Australia in the Australian domestic circuit) has featured in 2 ODIs and 6 T20Is to date, picking up 3 and 5 wickets respectively. For a cricketing powerhouse like Australia which has been facing paucity of quality spinners in limited-overs cricket since the departure of Shane Warne, it seems as though the selectors have finally found apotential solution to their problems in the form ofZampa, who impressed one and all in the recently concluded ICC World T20 in India by scalping 5 wickets at an average of 13.20 and an economy rate of 4.72. After going wicket-less in his first 3 T20Is, he was adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’ in Australia’s Group 2 encounter of the World T20 against Bangladesh in Bangalore for his figures of 3/23. Much in the mould of his mentor Shane Warne, Zampa’s action largely resembles that of the ‘Sheikh of the Tweak’ (We are not even counting the blonde locks which they have in common). He has a relaxed approach to the crease, strolling in gently for the first couple of yards before releasing the ball by generating optimum force to put revolutions in the ball through his pivot at the bowling crease. Interestingly, Zampa has been denied a Cricket Australia Central Contract for 2016 as CA intends to test his credentials in the tour of West Indies in June, where he will be seen partnering Nathan Lyon in the Aussie spin department. It goes without saying that Zampa’s resurgence in the realms of Australia’s limited overs cricket is akin to an oasis in a desert. He will get a chance to brush up his skills when he shares the dressing room with Indian off-spinner RavichandranAshwin at Rising Pune Super Giants in the IPL later this year.
- DAVID WILLEY (ENGLAND)
‘Wily Willy’ was certainly one of the brightest prospects for England in the tournament. A left-handed seam bowling all-rounder hailing from Northampton, the 26 year old David Willey has made quite an impression in his brief spell at the international level so far. It would not be wrong to assume that cricket flows in his blood as his father, Peter Willey too had been an international cricketer for England, playing 26 Tests and as many ODIs from 1976-86. Willey senior then went on to officiate 23 Tests and 34 ODIs between 1996 and 2003.
David who now represents Yorkshire in the English county circuit, made his international debut in a rain-curtailed ODI against Ireland in May last year where he bagged his first international wicket. He was then called up to the English team which squared off against New Zealand in a 5-match ODI series in June that same year. He finished with expensive figures in the third and fourth matches of that series, returning with figures of 3/69 and 2/89 respectively. His maiden T20I (played in the same series) accounted for figures of 3/22. England’s dominance in the ODI series (which they clinched by a narrow 3-2 margin) earned him a national call-up for the all-important ICC World T20. He did not disappoint the selectors either. He demonstrated decent form throughout the tournament, finishing with 10 wickets in 6 games with his best performance being a dual effort of 21 runs (off 14 balls) and a terrific spell of 3/20 which came against West Indies in the final at the Eden Gardens. He was one-fourth of the quartet which played a vital role in helping England reach the final (The others being Joe Root, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler). More of a bowling all-rounder, Willey has amassed 2,052 runs in 58 First Class games (including 2 tons and 14 fifties), besides claiming 148 wickets as of yet. Willey has been a fine exponent of classic left-arm seam bowling for the ‘Three Lions’, and apparently fits into their future scheme of things in limited-overs cricket. He can form a formidable pair with Ben Stokes (who’s more of a batting all-rounder) in the England line-up in a bid for succession to the phylum of Sir Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad.
- MITCHELL SANTNER (NEW ZEALAND)
The Black Caps have long been fascinated by Daniel Vettori- a spin bowling all-rounder of an exalted rank who served New Zealand with unparalleled efficacy in a career spanning 17 years.
Looked upon as the heir to Vettori’s glorious throne, Santner emerged as Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson’s trump card in the recently concluded ICC World T20, where he took 10 wickets at an impressive average of 11.4 and an economy rate of 6.27 in the spin-friendly Indian conditions. In the inaugural game of the Super Ten round in Nagpur, Santner bamboozled hosts India with his illusive left arm spin and ran through a sturdy Indian batting line-up and ended up finishing with figures of 4-0-11-14 besides scoring 18 runs (off 17 balls) in the first innings and thus helped his team successfully defend a relatively puny score of 126-7. He is no monk with the bat either, a fact which can be traced back to the fourth ODI of New Zealand’s away series against England in April last year where he hit leg-spinner Adil Rashid for 28 runs in one over which happens to be the second highest runs off one over ever posted in England. 24 year old Santner was the sole Kiwi player to be incorporated in ICC’s Team of the 2016 World T20. However his fellow teammate and leg spinner IshSodhi, who was snubbed by ICC’s jury panel for that elite team, was reluctant to compare him to the talismanic Vettori. In a press conference at the Eden Gardens prior to New Zealand’s Group 2 encounter of the World T20 against Bangladesh, Sodhi said, ‘’Vettori was a fantastic bowler in his own right, but I think he and Santner are completely different bowlers. Santner is being himself as much as he can at the moment and it’s working really well for him.’’ According to Sodhi, the key to Santner’s upsurge on the international scene lies in his ability to put a lot of wrist on the ball despite being a finger spinner.
The young all-rounder from Hamilton has all the ingredients to gain a strong foothold across all three formats of the game and it will not come as a surprise if he gives leading spin-bowling all-rounders like Shakib-Al-Hasan, RavindraJadeja and Glenn Maxwell a run for their money in the near future.
- CARLOS BRATHWAITE (WEST INDIES)
6th February, 2016- Delhi Daredevils’ Rs. 4.2 crore bid for Carlos Brathwaite at the IPL auctioninvited wild scowls from the seven other bidders who were present in ITC Gardenia’s conference hall on that particular day. Cynics termed it as a ‘joke’ while some others called it a ‘hoax’.
3rd April, 2016- 19 runs. West Indies were 19 runs away from their second World T20 title but all those runs had to be scored in one solitary over. Who was the striker? It must have been either Dwyane Bravo or Andre Russell. By the time Ben Stokes started his run up to bowl the final over, Bravo and Russell had been sent back to the hut, leaving the experienced Marlon Samuels and a relatively unknown Carlos Brathwaite(who had played just 7 T20Is prior to that game)at the creaseto face the final over. The odds were hitherto stacked in England’s favour but four lusty blows from Brathwaite’s willow over deep mid-wicket, mid-off, long-on and mid-wicket respectively ensured a miraculous 6-wicket victory for the West Indies and their second World T20 triumph in 4 years. Breath-taking Brathwaite was certainly the man of the moment (scored 34* off 10 deliveries) in the final at a jam-packed Eden Gardens and his celebrations knew no bounds after he piloted the West Indies not only to their second piece of silverware in World T20s but in the process he also helpedCaribbean cricketelopefrom the acrimonyof WICB’s lackadaisical attitude.
Dropped out of the picture in 2011 following an underwhelming display against Bangladesh in his debut series, the 27 year old Bajan made a strong retaliation in late 2015 when he was drafted into the West Indies squad after a gap of four years for an away series against Australia. Emotion and excitement mingled in equal proportions for him at that stageand he credited his mother with having helped him overcomea string of adverse situations who had been undergoing chemotherapy owing to cancer. Since then there has been no looking back for the 6 feet’ 10 inch tall all-rounder from Barbados.Brathwaite has played only 2 Tests to date, scored 130 runs at an average of 43.33 and taken just a lone wicket. His 7 ODI appearances have yielded 71 runs and 3 wickets so far while in T20Is, he has scored 59 runs in 8 games with the unbeaten 39 coming in the final of the 2016 World T20 being his highest besides scalping 5 wickets. Astonishingly, out of those 59 runs, 46 runs have come in boundaries (7 sixes and a boundary).
Emulating the role which has been played by Kieron Pollard over the years, Brathwaite scored 57 runs (at an average of 19.66) and grabbed 4 wickets in 6 games in the World T20 at a bowling average of 36.25 and an economy rate of 5.20. His subtle changes in variation deceived batsmen from the opposition more often than not which helped him emerge as a potent bowler for Captain Sammy in the death overs.
The baton of keeping the fans engrossed in T20 extravaganza will be now passed on to the IPL. While the month and a half long tournament involving slam bang cricket would serve as an extended honeymoon for some of the aforementioned players, others will head back to their respective domestic circuits in pursuit of sharpening their skills and taking their game to the next level.