Top 3 Players Of The Month

The month of January had many special performances from many players. Here are our Top 3 performers of the month:

Rohit Sharma

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Though he has not established himself as a Test player, Rohit Sharma, the Indian opener has been performing consistently in the one day format recently. With scores of 99, 41, 6, 124, 171 in last 5 ODI outings, he is India’s man at the top of the order. In the recently concluded 5-match ODI series against Australia Down Under, he was awarded the Man of the Series award for his performance. India lost the series 1-4 but he amassed a whopping 441 runs including two hundreds and one fifty. He has repeatedly mentioned in the interviews that even if he scored a century, it is not satisfying as the team did not land up on the winning side.

In the first T20 international against the Aussies, he managed a quick fire 31 before getting dismissed. With the World T20 in focus, he will be a key player for India at the beginning and will be instrumental in setting up the foundation for players like Kohli, Raina to build up on.

Virat Kohli

Image: Cricbuzz

Oh, what do I say about this man? He just keeps getting better each day. In the ODI series against the Aussies, he scored runs including two hundreds and fifties. At 27, he is in the list of players with most ODI hundreds and considering that all gentlemen above him have retired, he will surely break all records in the near future.

At MCG, Kohli scored 117 at run a ball in the third ODI but Australia successfully chased the target. In the first ODI, after getting out on 91 at WACA, Kohli had promised something to Wasim Akram.

Wasim Akram said “I met Virat Kohli at the WACA after the game. I told him ‘bad luck you missed a hundred. He replied, ‘Wasim bhai, I will make sure to score 2 (centuries) in the series.”

What next? He keeps his word. At the Manuka Oval in the 4th ODI, Kohli scores a ton yet again. This time it is his 25th in the format. Kohli becomes the fastest to 25 ODI tons and to 7000 ODI runs in his 162nd innings. In the process, Kohli levelled Sangakarra in the list.

Top 5 batsman with most ODI Hundreds

49 - Sachin Tendulkar (India) (463 matches)

30 - Ricky Ponting (Australia) (375 matches)

28 - Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) (445 matches)

25 - Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (404 matches), Virat Kohli (170 matches)

23 – AB de Villiers (South Africa) (195 matches)

Also Read: 7 Reasons Why Kohli is the Best Man to Lead India in Tests

In the first T20I, Kohli took India to 188/3 after 20 overs with his unbeaten 90 off just 55 balls. He missed the record of becoming only the third Indian to score a century in all three formats after Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma.

Stuart Broad

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Whom do you go to when you want to dismiss AB De Villiers? The answer is Stuart Chris Broad. The England pacer has been phenomenal with the ball as he picked up  wickets in the recently concluded series against South Africa. Broad is the bowler to dismiss AB De Villiers for most number of times. AB De Villiers got three consecutive ducks in the series. In 14 Tests, Broad has dismissed AB 10 times which is the most by any player while in ODIs, ABD got out twice to him.
England will rely on him to lead the attack once James Anderson retires.