Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Top 5 Run Scorers after 26 matches - ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Let us see who the Top 5 Run Getters are after the first 26 matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015!!

A Big surprise at the number 1 position!! Shaiman Anwar from UAE is at the pole position with 270 runs after 4 matches!! He has hit 2 fifties and a splendid century against Zimbabwe! He played fluently against India and Pakistan and has been a revelation and makes the Associate Nations proud and gives the ICC a moment of discomfort as they think about trimming the future World Cups to 10 nations.

Kumar Sangakkara, the elegant left hander from the emerald isle of Sri Lanka, playing in his last ODI tournament has already hit 2 of the fastest hundreds of his glittering career in his last two games; one against Bangladesh and another against England. He has hit 268 runs at a strike rate of over 125!! He looks good for plenty more!

Sri Lanka have two batsmen, Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne in the top 5 highest run makers after the first 26 matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Chris Gayle takes the third spot with 258 runs in 4 innings but it is largely due to his 215 that he hit against the Zimbabweans that he finds himself so high. It has otherwise been a very lean World Cup so far for the Jamaican. West Indies will be hoping that he can plunder runs consistently so that they can go deep in to the World Cup.

Hashim Amla had a quiet start to the World Cup as he got out cheaply against both Zimbabwe and India but he gathered steam by hitting a quick fire 50 against West Indies and then came the icing on the cake as he hit a serene 159 against Ireland. He has scored 257 runs so far and will be looking to continue his good form against Pakistan and then in the Quarter Finals.

Lahiru Thirimanne, the young Sri Lankan batsman takes the 5th spot with 256 runs from 4 matches so far. He has hit a century against England and he became the youngest centurion in World Cups for Sri Lanka, He has also hit two 50's, one against New Zealand and the other against Bangladesh. He has been a savior for Sri Lanka at the top of the order and his steady opening partnerships with Dilshan is just the tonic that Sri Lanka were looking for since long!

The most interesting and bizarre thing for me in this list is that the only two unbeaten teams in the World Cup so far, New Zealand and India do not have anybody in the top 5 highest run scorers!!! In fact they do not have anyone in the top 10, the highest from these two teams is Shikhar Dhawan at the 11th position with 224 runs!

Here are the Predictions that I had made for the top 5 Batsmen to Watch Out For in the ICC World Cup 2015 before the World Cup had beganhttp://cricketwise.blogspot.in/2015/02/top-5-batsmen-to-watch-out-for-in-icc.html

PS - The image used is courtesy www.espncricinfo.com

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