Cricket World Player Of The Week - Virat Kohli

Cricket World Player Of The Week - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli hits out during his fourth innings half-century.

©REUTERS/Vivek Prakash. Picture Supplied by Action Images

There are plenty of contenders for this week’s Cricket World Player of the Week award, with as many as six different international teams in action over the past seven days.

Australia’s 2-1 series victory over Pakistan saw plenty of notable contributions, with Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey and George Bailey among the Australian batsmen who made half-centuries. Mitchell Starc was perhaps the stand-out player on either side, taking nine wickets across the three matches in what were hardly ideal conditions in which to bowl fast.

Over in England, Hashim Amla continued his excellent form from the Test series, with an excellent 150 in the second One-Day International in Southampton to take South Africa to the top of the ICC ODI rankings – a stay that was very short-lived thanks to two below par batting performances in the subsequent two matches.

However, it is the absorbing second Test match between New Zealand and India in Bangalore that provides this week’s winner. Ross Taylor hit a sublime 113 in the visitors’ total of 365, but that effort was bettered by Virat Kohli, who scored 154 runs across two innings to help India to a series clean sweep.

Kohli’s 103 in the home side’s first innings was only his second Test century and signalled to India’s fans that he will be able, over the coming years, to transfer his prolific form in limited-overs cricket into the five-day game. He followed that innings by top-scoring with an unbeaten 51 in India’s tense fourth day run chase to cement his position as the winner of this week’s award.

© Cricket World 2012