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Cricket World Player of the Week - Kagiso Rabada

by Sandeep Shivam Tuesday 13 March 2018

Kagiso Rabada powered South Africa to a series levelling win in Port Elizabeth

©REUTERS

South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada has been named the Cricket World Player of the Week for his 11-wicket haul in the second Test against Australia in Port Elizabeth.

This was the fourth time Rabada has completed a 10-wicket haul as he unleashed himself on the Australia batsmen picking five and six wickets in the two innings to set up South Africa's six-wicket in the game and level the series 1-1. His pace and bounce were too much to handle for the Aussie batsmen as they were bowled out under 250 in both the innings. However, Rabada's absence will be felt by the Proteas in the next two games as he was banned by ICC for breach of conduct.

On a game where the bowlers dominated, AB de Villiers showed his sheer class with an unbeaten 126-run knock in the first innings to help the Proteas gain an advantage of 139-run lead.

Rabada's closest contender was England's Jonny Bairstow, who went on to notch the second fastest century for his team during the fifth ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch. Bairstow's ton came in just 58 deliveries and he plundered nine boundaries and six maximums while Alex Hales also contributed with a half-century as England completed a 224-run chase to complete a 3-2 series victory. The win though was set up by three-wicket hauls from Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes.

India went on to claim the pole position in the Nidahas Trophy following their latest win over Sri Lanka.

Jaydev Unadkat picked a three-wicket haul while Shikhar Dhawan slammed a half-century to help India seal a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second game of the tournament. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis slammed 74 and 57 respectively to power Sri Lanka to 214 in the third game but it proved inefficient as Mushfiqur Rahim with his 35-ball 72 saw Bangladesh complete the record-chase.

In the fourth game of the tournament between India and Sri Lanka, Shardul Thakur claimed 27 for four to set up six-wicket win for Rohit Sharma's side that has taken them to the top of the table.

There were some special performances in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018 which saw Windies, Ireland, UAE, Afghanistan, Scotland and Zimbabwe progress to the Super Six stage.

Kyle Coetzer scored an unbeaten 88 in the 11th game to steer Scotland to a four-wicket win over Nepal while Jason Holder came up with a performance of the tournament with an unbeaten 99 and a five wicket haul in the 10th game against PNG. Rohan Mustafa with a five wicket haul helped UAE to a decisive win over Netherlands in the game 12 while Paras Khadka has been impressive for Nepal throughout the tournament.

Rovman Powell's 101 against Ireland followed by a 52 against Netherlands, fifties from Evin Lewis, Marlon Samuels, Ryan ten Doeschate and Barressi deserves special mention. Paul Stirling also came up with a fabulous 126-run knock and was supported by 92 run innings from William Porterfield helped Ireland trounce UAE by 226 runs in the 18th game of the tournament.