Pakistan’s Champions Trophy 2017 heroes Fakhar Zaman and Muhammad Amir were voted as the winners of the Cricinfo Awards for the best performances in 2017.
Cricinfo, which is a leading website for cricket in the world, has declared Smith’s combat 109 in Australia’s unexpected win in Pune as the best Test batting performance, drubbing his eight-and-a-half-hour 141 not out at the Gabba, Lyon for his 8 for 50 was handpicked for the Test bowling award overtaking Ashwin’s 6 for 41 in the same Test, in Bengaluru.
Muhammad Amir (tremendous spell of 3 for 16 in Champions trophy final) and Fakhar Zaman’s 114 not out were the best ODI performances as per ESPNcricinfo.
Zaman was picked over Rohit Sharma’s third career double-hundred and Amir’s spell was preferred over Rashid Khan’s seven-for against West Indies.
Heather Knight, the England Women team captain, who led her side to the World Cup title (and had won 11 matches out of 15 overall in the year), clinched the Captain of the year over Smith, Virat Kohli and Sarfraz Ahmed. She also becomes the first woman for being nominated for this award.
Rashid, who was nominated three times this year, the most of any player, won the Associate bowling performance of the year for his seven for 18 against the West Indians.
Young gun of West Indies, Ewin lewis who made 125 not out, the highest score in a T20I chase, in Kingston against India in 2016 called as the best T20i Batsman.
Yuzvendra Chahal crowned as the Best T20I bowler of 2017 for his 6 for 25 against England, in Bengaluru.
This was the 11th edition of the ESPNcricinfo Awards, where a jury of Former players including Ian Chappell, Courtney Walsh, Ramiz Raja, Daryll Cullinan, Ajit Agarkar and Mark Nicholas – and ESPNcricinfo’s senior editors vote on the best performances of the previous year.
India’s young left-handed leggy Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged as the debutant of the year.
Yadav, ended the year with 43 international wickets at 22.18, well ahead of his nearest spin rival on the shortlist, Pakistani leg-spinner Shadab Khan, who took 34 wickets at 25.35.
The Associate batting award went to Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer for his century in his team’s 26-run win over Zimbabwe.
According to the Website the 2017 Women’s World Cup recorded highest viewership which lifted the status of Women’s cricket around the world.
However, Harmanpreet’s ballistic 171 not out from India’s semi final against Australia, and Anya Shrubsole outstanding figures of 6 for 46 against India in the final, were the winning performances.
Previous ESPNcricinfo awards winners have included Mitchell Johnson, Sachin Tendulkar and Lasith Malinga (three awards apiece), and Dale Steyn, Virender Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, Stuart Broad and Virat Kohli (two each).
