The Glitz & Blitz of Muhammad Hafeez

He is pacified, he is unwearied, he is none other than Muhammad Hafeez who has bestowed his excellent skills to Pakistan not only with bat but also with his neat bowling. Furthermore, he has saved so many runs due to his feverish vigilance in the ground.  An under-hyped cricketer with some magnificent performances has finally brought him in limelight on the ICC ODI bowlers ranking table.

In the third ODI against Bangladesh, this Pakistani spinner took three wickets at the most crucial time of the game and turned the match in favor of Pakistan. This is not the first time; he is always a handy bowler and had been supporting Pakistan’s main bowling attack for quite some time. Not only he aided Pakistan in winning the series with a clean sweep, Mohammad Hafeez also got the honor of becoming the third player to register 30 wickets and a double of 1000 runs in the cricket calendar year. Prior to him, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka was the first player to bag this title in 1997. South African legendary cricketer Jacques Kallis is the second who has achieved this feat in 2000 and 2002. Currently Muhammad Hafeez is on the second slot on the ICC ODI bowlers ranking, following is her peer Saeed Ajmal who is holding the top position on the chart.

Humaira Asad

Top ten ODI centuries-World

A century in an ODI career is not only a big achievement in itself but it also tests the mettle of a player. One has to understand all the tactics and strategy of game play to reach that distinguished position. Sachin Tendulkar of India’s team is the one of the world class players who understands all the twists and turns of the ball on the pitch. His recent achievement of top century in 2010 is the proof of his love and competency as a dedicated and motivated ODI player. Here is the list of all top class ODI players with top ten centuries in their ODI career.

Player	Runs	Country	Year
Sachin Tendulkar	200*	India	24 Feb 2010
CK Coventry	194*	Zimbabwe	16 Aug 2009
Saeed Anwar	194	Pakistan	21 May 1997
IVA Richards	189*	West Indies	31 May 1984
ST Jayasuriya	189	Sri Lanka	29 Oct 2000
G Kirsten	188*	South Africa	16 Feb 1996
Sachin Tendulkar	186*	India	8 Nov 1999
MS Dhoni	183*	India	31 Oct 2005
SC Ganguly	183	India	26 May 1999
ML Hayden	181*	Australia	20 Feb 2007

Highest run scorers in ODIs

One of the greatest moments of pride and esteem is when you put a badge of being a record maker in any field of concern.  Once looking at the cricket records, there are a large number of badges on the jacket of one man, the Indian cricket maestro Sachin Tendulker. He is the only one cricketer, who stands shoulder to shoulder to Sir Donald Bradman in terms of his dexterity and elegance towards the game of cricket. Sachin Tendulker holds almost all the batting records whether it’s from Test Cricket or One day Internationals. The little master holds the highest runs scorer record of mammoth 17,598 runs in ODIs at a stupendous batting average of 45.15 where the strike rate is 86.26. He has made this record with the help of 46 centuries and 93 half centuries.  He is far too ahead in this record as the second highest score is of 13,428 runs by Srilankan batting whiz Sanath Jayasuriya. There is a lot more cricket left for Sachin and we might see him touching the 20,000 runs in ODIs.

World’s best top ten spinners in World Cup

Spinners, with their legbreak googly, put a magic in the ball to get wickets. Spinners use countless strategies and tactics to spin the ball. There are many successful and renowned spinners in the history of World Cup. Muttiah Muralitharan of the Sri Lankan team is one of the most versatile spinners of World Cup. He has 53 wickets in his account to grab the first position in the race of top ten spinners of World Cup tournaments. Here is the list of all the best spinners of the World Cup.

Bowler	Wickets	Country
M Muralitharan	53	Sri Lanka
SK Warne	32	Australia
A Kumble	31	India
ST Jayasuriya	27	Sri Lanka
Mushtaq Ahmed	26	Pakistan
Abdul Qadir	24	Pakistan
Saqlain Mushtaq	23	(Pak)
AJ Traicos	16	Zimbabwe
PA Strang	15	Zimbabwe
VJ Marks	13	England

Best bowlers in World Cups by nation

If we look critically at the best bowlers in World Cup nation-wise, we can easily conclude that both fast bowlers and spin bowlers were equally effective. All of these bowlers were the best of their respective times; most of them used to rely on swing and length. They didn’t focus on bowling speed that much. Bowlers like Wasim and McGrath tested many great batsmen with perfect length and swing. On the other hand, bowlers like Murali and Shane Warne proved the importance of having a spin bowler in the team and that’s why they are ranked high in the best bowlers of World Cup list.

Serial No	Country	Player	Wickets
1	Australia	Glen McGrath	71
2	Pakistan	Wasim Akram	55
3	Srilanka	Muralitharan	53
4	India	Javagal srinath	44
5	South Africa	Allan Donald	38
6	Australia	Brad Hogg	34
7	Pakistan	Imran Khan	34
8	Australia	Shane Warne	32
9	New Zeeland	Chris Harris	32
10	India	Anil Kumble	31

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