CPL 2018: Top 6 Batting Performances of this Season

CPL 2018 has concluded with a win for Bravo's Trinbago Knight Riders and they thoroughly deserve to end up on the winning side, as their batting has been fantastic throughout the tournament. Their bowling too has contributed for their victories, and they had a fantastic tournament to be crowned champions. T

he Caribbean Premier League is particularly very enjoyable if you are love watching thrashing boundaries and awe-inspiring sixes, as the mighty West Indians are known to entertain the crowd with boundaries being carted all over the park. This tournament is no exception to that rule. With the CPL 2018 getting over today, here we are, sitting down and trying to pick the top six performances with the bat although it is a lot tougher than one would imagine.

There were many fantastic batting performances throughout the season. Some came as individual brilliance to take their side home and some of them involved two of the team members smashing the balls out of the park and ensuring that their side ended up victorious. And there were some games where the brilliance with the bat couldn't take them past the finish line.

With players like Gayle, Russell, Pollard, Munro, Bravo, Powell, Miller, etc. taking part in CPL, it was always going to be fun, watching every game. Each game had an entertainment value worth its weight in gold and it is fair to say that it was a fantastic tournament consisting of fantastic batsmen. The bowlers did try their best but as they say, Cricket is a batsman's game and the batsmen came out unscathed on many occasions.

With so many audacious batting performances this season, it is quite hard to pick the best of them. But just for entertainment purpose, let us have a look at six best performances with the bat that entertained one and all.

#6 Colin Munro's 90 (56) vs Guyana Amazon Warriors, Match 27

Munro was instrumental in TKR's glory run and was rightly adjudged as the Player of the Tournament

This was one of the stunning knocks played in this season, by one of the modern-day devastators in Colin Munro. The Kiwi is known for his aggressive way of batting and it was just one of those innings that reinstated that fact. He carted the bowlers all over the park en route to a masterly 90 and was unlucky to miss out on what would have been a scintillating ton.

Having been put into bat by Guyana, Bravo expected his openers to provide a thunderous start as Munro and Lynn walked out. But Lynn got out in the very first over and from there on, it was a Munro show all the way. This has to be one of the best knocks in this season mainly due to the fact that it was a one-man-army kind of innings that eventually won the game for Trinbago. The next top scorer in this innings was Ramdin's 39 (36) and after that, there were not many contributions from any of the other batsmen.

Munro almost single-handedly took Trinbago to a fighting total of 170, playing the likes of Tanvir, Green and Tahir. He managed to hit 10 boundaries and 4 big sixes in his 56-ball stay at the crease. Surely, it was one of the great knocks of this season.

Also see - CPL Most Wickets 2019

#5 Glenn Phillips' 103 (63) vs St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Eliminator

Phillips had a great run with the bat including his 100 in the Eliminator against Patriots

This has to be the best knock of the tournament as far as match pressure is concerned. It was the eliminator of the CPL, and the team that loses has to head back home. Always a pressure situation when it is a knockout game and Jamaica faced Patriots for a place in the Qualifier 2 game.

Patriots won the crucial toss and inserted Jamaica to bat and from there on, Phillips took over as he went on to score an outstanding ton, thereby continuing his good run with the bat. Except for Fabien Allen, every other bowler was taken to the cleaners as Phillips scored a 63-ball 103 that included nine boundaries and half-a-dozen sixes, helping his side to get to a competitive 191.

33 from Ross Taylor and 10-15 runs from every other batsman helped Jamaica's cause and they were on course for a comfortable victory, only to be denied by a collective batting effort from Patriots with Devcich scoring a fine 50 and the rest of the batsmen contributing crucial runs.

Even though Phillips' 103 was for a losing cause, it was one of the most entertaining knocks played in this tournament and this innings coming in an Eliminator game makes it all the more special.

#4 Kieron Pollard's 104 (54) vs Barbados Tridents, Match 10

Pollard's 104 was a treat to watch for every cricket fan

Top batting performers list in CPL will be incomplete without a mention of Pollard's name in it. When he gets going, he is almost impossible to stop and that was evident through this knock as he ruthlessly blasted his way to his first ever T20 ton, coming in real quick time for his side.

Barbados won the toss and put the Pollard-led St Lucia Stars to bat first. They lost Warner upfront, and it was left to Fletcher and Cornwall to do the catching up work. They did stitch a useful 37 runs stand before Cornwall fell for a quickfire 30 off just 11 deliveries. Pollard had arrived by the end of the fifth over with his side losing three wickets inside the powerplay. There was no looking back for Pollard and Fletcher from there on, as runs kept coming thick and fast. They had added a mammoth 148 runs in just 10 overs and by the time they were done, Pollard had recorded his first ever ton in this format - a ruthless 104 off just 54 balls with six hits to the fence and eight over it. Fletcher too had raced to 80 off just 52 balls with six boundaries and as many sixes. The fact that Stars had raced to 226 at the end of their 20 overs and only three of their batsmen contributed literally (there were five ducks in total), goes to show the domination of these three batsmen. Pollard's innings was the best of them as he showed no mercy and went about his business in a stunning way. If Russell's sixes are the efforts of his brute power, Pollard's towering sixes are almost effortless.

The Stars comfortably won that game by 38 runs, thanks to a Pollard Special that blew away the visitors out of the contest. Easily, this ton of Pollard will rank among the top batting performances of this year's CPL.

#3 Shimron Hetmyer's 100 (49) vs Jamaica Tallawahs, Match 11

Hetmyer's 100 was one of the top knocks of this season

The young Hetmyer was supposed to be one of the future stars for West Indies, as he successfully led West Indies to U19 glory in 2016. He had that West Indian aggression in his play and it was always going to be a matter of time before he hit out. The carnage did happen in the eleventh match of this edition of the CPL.

Guyana won the toss and decided to have a bat first, but the start was not to the expected level for the batting team, as they lost both the openers for a cheap score. Out walked Hetmyer and giving him company was his skipper Malik, in what turned out to be a thrilling 108 runs stand off just 54 balls.

Hetmyer went on to score a match-winning 100 off just 49 deliveries which included 11 hits to the fence and 5 big sixes. This innings would have done the 21-year old's confidence a world of good, as he was highly confident in his 49-ball stay. Malik got himself a 50 off just 33 deliveries with a solitary boundary and four sixes to entertain the crowd. They had 209 runs to play with, thanks to a crucial 100 from Hetmyer and a solid 50 from Malik. In the end, 209 proved too much for Jamaica as Guyana comfortably romped home by a huge margin of 71 runs.

This 100 from Hetmyer was one of the best knocks and it was even more special, considering the fact that it came from a youngster who needed this kind of an innings to prove a point about himself.

#2 DM Bravo's 94* (36) vs St Lucia Stars, Match 9

DM Bravo's 94 was one of the fantastic innings that helped TKR to chase down a mammoth 213

This innings from the younger Bravo cannot miss out on the top knocks of this season. It was one of the finest exhibition of aggressive strokeplay from DM Bravo, which helped the Knight Riders to get away with two points from a situation of no-where. This match did not involve any match pressure, but it was the scoreboard pressure to the maximum extent and Bravo stood out with this 94, surely a knock for the ages.

DJ Bravo opted to bowl, in what was a flat deck to bat on. The bowlers got no assistance whatsoever, as 430 runs were scored in the game for the loss of just 7 wickets. St Lucia raced away to a humongous 212 with Warner, Cornwall and Pollard, all three of them smashing half-centuries to put the pressure right back on the Knight Riders.

Though the pitch was a batting beauty, anything over 200 is always a daunting task and it was evident when the Knights were in tatters by the end of the 10th over, having to score 140 odd runs in the next 10 for an unlikely win.

Bravo and McCullum were at the crease and by the end of the 15th over, the required rate had climbed to 17, which was unthinkable at that situation. Bravo and McCullum had other ideas as Bravo smashed Pollard for 32 runs in the 16th. McCullum was ruthless on McCoy as he took 21 runs off the next over. Bravo once again carted Cornwall for 27 runs and the game was done and dusted in a matter of 3 overs.

It was one of the glorious modern-day T20 chases that one can witness with Bravo playing the lead role in a famous win for the Knights. His 94 off a mere 36 balls had six boundaries and 10 big hits over the fence. McCullum too contributed with a 42-ball 68 with three boundaries and half-a-dozen sixes.

Truly one of the greatest innings ever played in the history of CPL and no surprises that Bravo's 94 features in the top batting performances of this season.

#1 Andre Russell's 121* (49) vs Trinbago Knight Riders, Match 3

Andre Russell's outstanding 121* was the best knock of this CPL

This has to be the knock of this CPL. Andre Russell did the unimaginable in this game and no words can describe the carnage that happened in Match 3 of this year's CPL. Not only was he the hero with the bat, but he was also the hero with the ball as he picked up a hat-trick to start off his team's campaign.

Russell's Jamaica won the toss, elected to bowl first and saw Trinbago making merry with the bat, as they piled on the misery to end with a magnificent 223 in their 20 overs. The only positive for Russell's men in the first innings was the hat-trick of Dre Russ, in the last over of the innings.

With 224 runs to chase and a possible defeat staring at them, Jamaica did not have the best of starts as they lost half the side for a miserly 41 on the board, by the end of the powerplay. The game seemed to have been lost as Russell walked in to bat with only Kennar Lewis for company. Not a single soul would have entertained thoughts of a Jamaican win at the end of six overs.

The next 10 overs showed how destructive Russell can be, irrespective of the target or the situation. He waved his bat like a killer-axe and murdered every ball either to the fence or to the stands as he raced away with the game by putting up a mighty 161 runs stand with Lewis, who had contributed just 51.

It was a Dre Russ show all the way as he did not spare any of the bowlers en route to an undefeated 121 off just 49 deliveries with 6 boundaries and 13 humongous sixes. It was an exhibition of aggressive batting, and it couldn't have come at a better time for Jamaica. Dre Russ' brutally aggressive 121* will stand tall as the best knock of CPL 2018 for obvious reasons.

He had picked up a hat-trick and scored a quick-fire 121* to take his side home from the firm jaws of defeat. It was a fine game for Dre Russ to cherish and look back with fond memories.