The votes are in and Sportskeeda’s readers have made their choice. In the last week of December, we posted a list of nominees for the Best Individual Performance of the Year and asked our readers to vote for one of the eight nominees from various sports.
The nominees for the award were:
- Football: Robert Lewandowski scores five goals in nine minutes
- Basketball: Klay Thompson erupts for 37 points in a quarter
- Combat Sports: Holly Holm beats Ronda Rousey at UFC 193
- Tennis: Stan Wawrinka beats Novak Djokovic to win the French Open
- Athletics: Usain Bolt takes the gold in the 100m
- F1: 17-year-old Max Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix
- Kabaddi: Kashiling Adake's 24 points vs Telugu Titans
- Cricket: AB de Villiers scores 149 in 44 balls against West Indies
After four days of voting, the votes have been tallied and the winner is none other than AB de Villiers with almost half the votes (46%)! This is the second time a cricketer has taken home the award after Virat Kohli took home the prize in 2014.
The South African cricketer walked into the crease at no.3 when the score read 247/1 in the 39th over and proceeded to smash 149 in 44 balls to take the Proteas to a mammoth total of 439.
In doing so, he set records for the fastest fifty, fastest hundred and most sixes in an innings (he hit only nine fours but 16 sixes), not to mention the highest strike rate for a 50-plus knock. Of course, the total was no match for a hapless Windies team who eventually fell 148 runs short – with De Villiers’ innings literally proving to be the difference between the two sides.
Robert Lewandowski finishes second
In second place with 37% of the votes was Robert Lewandowski’s five goals in nine minutes for Bayern Munich against Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg. With Bayern down 1-0 at half-time, Pep Guardiola brought on the Polish striker who astounded football fans the world over in a nine-minute spell that shattered records left, right and centre.
Holly Holm’s second round knockout of the previously undefeated Ronda 'Rowdy' Rousey earned her some votes and helped her finish third while Usain Bolt’s 100m win by 0.01 seconds saw him finish fourth.
| # | SPORTSPERSON | SPORT | VOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AB de Villiers | Cricket | 46% |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | Football | 37% |
| 3 | Holly Holm | MMA | 5% |
| 4 | Usain Bolt | Athletics | 4% |
| 5 | Kashiling Adake | Kabaddi | 3% |
| 6 | Klay Thompson | Basketball | 2% |
| 7 | Stan Wawrinka | Tennis | 2% |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | F1 | 1% |
