Champions League: Best of Round I

Jean-Paul Duminy

The attacking South African middle-order player has been at his destructive best in the Champions League Twenty20. Playing for Cape Cobras, Duminy smashed an unbeaten 99 off 52 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening match of the tournament.

Chasing an improbable 181, the southpaw single-handedly took the Cobras home with two balls to spare. The innings included eight boundaries and six towering sixes.

Duminy, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, is leading the run-scoring chart for now, with 131 runs from two matches.

Andrew Puttick

The surprise package of the tournament, Puttick smashed the first century of the tournament, helping the Cape Cobras to secure a convincing win over Otago Volts.

Puttick, who is the skipper of the team, helped the team enter the Super Eights League Stage with a 62-ball knock inclusive of 12 boundaries and three sixes.

And, because of this effort, Puttick has been named in the Champions League All-Stars XI with team-mate Jean Paul Duminy.

Virender Sehwag

The Nawab of Najafgarh is back with a bang. Out of action due to a shoulder injury, Viru is slowly and steadily getting back to his best. He showed the stuff he is made of when he scored a 42-ball 66 that blew Wayamba away.

With Delhi Daredevils qualifying for the Super Eights, one can expect more fireworks from Sehwag, who has found a place in the Champions League T20 All Stars XI.

Moises Henriques

The New South Wales' all-rounder impressed with an all-round display in the tournament.

The up-and-coming Aussie youngster showed his class when he scored an impressive 51 on a slow and low Ferozshah Kotal pitch, where everyone struggled to score.

Besides his batting antics, the Kolkata Knight Riders player is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. NSW boasts of bowlers like Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, but it is the young all-rounder who has stolen the limelight with five wickets.

Jacques Kallis

The veteran is still not ready to calls it quits. The bulky South African is among runs and wickets in the Champions League, making him one of the toughest competitors in the tournament.

Kallis scored a vital 73 against Otago Volts, a match Royal Challengers Bangalore had to win to qualify for the Super Eights. He is also the leading wicket-taker for the Royal Challengers.

Ross Taylor

The New Zealander is increasingly becoming a good finisher. Taylor is having an amazing run with the bat, even though the numbers don't tell the entire story. He was instrumental in Royal Challengers Bangalore posting competitive totals on two occassions, against the Cape Cobras and Otago Volts.

In the first match he blasted a 24-ball 53, which included four boundaries and as many towering sixes. Then, against Otago, he was in devastating form, hitting a quickfire 32 off just 11 balls, including three sixes in the final over of the innings.

Dwayne Bravo

He may have been out of international action for a while now, but the West Indies pacer showed no signs of rustiness. Though not firing yet with the bat, the Trinidadian is proving quite a handful with the ball.

He was instrumental in Trinidad and Tobago beating a beefy Somerset, which boasts of players like Marcus Threscothick and Justin Langer, by claiming four wickets for 23 runs.

In the second match against IPL champions Deccan Chargers, he delivered when it mattered most, picking three wickets for 24 runs as Trinidad went into the Super Eights unbeaten.

Alfonso Thomas

The South African cricketer scored an unbeaten 30 off 17 balls, including a boundary off the final delivery, as Somerset beat Deccan Chargers in their opening Champions League game by one wicket.

Thomas ensured that the fifth game in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament was a nail-biter as well. Staring at an early exit after being reduced to 99 for seven, chasing 154 for victory, he along with James Hildreth, did the seemingly impossible with level-headed batting that helped the English team emerge victorious on the last ball.

The 'Kolpak' man, who became eligible to play in the English County leagues because of the European Court of Justice ruling, had played his part with the ball earlier, picking the important wickets of Adam Gilchrist.