For the first time in the history of international cricket, the game was played on ice instead of a lush green ground with a turf. Switzerland’s St Moritz was the venue where a total of 25 players arrived to play the first-ever game of cricket on a frozen lake. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag led the Badrutt’s Palace Diamonds while former Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi captained Team Royals.
After a long period of time, it was very exciting to witness veterans like Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith batting like the old days, while the clash between Shoaib Akhtar and Sehwag was probably the best pick from this entire tournament.
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Since it was the first cricket tournament of its own kind, let’s have a look at the statistics of this 2-match rubber held on February 8 and 9.
First Ball Bowled: Shoaib Akhtar
First Ball Played: Virender Sehwag
First Boundary: Virender Sehwag [to Shoaib Akhtar]
First Six: Virender Sehwag [to Jacques Kallis]
First Wicket: Abdul Razzaq [TM Dilshan c Elliott b Abdul Razzaq (8)]
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First Fifty: Virender Sehwag [62 off 31 balls]
Highest Run Getters:
| Sl No | Player | Teams | Runs |
| 1 | Jacques Kallis | Royals | 126 |
| 2 | Owais Shah | Royals | 117 |
| 3 | Virender Sehwag | Palace Diamonds | 108 |
| 4 | Andrew Symonds | Palace Diamonds | 107 |
| 5 | Graeme Smith | Royals | 81 |
Highest Wicket Takers:
| Sl No | Player | Team | Wickets |
| 1 | Abdul Razzak | Royals | 7 |
| 2 | Ramesh Powar | Palace Diamonds | 3 |
| 3 | Shoaib Akhtar | Royals | 2 |
| 4 | Daniel Vettori | Royals | 1 |
| 5 | Grant Elliot | Royals | 1 |
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Most Sixes:
| Sl No | Player | Team | Sixes |
| 1 | Owais Shah | Royals | 7 |
| 2 | Virender Sehwag | Palace Diamonds | 5 |
| 3 | Andrew Symonds | Palace Diamonds | 5 |
| 4 | Mohammad Kaif | Palace Diamonds | 5 |
| 5 | Jacques Kallis | Royals | 4 |
Highest Individual Scores:
| Sl No | Player | Team | Runs |
| 1 | Jacques Kallis | Royals | 90* |
| 2 | Owais Shah | Royals | 74* |
| 3 | Andrew Symonds | Palace Diamonds | 67* |
| 4 | Virender Sehwag | Palace Diamonds | 62 |
| 5 | Graeme Smith | Royals | 58 |
Squads:
Badrutt’s Palace Diamonds Squad: Virender Sehwag (c), Mohammad Kaif, Lasith Malinga, Michael Hussey, Mahela Jayawardene, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Tillakaratne, Andrew Symonds, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Rohan Jain
Royals Squad: Jacques Kallis (c), Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Grant Elliott, Monty Panesar, Graeme Smith, Owais Shah, Abdul Razzaq, Jacques Kallis, Matt Prior, Aidan Andrews
