T20I cricket has become a top format of the sport. ICC introduced this format so as to attract more fans to the game. Newer countries are playing cricket now because of T20I’s growth. India was the first team to win the T20 World Cup. That triumph brought about a revolution in the cricket world.
BCCI launched IPL and all nations started producing T20 specialists slowly. Speaking of T20I, 2020 was going to be an eventful year for the fans. Australia was going to host the T20 World Cup. Unfortunately, that event had to be cancelled because of Coronavirus. Nevertheless, there were still many entertaining T20I matches in 2020. Here is the best T20I XI of the year.
Openers – KL Rahul and Tim Seifert
KL Rahul was the best Indian batsman in T20Is this year. He scored 404 runs for India. His batting performances helped India win the T20I series against New Zealand. Rahul scored four fifties for the team. Also, he had a brilliant strike rate of 140.76.
New Zealand’s Tim Seifert will open the innings for this team with KL Rahul. Seifert helped New Zealand win the T20I series against Pakistan. He scored back-to-back fifties for the Blackcaps. Seifert ended the year with 352 runs. His batting average was 50.28.
Middle Order – Virat Kohli Dawid Malan, Mohammed Hafeez, and Jos Buttler
Virat Kohli has been phenomenal in all formats for India. He was the team’s second-best batsman this year. Kohli could not score a hundred in 2020, but he aggregated 295 runs in nine innings. Dawid Malan ended 2020 as the world number 1 T20I batsman. Malan scored 397 runs in 10 innings. He will be the player to watch out for in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.
Mohammed Hafeez surprised everyone by topping the batsmen’s charts. He scored the most T20I runs in 2020. Hafeez scored 415 runs in just eight T20I innings. Jos Buttler will play the finisher’s role for the team. Buttler scored 291 runs in eight innings. The Englishman registered three fifties for his nation in T20Is this year.
All-rounders – Kieron Pollard and Tom Curran
The batting all-rounder of this team will be Kieron Pollard. The West Indies captain scored 168 runs in just four innings this year. He destroyed the opposition bowling lineups with his hard-hitting skills. Pollard also rolled his arm often in T20Is. He ended the year with nine wickets in eight T20Is.
Tom Curran will be the XI’s bowling all-rounder. The English all-rounder was quite successful in T20Is, taking ten wickets in 12 games. Curran did not get enough opportunities to bat in the T20I format. However, one cannot blame him because England’s batsmen dominated the T20I format this year. Already two English players gained a place in this team before Curran which highlights the same fact.
Bowlers – Lungi Ngidi, Haris Rauf, and Ashton Agar
Lungi Ngidi was the best bowler in T20Is this year. The South African speedster topped the bowling charts with 17 wickets. Ngidi achieved this feat in only nine matches. His economy rate of 10.47 did not deter his wicket-taking potential. Haris Rauf will support him in the fast bowling attack. Rauf played 11 T20I matches for Pakistan cricket team in 2020.
He took 16 wickets for his nation at an economy rate of 8.65. Ashton Agar will be the sole spinner of this team. Agar took 13 wickets in T20Is in just six matches. He edged Yuzvendra Chahal and Adil Rashid to gain a spot in this team. Agar picked up one five-wicket haul in T20Is this year. Also, his economy rate was only 6.75.
Best T20I XI of 2020: KL Rahul, Tim Seifert (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Dawid Malan, Mohammed Hafeez, Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard, Tom Curran, Lungi Ngidi, Haris Rauf, and Ashton Agar. 12th Man (Concussion substitute) – Yuzvendra Chahal
