T20I TEAM OF THE YEAR 2021

There was no doubt about the opening pair. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam dominated the T20I batting charts in the year, and both of them delivered the goods in the T20 World Cup...

- RENIN WILBEN

The year 2021 is drawing to a close. T20Is in the year ended with the Pakistan vs West Indies series in Karachi. In the three-match series, the hosts hammered the hapless West Indies 3-0. Windies had set Pakistan what looked like a challenging 208 for victory in the final T20I, but the hosts gunned down the target without much trouble on the back of their batting might. Pakistan ended the year with 20 wins in 29 matches. However, they fell short of winning the T20 World Cup. In contrast, Australia lost 12 of their 22 games but captured the ICC title that had eluded them. Keeping these factors in mind, we have picked the T20I team of 2021.

MOHAMMAD RIZWAN (WK), BABAR AZAM (CAPTAIN)

There was no doubt about the opening pair. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam dominated the T20I batting charts in the year, and both of them delivered the goods in the T20 World Cup. For Rizwan, it was a record-breaking year. He became the first batter to 1000 runs in T20I cricket and 2000 runs in T20 cricket. Rizwan finished the year with 1326 runs in 29 games at a strike rate of 134.89. He scored 281 runs at an average of 70-plus in the T20 World Cup.

Azam was the second-leading T20 run-getter of 2021. He smashed 939 runs in 29 games at a strike rate of 127.58 with one hundred and nine fifties. As a pair, the duo was unstoppable. They put on a memorable century stand in the T20 World Cup clash against India and carried on the great work in the subsequent games. Azam ended up as the leading run-getter in the T20 World Cup, scoring 303 runs at an average of 60.60. It was fitting that both Azam and Rizwan ended 2021 with sparkling half-centuries in Pakistan’s win over West Indies.

DAVID WARNER, JOS BUTTLER, AIDEN MARKRAM