The year 2021 saw quality action in T20 cricket, including the World Cup for the shortest format in UAE and Oman.
The Aaron Finch-led Australian team won this year’s T20 World Cup by defeating New Zealand in the final. Pakistan and England also performed well in the showpiece tournament, topping their respective groups to qualify for the semi-final.
We also saw some brilliant individual performances in T20s this year, with Pakistan openers Mohammad Rizwan (1326 runs) and Babar Azam (939 runs) occupying the top two slots in the highest run-scorer chart.
On the bowling front, Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi are the joint highest wicket-taker with 36 scalps each.
As the year comes to an end, former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria took to his official YouTube channel to pick his T20 team for 2021, which includes some of the big names while some stars fail to make the list.
Kaneria named 12 players in his team, which features four Indians, three Pakistanis, two each from England and Australia and one from New Zealand.
He opted to go with Rizwan and Babar as his openers, who have dominated the shortest format with the bat this year. The ex-spinner completed the top order by including England wicketkeeper batter Jos Buttler, who has amassed 589 runs at 65.44 with a strike rate of 143.40 in 2021.
Kaneria's side has as many as four all-rounders. While Liam Livingstone, who was one of England's top performers in the T20 World Cup, and Australia’s World Cup hero Mitchell Marsh are part of the middle-order, the Indian duo of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin feature in the lower middle-order.
Coming to the bowling attack, Danish Kaneria picked three potent pacers in Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah and a spinner in leg-spinner in Adam Zampa. India’s Rishabh Pant was added to the team as a 12th man.
Some of the notable names missing from the 12-member team are KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. David Warner, who was the Player-of-the-Tournament in the T20 World Cup, also failed to make the cut.
Danish Kaneria’s T20 team for 2021:
Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam (c), Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin (vc), Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Zampa, Rishabh Pant (12th man)
