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The ICC announced its team of the tournament for the men’s T20 World Cup 2022, with the championship-winning captain Jos Buttler to lead the side.
The eighth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup produced quite a few memorable moments, with lower-ranked teams, including the Associate nations, overcoming the Test playing ones in landmark results.
The month-long competition was also glittered with brilliant individual showings with both bat and ball. England defeated Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, November 23, to become just the second team to have won two titles in the tournament’s history, having won the first under Paul Collingwood in the West Indies back in 2010.
The ICC narrowed down its team of the tournament – to compile a top playing XI – from the T20 World Cup 2022. The team is led by the winning captain Jos Buttler, with three of his other teammates making the cut. Two players each from India and Pakistan, and one each from New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe feature in this star-studded line-up, with an India all-rounder being named as the 12th man.
Top-order: Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli
Buttler formed perhaps the most formidable opening pair of the T20 World Cup, and delivered their best in the team’s must-win encounters. They added a well-compiled 81 and a quickfire 75 in crucial Super 12s wins over New Zealand and Sri Lanka respectively, before putting on a monumental unbeaten 170-run stand in mere 16 overs to down India by 10 wickets in the semi-final.
On an individual front, Buttler finished England’s leading run-scorer with 225 at 45 and a strike-rate of 144.23, while Hales’ corresponding numbers of 212 at 42.40 and 147.22 put him at second.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting singled out Kohli as his pick for the Player of the Tournament, and there weren’t many who would disagree. Kohli topped the run-scoring charts with 296 runs at 98.67, scoring four fifties from six innings, none as brilliant as his match-winning 82* against Pakistan at the MCG, which he himself rates as his best in the format till date.
Middle-order: Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Phillips
Yadav justified his top position in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings and the tag of being a 360-degree batter, showcasing his supreme range with 239 runs at a brilliant strike-rate of 189.68.
Phillips scored 201 runs at 40.20, including a 64-ball 104 – one of the only two hundreds in the tournament – against Sri Lanka in Sydney in the Super 12s. He lit the competition with his brilliant athleticism in the field, best highlighted by a stunning catch to dismiss Marcus Stoinis in New Zealand’s dominant win over Australia in the Super 12s.
All-rounders: Sikandar Raza, Shadab Khan, Sam Curran
Raza was arguably the standout all-rounder, with 219 runs at a strike-rate of 147.97 and 10 wickets at an economy of 6.50. He helped Zimbabwe get into the Super 12s, wherein a three-wicket haul against Pakistan stood out in a historic one-run win.
Shadab played the perfect support for the fiery Pakistan pace attack, bagging 11 wickets at an economy of 6.34. He also scored 98 runs at a strike-rate of 168.96, including a game-changing quickfire fifty against South Africa.
Curran bagged 13 wickets at an economy of 6.52, and turned the final with an outstanding spell of 3/12 to limit Pakistan to 137/8. He was adjudged the Player of the final and the Player of the Tournament.
Fast-bowlers: Mark Wood, Anrich Nortje, Shaheen Afridi
Wood and Nortje rattled the best of batters with their fiery pace and bounce, with the former consistently clocking close to 150 kmph. Nortje took 11 wickets at an economy of 5.37, while Wood bagged nine in the Super 12s stage, before missing out on the semis and the final with injury.
Afridi baggged 11 wickets at 14.09, including a Player of the Performance in the semi-final against New Zealand. He dismissed Hales with a brilliant inswinger in the final before limping off the field with an injury in what was perhaps the decisive moment in the game.
