Former Pakistani bowler Danish Kaneria has not included Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in his T20 XI of the year.
It’s that time of the year when cricket followers around the globe pick their best playing XI of the year. Danish Kaneria started the trend on Sunday by picking his T20 XI of the year. Danish announced his team from his official YouTube channel.
Danish picked 12 players for his side which includes four Indians, three Pakistanis, two each from England and Australia and one from New Zealand.
Kaneria picked up the opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam keeping in mind the performances of the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup. The two have had four 150+ run stands, five 100+ run stands and two 50+ run stands in this year.
At Number 3 he included England’s wicket-keeper batsmen Jos Buttler. Buttler opens the innings for England in the shortest format of the game. Buttler has scored 589 runs at an average of 65.44 with a strike rate of 143.40 with comprises of a ton and five fifties.
Kaneria’s middle order comprised of four all-rounders. Kaneria included Liam Livingstone for his power hitting skills, Mitchell Marsh for the performance he has put up for Australia in the recently concluded tournament along with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Instead of four all-rounders, Kaneria should have gone with someone like Andre Russel to make the batting strong.
Kaneria then named his bowling line-up which includes Shaheen Afridi who impressed highly during the group games but failed to make an impact in the semi-finals against Australia. He then named the duo of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah who have been sensational for Mumbai Indians over the past two seasons of the IPL. He then completed his bowling line-up by including Adam Zampa.
Kaneria eventually completed his team by naming Rishabh Pant as the 12th man in the team.
Danish Kaneria’s playing XI lacks power hitters.
Danish Kaneria’s Playing XI of the year: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Zampa, Rishabh Pant (12th Man)
David Warner who was the man of the series in the recently concluded ICC event wasn’t included in the team. The likes of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were also not considered.