Cricket in 2018: Best T20I batsman, bowler and all-rounder of the year

We are at the end of 2018 and it was another cracking year of cricket. From fans to cricketers, these twelve months were exciting as well as resilient. From Tests to T20Is, we witnessed a lot of closely fought matches across formats and in all parts of the world thus, keeping the followers on their toes throughout the year. There were plenty of records broken as well as some milestones achieved by the teams and their respective players.

Meanwhile, despite numerous T20 leagues taking place around the world, the main focus remains on international cricket. In 2018, as many as 80 T20 internationals were played, featuring all the top teams as well as players. There were the likes of Rohit Sharma, Rashid Khan and several others who excelled with the bat as well as ball. And there were some players who shook the cricket world with their scintillating performances, making them the best performers of the year.

As a part of Cricket in 2018 – here are the best T20I batsman, bowler and all-rounder of the year:

Best Batsman- Babar Azam

With 138 rating points, Pakistan finished 2018 as number one T20I ranked side and much of the credit goes to their batting heavyweight, Babar Azam, who probably was the best T20 batsman of the year as well. The 24-year-old in spite of not being a big stroke-maker has been performing extremely well in the shorter version of the game. At a gigantic average of 62.55, he scored 563 runs in the 12 matches during 2018.

The right-handed batsman fired six fifties while surprisingly didn’t hit even a single six in the whole year, and this is what largely defines how calmly he has been scoring runs. One of his brilliant knocks included an unbeaten 97 runs against West Indies in Karachi. He helped Pakistan post a mammoth 205-run total, steering them to a 124-run win.

Best Bowler- Andrew Tye

The Aussies might have had a forgettable year in both whites as well in the coloured dress, they surely cherished some moments and most of it was made possible by the newbies. One of them included- Andrew Tye- the right-arm pacer who caught the limelight initially with his use of the innovative slower-ball, called the knuckleball. The 32-year-old was among the wickets in most of the matches he played during 2018.

He scalped 32 wickets at an average of 18.9 in the 19 T20Is this year, finishing as the highest wicket-taker among all T20I bowlers. As most of his dismissals had a great impact on the team’s performance, the dynamic pacer earns the tag of best bowler of 2018 in Twenty2o Internationals.

Best All-rounder- Shakib Al Hasan

Whenever it comes to the flamboyant cricketers who are equally effective in all dimensions as well as formats of the game, the name Shakib Al Hasan surely comes to one’s mind. The experienced campaigner has already played a magnanimous amount of cricket but he is only getting better with time. Like most of his prime years in international cricket, Shakib had a great year in 2018.

Apart from other two versions of the game, the all-rounder shared a lot of success in the T20Is. In the 11 matches, he scalped 15 wickets under the economy of 6.6 as well as made 248 runs with the bat. His contribution largely helped Bangladesh give some fighting performances all through 2018, which undoubtedly makes him the best T20I all-rounder of the year.

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