Flop T20I XI of the year 2021

The shortest and the most thrilling format of the game – T20 – enthralled fans all over the world this year. It was a blockbuster year for T20 format fans as it hosted over 330 international matches including the mega event, the ICC T20 World Cup.

The nations played these many T20 matches to get prepped for the World Cup which happened after five long years. The teams used as many opportunities they got to finalise their best fifteen to enter the mega event.

T20 is an intense format and the margin of error is huge. It rewards the players the most when performed well and on contrary, it penalises those who couldn’t keep up the level.

In the article, let’s have a look at those players who failed to deliver their best in T20Is this year

1. Kusal Perera

The aggressive left-handed batter, Kusal Perera, has been a key member of the Sri Lankan team for quite some time. He owns the record of the joint second-fastest fifty of all time in ODI history and made a name for himself after he started to open the innings for Sri Lanka in the white-ball format.

Perera has proven his worth in all three formats of the game since his debut in 2013. He resembles Sanath Jayasuriya’s style of batting with a short back-lift and an aggressive approach to the game. He has played 13 T20I matches this year, scoring just 246 runs, and wasn’t at his aggressive best.

The 31-year-old batter had a low strike rate of 113 when compared to his career strike rate of 131. He had a disappointing T20 world cup this year where he scored just 123 runs in 8 matches in the tournament including the qualifiers. He is yet to get back to his old form and give the Sri Lankan team a good start at the top. His form is a huge concern for the young Sri Lankan side.

2. Chris Gayle

The forefather of the T20 format Chris Gayle features in this listicle for his poor touch with the bat this year. He is the brand ambassador of this format and he plays the other formats of the game in the same style as T20.

However, due to various reasons, Gayle has been on and off from the international T20 side. This year he has played his most T20I matches of 21, but couldn’t capitalise on much of his games.

The 42-year-old player scored only 272 runs and averages just 15.11. He only has a solitary fifty-plus score in the 21 innings. His strike rate of 112.39 also hasn’t been his best. The West Indies were one of the favourites of the tournament, but the lack of runs from the bats of such players made the team terribly exit from the world cup.

3. Steve Smith

The 32-year-old Aussie cricketer made his T20I debut against Pakistan in 2010 playing as a leg spinner. He was selected for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 where he took 11 wickets in seven matches. Smudge after transforming himself as a batter is now being considered as a legend in Test cricket where he averages over 60 with the bat.

But he hasn’t done well in T20Is so far. Still, he was there in the Australian T20 world cup squad this year and wasn’t impressive. He has not been able to keep up the aggressive brand of cricket that the modern T20 game requires.

Smith has played seven T20Is this year and has scored a poor 69 runs with a very low strike rate of 97. He was asked to play the role of an anchor in the T20 world cup this year but he wasn’t able to live up to those expectations. His contribution to the Australian team in the shortest format has been minimal in recent years.

4. Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicket Keeper)

The Bangladeshi old-timer Mushfiqur Rahim has been a part of this format since 2006. He has plenty of experience in playing international cricket and is a torchbearer of the Bangladesh cricket team since his debut.

Rahim is a type of batter who takes time to adjust to the pitch and bowling. He is certainly one of the best players on their side in One Day Internationals. But when it comes to the shortest format of the game, it is definitely not true in this case.

The wicket-keeping batter just averaged 18.30 scoring 183 runs in 13 matches. The most important aspect for the batters in this format is the strike rate, but he dreadfully lags in this department with just 90.59 this year. His T20 spot was taken by the energetic youngsters.

5. Eoin Morgan (Captain)

The skipper of the England side, Eoin Morgan is the flop-position fifth batter of this year. He is a stupendous player in One Day Internationals and is indeed a great captain. But in T20Is this year, he hasn’t contributed much for the team apart from his captaincy.

Even though England did well as a team, the individual performance of their skipper was not up to the mark. He captained the T20 world cup squad in Oman and the UAE. But after a poor season with the bat in IPL, he announced that he would leave his position in the team if his bad form in batting continues.

The southpaw played 16 matches in the course of the year and has managed to score a total of 150 runs with his highest score being just 40. He poorly averages 16.66 this year. The team’s good run in this format and in the T20 world cup under his captaincy managed to overshadow his impoverished performance.

6. Glenn Maxwell

Even though the Australian team did extremely well in the T20Is, there was much less to cheer for Glenn Maxwell this year. He failed miserably to score the runs his team would have wanted him to. Mighty Aussies were the ultimate champions of the T20 world cup.

But Big Show did not show much of his big-hitting abilities and didn’t contribute his best with the bowling too in the world cup. He featured in a total of 12 games for his team during this year and was able to gather just 157 runs with an average of 17.44.

Approximately half of his runs came just from one inning and in the rest of 11 innings, he managed to score just 87. As an all-rounder, he had chances to calibrate his performances with the ball. But he couldn’t utilise his second chance as well, as he picked only four wickets in 9 innings.

7. Hardik Pandya

Another much-anticipated player who had a forgetful time in 2021 is Hardik Pandya. He has been out of his nick since his back injury in 2019. He had a rusty form in the IPL and it continued throughout this year in all structures of the game.

Hardik’s injury condition restricted his rhythm in bowling and he did not bowl to his full capabilities. He was selected as a batter in the T20 world cup and this affected the balance of the Indian team, and his form with the bat was also questionable.

This year he played 11 matches and in those, his numbers with the bat stood at 165. To a player of his stature, he was expected to hit his maiden half-century in this format at least this year, but he was 11 runs away from it. With the ball, he was on and off. In 23 overs, he just took 4 wickets and gave away 175 runs.

8. Andre Russell

Seeing the name of Andre Russell on this list shouldn’t spring a surprise. Russell, who is a T20 specialist, did not perform anywhere near to his reputation. He was uncanny with the bat as well as with the ball.

The Jamaican played his maximum of 18 T20I matches in the maroon this year and though he had plenty of opportunities, he couldn’t prove his mettle. In 18 matches, he got to bat in 16 innings and he racked up 201 runs at a poor average of 18.27.

Russell the Muscle didn’t have the best of outings with the ball either, having picked 13 wickets with an extremely expensive economy of 9.43. He emanated more runs in bowling than he scored with his bat. Russell and West Indies had a forgetful outing this year.

9. Varun Chakravarthy

Varun Chakravarthy is the biggest disappointment of the year 2021. The mystery spinner was prophesied to trouble the world-class batters in the T20 world cup after seeing his form with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

But it has not been a bed of roses for him at the international level. He is a newbie to this setup and debuted only this year for the Indian team. Just after playing three T20I matches, he was picked in the world cup squad ahead of lead spinners.

Varun just picked two wickets in the first three matches in his debut series in Sri Lanka. And in the T20 World Cup, he went wicketless which ended as a huge drawback for the side. His mysteries were defied by the batters and it is a flop debut year for the tweaker

10. Mitchell Starc

The Australian left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc once used to terrify the batters all around the world with his swinging deliveries bowled at vicious pace. Starc is any skipper’s favourite bowler as he can bowl at all stages of the game and can be effective at any level.

But his dominance in T20Is has not been as effective as his other format’s performances over the years. He played a maximum of 13 T20I matches in his career this year and just averaged 34.61 with the ball and managed to pick only 13 wickets.

The New South Wales bowler is on this list predominantly for his exorbitant economy of 9.00. He flung away 60 runs with an economy of 15 in the final world cup match against New Zealand and was the solitary dark spot on the T20 world cup winning side of Australia.

11. Lungi Ngidi

A strike bowler of the South African team, Lungi Ngidi’s performances in T20 International cricket during this course of the year were horrendous. He had an amazing 2020, where he grabbed 17 wickets in just nine matches.

Ngidi couldn’t continue his previous year’s performance this year. He featured in seven T20I matches and took 8 wickets with an expensive economy of 8.98. He leaked away many unnecessary runs for the batters by bowling loose deliveries.

It is quite a long time since he made his debut and has only declined in his performance this year. The semi-pro bowler not performing his roles perfectly has become a cause of concern for the team and hence his ally Anrich Nortje was leading the pace attack with Kagiso Rabada in the majority of matches.