Ranking top 10 current best T20 batsmen in franchise cricket

6. Shikhar Dhawan

Indian southpaw Shikhar Dhawan has rejuvenated himself in franchise cricket in the last couple of years. After a lot of criticism for stemming the flow of runs batting at the top of the order, he freed himself up ever since he joined Delhi Capitals. Before DC, he has played a lot of franchise cricket for Sunrisers Hyderabad- opening the batting with the ‘Pocket-Dynamo’ David Warner. In his initial years, he also played for Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers in the IPL.

Dhawan is among the only 3 batsmen to have scored more than 450 runs in the last 3 seasons of the Indian Premier League, with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli being the other 2. He was 2nd in the race for the Orange Cap, scoring 618 runs in 17 innings at a healthy strike-rate of 144.7. He became the first batsman in the history of IPL to score two consecutive 100s, which also happened to be his first two hundreds in this format.

Dhawan was among the most impactful Indian batsmen of IPL 2020. While most other big names like Kohli and Iyer struggled to score runs at a quick-rate, he did not shy away from displaying his natural, aggressive intent. He made ample use of the Powerplay, taking the attack to the bowlers. He didn’t get enough support from Delhi’s top order, with Shaw and Pant also out of form. His knock of 78 in the second qualifier has to be one of his most crucial knocks of the season, as it helped Delhi set up a good score on the board and consequently defending it to make it to the Final for the first time in history.