Australia recently won their maiden T20 World Cup, defeating neighbouring rivals New Zealand in the final in Dubai, and ended their trophyless rut in the shortest international format.
This was on the back of some amazing run-chases in the semi-final versus a strong Pakistan bowling attack and in the final against the clinical Kiwis.
Australia and New Zealand played the first-ever men’s T20 international match, way back in 2005 with Australia registering a comprehensive victory. Over the year, Australia have had some of the world greats of the shortest format – however, most of them couldn’t necessarily translate into Test legends.
Here are the 5 greatest Australian batsmen in T20I cricket’s history:
Aaron Finch
The current Australian limited-overs skipper, Aaron Finch, may have seen his batting returns dip in the past few months. However, Finch remains a key figure in the Australian batting line-up.
He is currently the leading Australian men’s batsman in T20Is – having amassed 2641 runs at an average of 35 with a strike rate of 147. The right-handed opener has slammed one century and 15 fifties in T20Is.
Finch holds the world record of the highest individual score in men’s T20I – 172 vs Zimbabwe in 2018. He’s also third on the list of the highest score – 156 vs England in 2013.
David Warner
David Warner played two brilliant innings in the T20 World Cup semi-final and final, both times setting up the chase for the middle-order; he was awarded as the Man of the Tournament for scoring 289 runs in 7 matches at 48 and striking at 146.
The dynamic openers is Australia’s second-highest run-scorer in the shortest format – with 2554 runs at 32 having struck those runs at 140 strike rate. He has hit 22 half-centuries – the joined fourth-highest in the world – along with one hundred in this format.
David Warner is the greatest Australian batsmen ever, across all three formats of the game.
Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell is one of the most destructive white-ball batters going around in the world. Known for his swashbuckling pyrotechnics with the bat, Maxwell has scored 1866 runs, third-highest by an Aussie in T20Is, at a strike rate of 155.
Maxwell has thumped three T20I centuries – the most by an Australia; 2 of those were while batting at number 4, one was while opening the innings.
With his brilliant unorthodox skills, Glenn Maxwell is one of the greatest Australian batsmen in T20I cricket.
Shane Watson
Shane Watson was the torchbearer of T20 cricket in Australia. The powerful opener recorded 1462 runs at 29, with a century and 10 fifties. 5 out of his 10 half-centuries came in 22 T20 World Cup innings.
His strike rate of 145 is a testament to his aggression at the top. Even after international retirement, Watson had continued to glitter franchise leagues.
Andrew Symonds
There are several Australian batters who have scored more T20I career runs than Andre Symonds’ 337 runs in just 11 innings. However, none of them did it with a higher average of better strike rate than Symonds’ average of 48 and strike rate of 169.
Andrew Symonds was at the fag end of his career when T20 cricket was into its baby steps. However, when almost every other batsmen look to get their eye in and settle down, Symonds just ruthlessly tore apart the bowling attack from the first ball. If not for the premature end of his career, he could have had more memorable moments in the shortest format.
