T20 internationals was the talk of the town in 2022. After Australia clinched the 2021 T20 World Cup title, it was their Ashes rivals, England, who won their second T20 world title, in 2022, in Australia.
There were more T20Is played in 2022 than perhaps any other year as teams focused on the shortest format, considering the T20 WC toward the end of the year.
While India failed to reach the finals of the Asia Cup and T20 WC, they swept all the bilateral series and are currently the top-ranked ICC T20I men’s team at the end of the year, followed by world champs England with the runner-ups Pakistan at third.
In this article, we will look at the best playing XI from the Full Member nations in the shortest format of international cricket this year. Admittedly, this list is influenced significantly by players’ performance in the most important tournament of the year, T20 World Cup 2022.
Here is the best T20I XI of 2022:
Openers: Jos Buttler (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Among openers (from Full Member nations) who scored a minimum of 400 T20I runs in 2022, no opener had a better strike rate than Jos Buttler’s 160, the England captain also had a healthy average of 35 as he scored 462 runs in 15 innings, raising 4 fifties and helping England lift the title.
Rizwan was the leading T20I run-scorer in 2022, with 996 runs at an average of 45. He hit 10 fifties out of his 25 innings.
Middle-order: Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Phillips
No batsman has perhaps had the kind of year in T20Is that Suryakumar Yadav had: not only Yadav scored big runs, he did it at a stunning rate: 1164 runs in 31 T20Is, average of 46 and strike rate of 187, including hitting 2 centuries.
Virat Kohli was at his best during the T20 WC and ended as the tournament’s top-scorer. He also hit his maiden T20I century in this year in the Asia Cup vs Afghanistan. Kohli ended the year with 781 runs in 20 T20Is at an average of 55 with 8 fifties and a ton.
New Zealander batter Glenn Phillips is the third-highest scorer among middle-order batters in T20Is this year. He scored a total of 761 T20I runs in 2022 with one century – vs Sri Lanka in the T20 WC – and 6 half-centuries to his name at a strike rate of 156.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Sikandar Raza, Shadab Khan
Hardik Pandya made a stunning return to the Indian team this year after a back injury. He played A crucial role in India’s bilateral wins and also in the Asia Cup. Overall, Pandya picked 24 wickets including a best of 4/33 vs England and with the bat, he made 607 runs at a strike rate of 145 with 3 half-centuries.
Sikandar Raza had a dream T20 WC where he carried Zimbabwe to some memorable moments, including a win over Pakistan. Raza is the 5th highest T20I scorer in 2022: 735 runs at an average of 35 and strike rate of 150 with 5 fifties to his name, in addition to 25 wickets.
Shadab Khan had a big hand in Pakistan reaching the final of both the Asia Cup and T20 WC, and the all-rounder was at his best in T20Is this year. The leg-spinner snapped up 25 wickets in 20 T20Is with the best bowling of 4/8 and economy of 6.79, and with the bat, he bludgeoned South Africa in Sydney to keep Pakistan alive.
Bowlers: Sam Curran, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Little
Sam Curran unlocked himself as England’s best death bowler, and returned as the Man of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup with 13 wickets, 10 out of which came in the death overs.
Hasaranga continued with his spin magic, and finished as the leading spinner wicket-taker among Full Member countries with 34 wickets in 19 T20Is at an average of only 15.
Ireland’s Josh Little is the highest wicket-taker among pacers in T20Is in 2022, having snared 39 wickets at 18 apiece.
12th man: Arshdeep Singh
