Team India recently became only the second team in the T20I history to play 200 T20Is, following Pakistan. Men in Blue have won 127 T20Is so far, only behind Pakistan’s win tally of 134 T20Is.
Team were the winners of the inaugural T20 World Cup back in 2007 in South Africa. The Men In Blue have produced some of the greats of the shortest format, mostly in the batting department, along with some high-quality all-rounders and bowlers.
Here is India’s best all-time T20I XI:
Openers: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul
The current India skipper Rohit Sharma is India’s second-highest T20I run-scorer and also the second leading scorer in T20Is in the world with 3853 runs at an average of 31 with 29 fifties and 4 centuries to his name. KL Rahul is the third-highest T20I scorer for India with 2265 runs at an average of 37 and has notched up 2 centuries and 22 fifties.
Middle-order: Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh
Virat Kohli is the top T20I run-getter in the world having amassed 4008 runs at an average of 52. Kohli has clobbered 1 century and 37 fifties in this format. Kohli is also the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup history with 1141 runs at a staggering average of 81 with 14 fifties under his belt in 25 innings.
Suryakumar Yadav has emerged as the best middle-order batsman in T20 cricket in the past 2-3 years. In quick time he’s scaled the run-charts: he is India’s 5th highest run-scorer having a jaw-dropping combination of 44 average and 173 strike rate. He’s walloped 3 T20I hundreds and 13 fifties.
One of India’s hero of the 2007 T20 WC, Yuvraj Singh is in India’s all-time T20I XI. The left-hander finished with 1177 runs at an average of 29 and strike rate of 136 with 8 fifties. Yuvraj also snapped 28 wickets in T20Is at a brilliant average of 17. We have picked him over Suresh Raina, though it was a tough call.
Wicket-keeper: MS Dhoni (C)
There was never a doubt as to who would be the wicket-keeper and captain in India’s all-time best T20I XI other than MS Dhoni.
Dhoni captained India to their first and only T20 World Cup triumph so far. Despite batting in the middle-order, Dhoni is India’s 6th highest run-scorer with 1617 runs at an average of 37.
All-rounder: Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya rosed through the T20 format. Having batted mostly in the lower-middle-order for India in T20Is, Pandya has scored 1314 runs in his career so far at a strike rate of 141. Pandya’s emergence and contribution with the ball has been significant: he’s picked up 73 wickets, and, surprisingly, is India’s third-highest T20I wicket-taker.
Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav
Chahal and Bhuvneshwar are India’s top-two leading wicket-takers with 95 and 90 wickets respectively, though it’s shocking that Chahal has not played a single game in the last two T20 World Cups. Bumrah has 70 wickets at a brilliant average of 20.
The last choice was a tough one between Jadeja, Ashwin and Kuldeep, but we went with the wrist-spinner for his variety and his staggering T20I numbers: Kuldeep has taken 47 wickets in 28 innings at a marvelous bowling average of only 14! Ashwin and Jadeja have a worse bowling average in T20I than Kuldeep and both have rarely contributed with the bat in the shortest format.
