Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria picked his T20I XI of the year 2021 where he named three Indians but opted to leave out India T20I skipper Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli.
The three India players who made it to Kaneria’s XI are all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Pakistan opening pair Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are the openers in his lineup while England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler has got the No.3 spot followed by England’s Liam Livingstone at No.4 and Mitchell Marsh at No.5.
Pakistan Rizwan and Azam are the top-two run-getters in T20Is in 2021. Rizwan has scored 1,326 runs in 29 matches at an average of 75.06 that is the most in a year by any player in the format history. He is also the only player to score more than 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year.
Rizwan’s opening partner and Pakistan captain Azam has 939 runs to his name in 29 matches in 2021.
Also Read:- All teams travel to Pakistan for 2025 Champions Trophy: ICC chairman
“Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are my openers as performed really well throughout 2021. They were outstanding in the T20 World Cup (2021) and they played well in the recently concluded series against West Indies as well,” said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.
On choosing Buttler over Rohit and Kohli for the No.3 spot, the former spinner said, “People will say at one down it should be Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul or Virat Kohli but no I have a different opinion, I will go with Jos Buttler. He (Buttler) played really well and he had also scored a hundred in World Cup. So, he deserves the spot.”
Rishabh Pant is the 12th man in Kaneria’s lineup.
Danish Kaneria’s T20 XI Of 2021:
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Zampa.
Rishabh Pant (12th Man)
Read More:- Paris prepares for unprecedented Olympics opening in 2024
