Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has picked his T20I XI of the year 2021 and surprisingly none of the Indian top-order batters made it into XI however he picked the wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant, as the 12th man.
India made an early exit from the ICC Men’s T20I World Cup 2021 held in UAE as Virat Kohli & co. faced two heavy thrashing in the first two games against Pakistan and New Zealand. And the lack of runs from their top order was one of the key reasons why they were knocked out from the group stage which is reflective in the T20I Xi picked by the former leg-spinner.
He picked Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan as the openers. The Pakistan duo has become a no-brainer choice for their exceptional show this year. Mohammad Rizwan became the first-ever batter to score 1000 T20I runs in the year as the wicketkeeper batter scored 1326 runs in the Year 2021 with an average of 73.66 which includes one hundred and 12 fifties.
While his captain was also not far behind with 939 runs which include one hundred and 9 fifties. The star Pakistan batsman was also the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup 2021.
“I will go with Jos Buttler as my no.3,” says Danish Kaneria
The former Pakistan player picked Jos Buttler as his no.3 in the XI and he also explained why none of the Indian batters could make it to Top-3.
“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,” Danish Kaneria spoke on his YouTube channel.
“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 as he really batted well and had also scored a hundred in World Cup. So, he deserves the spot,” he added further.
However, three Indians- Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah made it into his XI. R Ashwin made his T20I comeback in T20 World Cup after 5 years and he picked 6 wickets in 3 games with an economy of 5.25.
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.
12th man: Rishabh Pant