2016 has been such a long year. In Test matches, India are on the verge of thrashing England after having comprehensively beaten New Zealand at home. Earlier in the year, there were successful travels to Zimbabwe and the Caribbean islands. The fact that the year started in heartbreak for India, at the hands of the Windies is almost completely forgotten. A crestfallen Virat Kohli couldn’t get his team across the line after an astonishing World T20 that would set the tone for his year.
It might be forgotten now, but 2016 was most certainly the year of the T20s. The first half of the year saw plenty of T20 action. After the ODI series down under, Indian fans had to wait a mighty 6 months to see its team in ODI action again. The wait was even longer for Test cricket as India played its first Test on the 21st of July.
Gearing up for the annual cricket awards, we sat to reflect upon the year that had gone and were left with plenty of questions -
Who had the best year in term of numbers? Who had the biggest impact on the team? Who managed a massive century? Who provided leadership? Who was the most consistent? What matters most in T20s – runs scored or strike-rate?
We probed on a number of these matters to come up with a system on how to rank the best batsmen in T20Is, before deciding to give equal importance to fans votes and our experts’ choices. From our simple list of 5 names, fans voted on who they thought the best player for 2016.
Fans’ votes
The candidates were narrowed down to 5 – South Africa’s Hashim Amla, England’s Jos Buttler, India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and New Zealand’s Martin Guptill based on their performances in 2016.
Fans voted for over 24 hours and here’s the verdict...
Virat Kohli dominated the votes as expected, bringing in 86 percent of the votes. It was much closer for the other spots, with England’s Buttler leading the pack followed by Guptill, Maxwell and Amla.
The final results, when recalibrated with the experts’ choices, are as follows.
5. Hashim Amla – South Africa
Hashim Amla brought in the least votes despite having a terrific year in terms of consistency.
A fish out of water was what many people thought when Hashim Amla was cast in the T20 South African side. He had spent years making his name as a solid, technically correct opening batsman who has a penchant for playing the longer innings. But he proved all his doubters wrong with an incredible year with the bat in T20s.
His failures in two crucial group stage matches in the world T20 would be the only disappointment for him.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 50s, 100s | Best |
| 7 | 308 | 77 | 146.66 | 4, 0 | 97* |
Amla boasts the second best average on this list, a mighty 77 to go with a superb strike rate in the high 140s. He started the year in scintillating form with his best knock coming against the Australians in early March. He would add a couple of 50s in the World T20 as wel
4. Glenn Maxwell – Australia
Maxwell was placed higher in the list by the experts but the fans didn’t vote in favour of him.
The popular Australian is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the moment with his differences with fellow Australian Matthew Wade but there’s no taking away from his quality as an absolute matchwinner in limited overs cricket. There are very few who can invent shots like he does and it helps that he can roll his arm over with the ball as well.
He would be disappointed he had no worthy contributions in the World T20.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 50s, 100s | Best |
| 11 | 435 | 48.33 | 174.69 | 2, 1 | 145* |
Just when you thought Guptill’s strike-rate couldn’t be bettered, Maxwell goes and does just that. He almost scores 2 runs a ball, simply frightening. In a span of 3 days in September, he would have the watching world gripped as he ripped the Lankans to shreds on their own turf. His unbeaten 145 at Pallekelle is the second highest score in T20I history.
3. Jos Buttler – England
In third place – Jos Buttler, who was an immensely popular choice with the fans.
England’s wicket-keeper extraordinaire is a natural in the shortest format of the game and oh boy, doesn’t he make watching batting fun. A supremely clean striker of the ball, he boasts of incredible power and clears the boundary at will. He had a smashing 2016 batting in England’s middle-order while doubling up with keeping duties as well.
The cherry on the cake would have been the World T20 crown, but that wasn’t to be.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 50s, 100s | Best |
| 10 | 366 | 61 | 151.23 | 3, 0 | 73* |
His statistics make for great reading. Perhaps most impressively, he can come at the death of the innings and tonk the ball right away, but also has the ability to build an innings. The highlights of his season include a sublime unbeaten 66 against the Lankans during the group stages of the World T20 that took his team to a 10-run win, a quickfire 17-ball-32 to guide his side into the finals of the World T20 and a year’s best score of 73, against the Lankans again, where he opened the batting.
In second place – Martin Guptill who was a popular choice according to the fans as well as the experts
The Kiwi Martin Guptill might do down in history as one of the best limited-overs players ever and he showed why in 2016 with another superb year at the top of the Kiwi batting order. The way he bats can put any opposition on the backfoot almost immediately. He has made sure the Kiwis don’t feel the absence of Brendon McCullum in the side.
Will be disappointed he didn’t capitalise on a start in the World T20 semi-final against England.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 50s, 100s | Best |
| 9 | 392 | 49 | 171.82 | 4, 0 | 87* |
The thing that stands out from Guptill’s numbers is his strike-rate coupled with the fact that he opens the innings. He is another who started the year in superb fashion and his best knock was an unbeaten 87 against Pakistan in January. A couple of months later, he would torment the same opponents in the World T20 with an 80 to ensure his side picked up a win at the World T20.
1. Virat Kohli – India
Virat Kohli – Sportskeeda’s T20I batsman of the year for 2016
This wasn’t really a surprise, was it? The Indian had one of the most memorable years in cricket history with his exploits in the three formats, but he arguably performed the best in T20s over the course of the year. What distinguishes him from the rest of the pack is his ability to finish games. He doesn’t seem pressured by anything as his works all the numbers in his mind and while he is at the crease, anything is possible.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike-rate | 50s, 100s | Best |
| 15 | 641 | 106.83 | 140.26 | 7, 0 | 90* |
Simply astonishing numbers. He had the most numbers of runs, nearly 150 more than his nearest competitor at a a Brandmanesque average of 106.83 with a 50 in every second game he played. He overcame the disappointment of not registering a century in T20Is by scoring 4 in the IPL.
He saved his best for the Aussies, registering his best score of 90* against them at Adelaide in January. His best knock was undoubtedly the unbeaten 82 against the same opponents in the World T20 when he led the side to a victory in the very last over when everyone else around him was falling.
He was superb against the Windies in the semi-finals as well, scoring 89 runs off 47 balls at a strike-rate of nearly 200.
In an ideal world, he would have won the World T20 in India as well.
It wasn’t to be. But that takes nothing away from the incredible year that he had.
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