T20 Cricket: The greatest 5 players on recent form

The shortest format of the game has gained fabulous popularity among the entire cricket fraternity. It always promises more drama, quicker runs and dazzling finishes. Also, with the different super-popular T20 leagues around the world, the format has proved to a sensationally successful event in the game of cricket. Take a look at those players who have made the T20 games so interesting and have been in superb form lately:

Chris Gayle

Whenever the topic of T20 cricket comes up, this Jamaican beast is always going to be in it. Chris Gayle, or “Gaylestorm”, is by far the highest run scorer in all Twenty20 matches in the world. He plays in the shortest format for over 10 teams in different leagues and tournaments. His marvellous records say that he has scored a whopping 5752 runs in just 153 innings, at an average of 43.90 and a blasting strike rate of 151.84.

This man has got 11 hundreds in this format, which is the most by any player. Also, the man who rains boundaries all over the park has hit 444 fours and has sent the ball out of the park 411 times! He is the undisputed champion of this format of the game. He also holds the record for the highest individual score of 175* from a paltry 66 deliveries, when he thrashed the Pune Warriors at Bangalore in IPL 2013.

Shahid Afridi

“Boom-boom Afridi” is one of the best all round cricketers in any format of the game. With his ferocious sky-scraping sixes and the turning leg-break deliveries, he has proved himself over the years as the best T20 all rounder, whether in international matches or in the domestic scenario. Afridi is the third highest wicket taker in international T20 matches, with 67 wickets from 62 innings at a brilliant economy of 6.38.

He is also in the top 15 run-scorers, amassing 939 runs from 59 innings, with a strike rate of a whopping 142.92. Overall, this Pakistani pinch-hitter has 2083 T20 runs to his name from 120 innings. He has also scalped 160 wickets from the 133 innings he has featured in. Currently, he is one of the most high-valued T20 game changers in the world.

Albie Morkel

This South-African all-rounder has proved to be a tremendous T20 player over the years. Though he is not a permanent member of the ODI and Test squad of the Proteas’ national side, his contributions in the shortest format of the game has made him a legend of this format. Albie is at No. 6 in the list of the highest T20 wicket takers as he has clinched 200 wickets from 216 innings.

He features for 10 T20 teams in various tournaments. He is also a blistering hitter down the order. He has accumulated 3104 runs in this format from 193 innings, which include 7 fifties and a best of 71*. For a player batting in the lower middle order, these records tell the tale of the ability he possesses.

Brendon McCullum

The Kiwi dasher sits comfortably on the top of the list featuring the top t20 international batsmen in the world. As a blasting batsman, an agile wicketkeeper and an athletic fielder, McCullum has been in scintillating form in the quickest format. Since his t20 debut in 2005, Brendon McCullum has scored 1882 runs from 61 innings, including 2 hundreds and 11 half-centuries.

Overall, in 161 T20 innings he has batted in, he has accumulated 4652 runs in 161 innings, playing from 10 teams around the globe. His best innings of 158* against the Royal Challengers in Kolkata in the inaugural match of the first edition of IPL was one of the most entertaining and unforgettable T20 innings ever witnessed. He is the fourth-highest run-scorer in all types of T20 games played. Also, the way he improvised in his innings of 116* off 56 balls against Australia in an international T20 fixture was absolutely nail-biting. Thus, this 31 year old from Otago is one of the premier T20 players of all time.

Lasith Malinga

The man with the slinging bowling action, also known as the “Slinga Malinga”, is considered to be a boon for any team he plays for. This can be easily inferred from his statistics pertaining to all types T20 matches he has played. Malinga is the world’s second-highest wicket taker in the T20 games, with 222 wickets which were scalped by him in just 160 innings. He has got a stupendous average of 17.81 and an economy of a meager 6.63.

He has also taken five 4-wicket hauls and four five-wicket hauls in these games. He has got an unbelievable best bowling figure of 6/7 where he absolutely blasted through the Perth Scorchers’ batting line up while playing for the Melbourne Stars in the KFC Big Bash League. In the international Twenty-20s, he is at number 7 with 51 wickets from 45 innings with a best of 5/31. With his toe-crushing yorkers, slower-bouncers and numerous other variations, Lasith Malinga stands high among the best t20 bowlers till date.