2017 T20I round-up: India's 5 most valuable players of the year

With the end of the third T20I between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, the Indian team's 2017 has come to an end.

The Virat Kohli-led team saw a lot of success in Tests and ODI and were unbeaten in a bilateral series in both these formats. The same cannot be said about the T20I format as they lost the one-off T20I against West Indies.

In total, there were 13 matches and the Men in Blue have come out victorious in four of them. There were a total of 27 players who for India in T20Is this year and out of those 27, there were five players (Parvez Rasool, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar) who made their debut.

Let us take a look at five players among the 27 who stood out in the format this year.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli made 2017 his own as he scored runs across all three matches.

Kohli played 10 out of the 13 T20Is India played this year and amassed 299 runs at an average of 37.37 and an extraordinary strike-rate of 153 with the help of two fifties.

One of the most interesting aspects of his game was the way he got those runs. His 82 against Sri Lanka in the one-off T20I at the R Premadasa stadium is one of the finest T20I knocks seen this year as the 29-year-old toyed around with the field with some textbook shots and his flexible wrist.

He could have easily scored few more runs in the format this year but he decided to take a break from Cricket and missed the recently-concluded Sri Lanka series.

Kuldeep Yadav

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is easily the find of the year for the Indian team. The 23-year-old, who became the first-ever Chinaman bowler to play for India, has been impressive in almost all the games he has played this season.

With the wrist spinners dominating in the limited-overs cricket of late, the emergence of Kuldeep is a blessing in disguise for the team as his bowling style brings in a lot of variety to the Indian team that already has a leg-spinner in Yuzvendra Chahal.

In spite of playing fewer matches than the other bowlers, Kuldeep ended the year as the second-highest wicket-taker for the Indian team with 12 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 18.50, an economy of 7.65 and struck every 14.5 balls.

KL Rahul

When India toured Sri Lanka earlier this year, the team management confirmed that KL Rahul would bat at number 4 in the ODIs and the Karnataka got to bat at that position just twice in the whole series before he was dropped for the subsequent ODI series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

But, he was persisted with in the T20I side and sent a message to the selectors with his consistent performances in the format. Even though he finished the year as the third highest run-getter for India in the format, the impact he had in the team's victories was immense.

With 279 runs in seven innings, Rahul averaged 40 and scored his runs at a rate of over 140 runs every 100 balls. With his performances, he has cemented his place in the T20I side as an opener.

Rohit Sharma

One of the highlights in T20Is this year is Rohit Sharma's record-breaking 118 off just 43 balls with the help of 12 fours and 10 sixes, which is also the fastest T20I century by any batsmen.

Rohit has been sensational with the bat in 2017 as he scored tons of runs across all three formats. In spite of missing the first four T20Is India played this year, Rohit ended the year as the third-highest run scorer for the Men in Blue with 283 in eight matches at an average of nearly 32 and a fantastic strike-rate of 171.5.

Rohit was deadly in the format as he hit 16 towering sixes this year and was giving nightmare for the opposition with some clean strikes. He is also the only Indian to score a T20I ton this year.

Yuzvendra Chahal

Before the start of the year, if someone had told me leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been impressing everyone in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore over the last few seasons would not only end up as India's highest T20I wicket-taker but also the highest among any T20I team in the world, I would have laughed it off.

But, the Indian selectors kept their faith in the 27-year-old and the move paid dividends as he ran through the opposition on a consistent basis and cemented his place in the limited-overs side.

He picked up 23 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 14.13 and an economy of 7.83, numbers that are too good for a spinner in the format. What made him stand out among the other bowlers is that the rate at which he picked his wickets as he picked up one every 10.8 balls, the best for any bowler this year with at least 10 wickets.

He also became the first bowler to take three four-wicket hauls in T20Is in a calendar year including 6/23 against England in Bengaluru, the best T20I figures by an Indian bowler.