Best T20 XI for all the teams since the first ever T20 international

The advent of T20 cricket has brought some widespread changes. Along with various T20 leagues being initiated around the globe and the players coming together, this has entirely opened the door for the revolution of one-day cricket as well in the longer format. The shortest format of the game has certainly brought some limitations which are being clear, however, it has also brought fans together and there are new fans emerging from over the world. The associate countries who have been added to this game have brought more spice and competitiveness which had rarely seen before.

The limitation includes that of the fact that the shortest format has given birth for the end of the longest format. The T20 model has not only bought fans, attracting the attention of the fans in masses but also players have begun to lose their much-required temperament to play test cricket.

The slow death of the test cricket is also evident from the fact that the players are choosing the cash-rich extravaganza over the purest form of the game. We have seen players choosing these premier leagues over playing for their own country.

The T20 World Cup, like the fifty-over World Cup, is a carnival in its own right too. It has witnessed close shaves, hat-tricks, a last-ball six, six sixes in an over, super overs, gut-wrenching defeats and many more memorable moments. The T20 leagues, being formulated all over the world has played a decisive role in bridging the gap between rival teams. It has bridged to this extent that the rival players share a great bond not only on the field but also off the field. Along with this, they also possess great respect for their opposition.

Let's have a look at the greatest XI for each team in the shortest format of cricket.

12. Afghanistan

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Afghanistan cricket team, without a shadow of a doubt, has been the most improved team of the lot. Their players, right from the top-order batsmen till the bowlers have been men of absolute impact.

Rashid Khan, Mohammad Shahzad, Nawroz Mangal, Mohammed Nabi have shown the way on how to remain neck to neck with the top sides. Afghanistan are currently ranked 8th in the ICC rankings and have racked up 46 wins in their 68 T20 matches.

We take a look at their greatest T20 XI till now:-

1. Mohammad Shahzad (wk)
2. Usman Ghani
3. Asghar Afgan
4. Nawroz Mangal (c)
5. Samiullah Shenwari
6. Mohammad Nabi
7. Najibullah Zadran
8. Rashid Khan
9. Mujeeb Ur Rahman
10. Shapoor Zadran
11. Karim Janat

11. Ireland

Ireland cricket team

Ireland have been one of the greatest finds in recent times and have made a mark in the limited-overs format as well as left a mark with their sensational performance in their first test. They played their first T20 international among the full-member nation against Bangladesh, beating them and knocking them out of the World T20 2009.

Ireland have played 69 matches, racking up 27 wins and suffering 35 losses. Irish cricket has also been a part of the wins of 2008, 2012 and 2014 qualifiers. Irish cricket, along with the Netherlands and the Afghanistan cricket team has been touted as the next big thing in world cricket.

We have a look at how their best T20 XI would look like.

1. William Porterfield (c)
2. Paul Stirling
3. Ed Joyce
4. Gary Wilson
5. Niall O'Brien (wk)
6. Kevin O'Brien
7. Trent Johnston
8. Alex Cusack
9. John Mooney
10. George Dockrell
11. Boyd Rankin

10. Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe players join their team-mates in celebrating their historic win against Australia

Zimbabwe played their first ever T20 international on 28th November 2006. Co-incidentally, it was also their opponents Bangladesh's first. Zimbabwe, who have won only 13 games out of 61, started out their T20I in a losing effort. One of their 13 wins, their most historic win came against Australia at the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Zimbabwean team have largely suffered due to the departure of their crucial players, especially when their team was on the verge of a steep rise. Owing to this, the Zimbabwean team has been lingering on the bottom of the table for quite a long time, not only in T20s but also in ODIs and tests.

We take a look at how their best T20 XI would stack up.

1. Hamilton Masakadza (c)
2. Solomon Mire
3. Chamu Chibhabha
4. Brendan Taylor (wk)
5. Sean Williams
6. Peter Moor
7. Elton Chigumbura
8. Brandon Mavuta
9. Christopher Mpofu
10. Graeme Cremer
11. Kyle Jarvis

9. Bangladesh

Bangladesh celebrating their win

Bangladesh, in their first ever T20 international, emerged victorious over Zimbabwe by 33 runs. Since then, Bangladesh have triumphed in 25 out of 55 of their T20Is and are currently ranked 10th in the ICC rankings. More notably, they have been having really mouth-watering encounters with their Asian counterparts including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan and have been springing out some really good performances.

The majority of their wins have been deprived because of pre-mature celebrations, however, players like Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al-Hasan and Mustafizur Rehman have shown the path on how to secure excellence and we are confident of the fact that they are not too far from conquering their demons.

Let's take a look at how their best T20 XI would line-up.

1. Tamim Iqbal
2. Soumya Sarkar
3. Mohammad Ashraful
4. Shakib Al-Hasan
5. Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)
6. Sabbir Rahman
7. Naeem Islam
8. Mashrafe Mortaza (c)
9. Mustafizur Rahman
10. Abdur Razzak
11. Rubel Hossain

8. West Indies

West Indies celebrate their World Cup victory

West Indies are the most successful T20 side and the power-packed team of the modern era. Led by the dynamic Darren Sammy, West Indies have run through sides to capture two World T20s in style. In spite of their disputes with their cricket board, West Indies somehow managed to win the World Cups and won everybody's hearts.

West Indies have got the most destructive batsman in Chris Gayle and have a bowler in Dwayne Bravo who is capable of bamboozling any batsman with his extremely clever variations.

However, Marlon Samuels had been extremely decisive for them in both of their triumphs when he scored half-centuries in the final.

Let's take a look at their best T20 XI:-

1. Chris Gayle
2. Evin Lewis
3. Marlon Samuels
4. Dwayne Bravo
5. Kieron Pollard
6. Andre Russell
7. Denesh Ramdin (wk)
8. Darren Sammy (c)
9. Sunil Narine
10. Samuel Badree
11. Ravi Rampaul

7. Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka have been traditionally one of the most successful teams in the shortest format. However, after losing their mainstay bowlers and batsmen, they have fallen off the radar largely. Sri Lanka held the record of the largest score till 2016 and have won the World T20 once in 2014 with being the runners-up twice.

The World T20 hosted by Bangladesh in the year 2014 was the one where Sri Lanka stood victorious after coming closer and missing out twice in spite of making it till the finals. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, two pillars of Sri Lankan cricket who had held the team together had called time on their T20 careers after leading their team to the World Cup glory. Kumar Sangakkara was awarded the man of the match for scoring a half-century in the final.

Let's take a look at the best T20 XI for Sri Lanka.

1. Tilakratne Dilshan
2. Sanath Jayasuriya
3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
4. Mahela Jayawardene (c)
5. Lahiru Thirimane
6. Dinesh Chandimal
7. Angelo Mathews
8. Thissara Perera
9. Lasith Malinga
10. Ajantha Mendis
11. Mutthiah Muralidharan

6. New Zealand

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New Zealand have not been far behind in this format. They had been part of the inaugural T20 international against Australia, losing by 44 runs. New Zealand have played 111 T20 games in total, emerging victorious in 54 of them, tasting defeat in 49, with five and three of them resulting in ties and no results respectively. They were also semi-finalists in 2007 and 2016 World T20. Their opening batsman Martin Guptill holds the record for the highest number of runs in T20 Internationals. We take a look at their best XI in the shortest format.

New Zealand have also been part of the most super overs in T20 Internationals with four of them and ending up on the losing side thrice. Mike Hesson, who was the coach of New Zealand during 2012 World T20, criticized the system of super overs after his team lost two super overs in the Super Eight group stage, thereby finishing in the bottom of their group.

1. Brendon McCullum (wk)
2. Martin Guptill
3. Kane Williamson (c)
4. Jesse Ryder
5. Ross Taylor
6. Craig McMillan
7. Jacob Oram
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Tim Southee
10. Trent Boult
11. Shane Bond

5. Pakistan

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Pakistan have been one of the most competitive T20 sides. But, they have also suffered some of the most shattering defeats in T20 cricket. Two of the most heart-breaking defeats were against Australia in 2010 World T20 semi-final and the final of the first edition in 2007 against India in a profusely close game.

They turned the tables perfectly at the next edition in 2009 in England by beating Sri Lanka to become the champions. Pakistan reached Sri Lanka's target of 139 in 18.4 overs, with Shahid Afridi hitting the winning runs. This was Pakistan's second ICC World title since the 1992 World Cup victory.

They have played 133 T20Is, winning 83 of them and losing only 47 with three going as no-results. We take a look at their best XI in the shortest format.

1. Imran Nazir
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Shoaib Malik
4. Shahid Afridi
5. Misbah-ul-Haq (c)
6. Abdul Razzaq
7. Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk)
8. Mohammad Amir
9. Umar Gul
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Hasan Ali

4. South Africa

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South Africa, like in all the formats have also been a formidable side in T20 cricket, however, has a history of falling short in the ICC global tournaments. Their best was being semi-finalists in the 2009 and 2014 editions.

In 2009, under Graeme Smith, they had run through all the sides quite comfortably and looked all set to win the title until losing to the eventual champions Pakistan marginally.

In AB de Villiers, they had found the most innovative batsmen in T20 cricket and in Dale Steyn they had found one of the best death bowlers, and now finding trusted lieutenants in Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris.

We take a look at the best T20 XI for South Africa:-

1. Quinton de Kock (wk)
2. Hashim Amla
3. Jacques Kallis
4. Faf Du Plessis (c)
5. AB De Villiers
6. JP Duminy
7. Chris Morris
8. Shaun Pollock
9. Kagiso Rabada
10. Dale Steyn
11. Imran Tahir

3. England

Collingwood lead England to their first ICC title

England have never been the pioneer in One-day cricket, let alone in the shortest format of the game. In 2010, the World T20 was held in the West Indies was England's first major ICC title that they won. Under Paul Collingwood, lead by the flamboyant Kevin Pietersen in the batting front, England ousted their arch-rivals Australia to race to the title.

Kevin Pietersen was awarded the man of the tournament but the openers lead the foundation to play an attacking brand of cricket. Fast forward to the present, England have established themselves as an all-around one-day team, climbing to the top of the rankings and look set to clinch their first 50-over World Cup. We take a look their best T20 XI till now:-

1. Jason Roy
2. Jos Buttler (wk)
3. Joe Root
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Paul Collingwood (c)
6. Eoin Morgan
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Adil Rashid
9. Chris Jordan
10. David Willey
11. Liam Plunkett

2. India

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Indian cricket team made history by winning the first ever World T20 in 2007. Yuvraj Singh, in the same tournament, took the world by storm when he hit six sixes in an over bowled by Stuart Broad. The final against Pakistan was one of the best T20 matches ever witnessed. MS Dhoni's captaincy has led India to many such glorious wins in the limited overs format of the game.

Taking a gamble, Joginder Sharma had been handed out to bowl the final over of 2007 World T20 final to defend 13 runs. Needing 6 off 4 deliveries after a wide and a six, Misbah-ul-Haq played a reverse sweep which resulted in him being caught by Sreesanth. New Wanderers in Johannesburg had gone ballistic with India becoming the World Champions.

Since then India have had quite a lot of chances, however, they could end up with only the runners-up spot and the semi-finalist in 2014 and 2016 respectively. We take a look at their best XI in T20 cricket.

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Virat Kohli
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. Suresh Raina
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk)
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Zaheer Khan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Jasprit Bumrah
11. Kuldeep Yadav

1. Australia

Michael Hussey roars after pulling off a stunning win in the semi-final

Perhaps the only format in which an ICC title is waiting for Australia. Australia have had a few good performances in the ICC World T20, including reaching a final in one of them, but a champions' crown had been a step or two out of their grasp.

It still doesn't take away the fact that Australia currently holds the highest score in a T20 international when they scored 263 against Sri Lanka. They also hold the record for the highest successful chase in a T20 international.

Aaron Finch of Australia holds the record for the highest individual score by a batsman in a T20 international. We take a look at their best XI in the shortest format.

1. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
2. Aaron Finch
3. David Warner (c)
4. Brad Hodge
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Shane Watson
7. Michael Hussey
8. Nathan Bracken
9. Brad Hogg
10. Brett Lee
11. Adam Zampa