Well in this age of slam-bang cricket, especially with the advent of the T20s, bowling has become quite a difficult job. Bowlers are taken for plenty usually in the format as the batsmen are looking to attack from the word go.
Also, the fatter bats with thick edges have added misery to the bowler’s woes but then again there are some world class talents who battle against the odds to come up with brilliant performances.
Well, 2016 also saw some inspiring performances from the men with the white shiny leather and now it is quite the right time to declare who has been the best amongst them all.
In a poll conducted by Sportskeeda, readers voted to choose their T20 Bowler of the year and here are the results:
#5 Mohammad Naveed 2%
He might be playing for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but what a star Naveed has been with the ball for his side. The right-arm medium bowler has taken 19 wickets from 14 T20Is in his career at an average of 16.00.
He also has an impressive economy rate of 5.77 with best bowling figures of 3/14. His last five match figures read, 0/21, 0/28, 2/12, 2/27, 2/14. He bagged just 2 percent of the total votes.
He might have received the least percentage of votes but if he would have bagged such figures for a heavyweight side like South Africa, maybe he would have garnered a few more.
As a teenager, Naveed used to travel six hours and back every day to train in Dubai. He started off as a raw pacer but lacked accuracy. He undertook a lot of hard work to change his action and finally succeeded in earning a call-up to the national team and has stayed put since then.
#4 Imran Tahir 5%
Imran Tahir is South Africa’s spin wizard in T20s. The 37-year-old is still growing in stature and is one of the experienced shoulders that the Proteas fall back on, in times of crisis.
The right-arm leg spinner is accurate and is at his best when batsmen are trying to attack him. He mixes up his deliveries brilliantly and does not fear tossing it up in a while.
In the last few years, he has been reaping rich rewards for his craft which is now in full bloom. He has so far picked up 43 wickets from 27 matches at an average of 15.37. He has got best bowling figures of 4/21 and an economy rate of 6.48.
In 2016, He has been quite amongst the wickets with best of 4/21 against England in Capetown.
What’s interesting is Tahir had played for Pakistan as a U-19 player but then moved to South Africa for his lady love and settled there. He received 5 percent of the votes from the poll.
#3 Mustafizur Rahman 19%
Mustafizur has been Bangladesh’s find of the decade perhaps. The 21-year-old took the entire cricketing world by storm when he bowled Bangladesh to an ODI series win versus India in 2015. Since then he has progressed a lot and is one of the key performers for the Tigers in the shortest format of the game. He received 19 percent votes from our readers in the poll.
He is one of those rare Bangladesh pacers who can bowl the yorker at will. The youngster also generates a fair amount of pace to trouble the best batters in the business. He is also very witty and his change-ups are quite hard to pick at times.
He has so far bagged 22 wickets from 13 T20 games with a mean of 13.95. He also enjoys an impressive economy rate of 5.98 and a strike rate of 14.00. His best figures in the format are 5/22.
He bowled quite well in the World T20 in March and April but then injured himself after the IPL. He has been recovering from it since then.
#2 Ravichandran Ashwin
You seldom come across a spinner who is consistent in all three formats of the game. Well, Ravichandran Ashwin is one of those rare talents and has therefore pocketed 24 per cent of the votes.
The Chennai-born offspinner has matured with age and used the IPL as the perfect platform to enhance his skills. The 30-year-old is a miser when it comes to giving away runs in T20s and also picks up crucial wickets at crucial stages of a game.
He is a game-changer and India are heavily dependent on the tweaker these days because of it. From 45 matches he has picked up 52 wickets at an average of 22.19.
This year, he was very impressive in the World T20s and then continued to excel in matches after that. He has best bowling figures of 4/8.
#1 Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah received the highest percentage of votes, that is 50 and is clearly the winner. The pacer first stole the limelight with his weird action in January 2016. But there was nothing weird about his line, length or pace. The 23-year-old is now quite a regular in the limited overs format as he is quite brilliant at the death with his fast Yorker and slower cutters.
Also Bumrah, because of his action is quite difficult to pick and is skiddy at times off the surface. Batsmen usually make the mistake of underestimating him and that’s what leads to their downfall. Since making his debut he has had a dream run in T20s where he has picked up 28 wickets from 21 matches with best figures of 3/11.
He averages 18.82 with the ball in T20s and has an economy rate of 6.62 which is quite good in the format.
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