T20 cricket is the newest and arguably the most exciting format of the game which players and fans look forward to in equal measure. The pace at which T20 leagues are mushrooming all over the world is proof enough of the immense popularity and crowd-pulling power of the format and 2016 has been a big year with the T20 World Cup which was held in India being the obvious highlight.
With the global event in mind, teams played more matches in the format than ever before with even the multinational Asia Cup tournament, used to be held in the 50-over format, being switched to the shortest format of the game to help the participating teams in their preparations.
Cricket is generally perceived as a batsman’s game with hard-hitters gaining extra importance in the T20 format. Equally important though are the role of the bowlers and the way Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga has shown his efficiency is proof that the bowlers can influence the match as well as the batsmen in the format.
Also read: 2016: 10 most prolific batsmen in world cricket across all formats
With the World T20 being held in India, the hosts left no stone unturned in their preparations playing as many as 19 matches – the highest for any nation. The fact that fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah shares that record with his skipper MS Dhoni has helped the former bag the most number of T20 wickets in 2016 thus far with 24 scalps to his name while teammates Ravichandran Ashwin and Ashish Nehra also features in the Top 10 list with 21 and 18 dismissals respectively.
While the above stats may not surprising, what follows next might. While many might be expecting bowlers from the leading cricket playing nations to feature in the Top 10 list, joining the three Indians in the list are three representatives from Bangladesh and two each from Asian minnows Afghanistan and the UAE.
While the names of Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib-al-Hasan may not be surprising, the likes of Amjad Javed and Rashid Khan making the list is a bit amusing. Take a look at the Top 10 wicket-takers list for T20Is in 2016 and see how each one ranks.
| No | Player | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasprit Bumrah (Ind) | 19 | 24 | 18.91 | 6.34 |
| 2 | Al-Amin Hossain (Ban) | 14 | 22 | 15.18 | 7.98 |
| 3 | Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) | 15 | 21 | 15.47 | 6.25 |
| 4 | Shakib-al-Hasan (Ban) | 16 | 20 | 20.6 | 7.4 |
| 5 | Amjad Javed (UAE) | 10 | 18 | 14.27 | 7.34 |
| 6 | Mohammad Nabi (Afg) | 12 | 18 | 16 | 6.54 |
| 7 | Ashish Nehra (Ind) | 15 | 18 | 20.66 | 7.01 |
| 8 | Mohd Naveed (UAE) | 11 | 17 | 13.41 | 5.22 |
| 9 | Rashid Khan (Afg) | 12 | 17 | 17.88 | 6.46 |
| 10 | Mustafizur Rahman (Ban) | 8 | 16 | 12.18 | 6.12 |
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