Top 3 batsmen with the most T20I runs in 2019

With the ICC granting T20I status to all its 104 members, the total number of T20I matches played in 2019 was significantly much higher than last year.

Apart from the full members of the ICC, the associates also got to play a lot of T20Is after being granted T20I status. This is the reason why there are some surprising names in the list of the leading run-scorers in T20I cricket in 2019.

Indian captain Virat Kohli is the only batsman from a prominent Test-playing nation who is in the top 10 list of the leading run-scorers in T20I cricket in 2019.

Here are the 3 players with most T20I runs in 2019.

#1 Paul Stirling (Ireland)

Paul Stirling opens the batting for Ireland and is a hard hitter of the cricket ball. Not only has he got the power game, he has also got the ability to pierce the gaps which is why he manages to maximize the powerplay for Ireland more often than not.

Stirling has played 20 T20I matches for Ireland in 2019, scoring 748 runs at a strike rate of 140.60. The 29-year-old has scored eight half-centuries and has hit 20 sixes this year.

Generally, when an opener plays the high-risk game in T20I cricket, it’s tough for him to maintain a good batting average. But apart from maintaining a very high strike rate for Ireland, Stirling also has a terrific batting average of 41.55 in 2019, which speaks volumes of his consistency with the bat.

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Owing to Stirling providing flying starts to Ireland in most of the games, the country finished the year with a win percentage of 70 in the shortest format of the game.

It remains to be seen if he manages to carry his superb batting form into next year.

#2 Kevin O’Brien (Ireland)

If Stirling provided rapid starts to Ireland, it was Kevin O’Brien who kept it going in the middle phase of the innings when the field was spread.

O’Brien has hit the most number of sixes in T20I cricket in 2019, which suggests the kind of power game he plays for Ireland. He has been brutal against both the fast bowlers and spinners, and has hit sixes all around the ground.

O’Brien’s ability to hit the ball straight down the ground with a vertical bat and over mid-wicket and square leg with a horizontal bat makes him a really difficult batsman to deal with for the bowlers.

The veteran was assigned the job of a finisher and he performed his task to perfection as he batted with an overall strike rate of 155.43 in the 23 T20I games he has played in 2019.

O’Brien averages over 30 with the bat in 2019, scoring a total of 729 runs with three fifties and a hundred to his name.

#3 Max O’Dowd (Netherlands)

Max O’Dowd is a slightly different kind of batsman from Sterling and O’Brien, but he has been equally effective for the Netherlands as the other two have been for Ireland.

O’Dowd’s role for the Netherlands was to go through different gears in his batting and try and glue the innings together by building partnerships, rather than just trying to take the game away from the opposition single-handedly.

His strike rate was in the range of 120s most of the time, but he always held one end for the Netherlands and emerged as their most consistent T20I batsman.

In the 24 games O’Dowd has played for the Dutch in 2019, he has scored 702 runs at an average of 29.25. He has scored six half-centuries and has hit 69 fours and 16 sixes this year.

The 25-year-old, who plays county cricket in England, would like to carry his consistency into 2020.