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T20 cricket was introduced in 2003 to promote the game and add spice to it. The success of inaugural Indian Premier League laid the foundation for T20 cricket. 10 years later, domestic T20 leagues have changed the landscape of cricket.
With lucrative deals, players retire from international cricket to become freelance cricketers. IPL, Big Bash League, Natwest T20, Carribean Premier League have the taken the world by storm with its huge success.
In 2017, T20 action started with Big Bash League in January where Perth Scorchers won the title. IPL followed by Natwest T20 Blast, Carribean Premier League, Natwest T20 Blast, Bangladesh Premier League and PSL. We saw some great games and brilliant individual performances over the last 11 months.
Let's see the top 5 players in T20 cricket for 2017 so far
#5 Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum gave us the first taste of T20 cricket with an unbeaten 158 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 1st game of the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008.
McCullum is the second highest run scorer in the history of T20 cricket with 8264 runs from 299 games. In 2017, he scored 1224 runs in 46 games with nine fifties at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 151. With 75 sixes, he has hit the most by any batsman this calendar year.
Some of his exceptional performances this year includes the 91 he made against Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League, 72 against RCB in the Indian Premier League and 28 balls 63 against Essex in the Natwest Twenty20.
After his international retirement in 2015, McCullum is playing in various T20 leagues across the globe.
#4 Aaron Finch
The right-hander from Australia is this year's leading run scorer in T20s. Finch has amassed 1213 T20 runs this year at an average of 35 and a strike rate of 160 with one hundred and 8 fifties from 37 games.
He has 6245 career T20 runs from 201 games, and is a limited overs expert for the Australian National team.
Playing for the Melbourne Renegades, he was the second highest run-getter in 2016/17 Big Bash League with 354 runs.
He scored 489 runs for Surrey in the Natwest T20 league at a strike rate of 167. His 299 runs for Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League came at a strike rate of 163.
Finch gave one of the best T20 performances of the year when he blasted 114 runs for Surrey against Sussex in a Natwest T20 Blast game. At 160, Finch has the second highest strike rate of all batsmen in the top10 run-getters list.
#3 Kieron Pollard
A destructive lower middle order batsman, Kieron Pollard came to prominence in 2009, when he smashed an 18-ball 54 against New South Wales in a Big Bash League game.
Pollard has scored 1123 runs in this calendar year at a strike rate of 147 and only behind McCullum and Finch on the list of most T20 runs in 2017. Pollard contributed with the ball as well picking up 12 wickets and has taken some sensational catches.
The Trinidadian played a key role for the Mumbai Indians to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 title. With 393 games and 7713 runs, Pollard is the most capped T20 cricketer and 3rd in all-time T20 run-scorers list.
With his all-round abilities, he is a complete package in T20 cricket and one of the most sought-after players in the shortest format of the game.
#2 Rashid Khan
The youngest cricket to claim 100 T20 wickets, Rashid Khan is definitely the find of 2017. The Afghani leg spinner's journey has been incredible so far and he is only 19 years of age.
In 2017, Rashid Khan has taken 74 T20 wickets at an average of 14.5 and a strike rate of 15.9. He has a stunning economy rate of 5.73, better than any bowler in the top 10.
Making his maiden appearance at the age of 18, Rashid Khan was one of the successful bowlers in this year’s Indian Premier League. He finished the tournament as the 6th highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets and bamboozled some of the world class batsmen like Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Brendon McCullum and Steve Smith.
In a T20I game against Ireland, Rashid Khan produced one of the best T20 spells of 2017 (2-1-3-5). He is also the first Afghanistan cricketer selected to play in the Australian Big Bash league 2017/18.
#1 Sunil Narine
We all know Sunil Narine, the bowler. In 2017, we saw a different Sunil Narine, the all-rounder. Gambir opened the batting with Sunil Narine in IPL 2017 and it turned out to be a huge success. Narine decimated some of the best bowlers in the world and scored 224 runs at a stunning strike rate of 172.30.
The man from Trinidad is the 3rd all-time leading wicket-taker in T20s with 302 wickets with an unbelievable economy of 5.86. In 2017, Narine has taken 59 wickets in 58 games with an economy of miserly 6.4.
He is 2nd on the list of leading T20 wicket-takers for 2017. In addition to the wickets, Narine has scored 659 runs at a strike rate of 150, including 3 fifties, which puts him above Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and Steve Smith in the run-scoring chart for 2017.
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