T20 World Cup 2022: Best Playing 11 of the tournament
T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 stage ended on the 6th of November 2022 with a lot of action as well. Teams like Australia and South Africa were disappointed because the luck factor did not go their way during the last couple of days of the Super 12 stage.
Australia, New Zealand, and England ended with 7 points each in Group 1, but Australia’s NRR was the main culprit. In the case of Group 2, India comfortably proceeded to the semi-finals with 8 points also the most by any team in the Super 12. Luck favored Pakistan a lot because everyone was almost confirmed that South Africa will play the semi-finals but the Netherlands spoiled everything for the Proteas. Pakistan after an easy win over Bangladesh got selected along with India from the same group in the semi-finals. Pakistan defeated New Zealand convincingly in the 1st semi-final and England defeated India dominantly in the 2nd semi-final.
Pakistan and England, both were looking like strong contenders to win the title. But, England looked more fierce with both bat and bowl and won the title for the 2nd time.
Here we have made the best possible playing 11 from the T20 World Cup 2022:
1. Jos Buttler: Without any doubt Jos the Boss is currently the best opening batsman in T20I cricket. He continued his IPL 2022 form for his national side as well, where in the IPL he scored 800 plus runs including 4 centuries. In the T20 World Cup 2022, he scored 225 runs with a strike rate of 144.23 including 23 fours and 7 sixes in the 6 games he played. Also, his captaincy was top-notch as well. Despite the loss against Ireland, he bounced back strongly and led his side to win the 2nd title of this format.
2. Alex Hales: One of the best destructive openers of this tournament, he scored 212 runs with a strike rate of 147.22 including 16 fours and 11 sixes. He played two crucial knocks one against Srilanka in their last Super 12 league match of the T20 World Cup 2022 and an unbeaten 86 runs in 47 balls against India in the semifinals.
3. Virat Kohli: Team India’s savior who is also the highest run-scorer in the tournament as well. He scored 296 runs with a strike rate of 136.41 including 25 fours and 8 sixes. His innings against Pakistan and Bangladesh were also match-saving knocks for his side. He also scored a fifty in the semifinal match against England but that went in vain because India lost that match by 10 wickets.
4. Suryakumar Yadav: SKY is also known as the Indian version of Mr. 360 degree AB de Villiers which means he plays according to the field anywhere on the ground. Also, he is the currently ranked 1 batsman in T20I cricket. He was the best finisher from Team India, he scored 239 runs with a massive strike rate of 189.68 including 26 fours and 9 sixes. In the last edition he was not enough opportunities but this time he was on the go-to list for his side in each and every game.
5. Sikandar Raza: Best all-rounder of the tournament, his consistent performances with both bat and bowl since the beginning of the qualifiers stage helped him to feature in the list of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Player of the tournament contestants. In the 8 games with the bat, he scored 219 runs with a strike rate of 147.97, and with the bowl, he took 10 wickets with an economy of 6.50 as well.
6. Ben Stokes: England’s all-rounder cum middle-order savior, who played some crucial knocks with the bat when his side needed it the most during the course of the tournament. Especially in the final, when Pakistan bowlers troubled the English batters where Stokes took charge and scored his maiden T20I fifty to win the trophy for his side.
He did not contribute much during the initial phase of the tournament but during the last two knockout matches for England, he showed a different version of himself.
7. Sam Curran: A dream come true performance at such stage of the tournament where Sam Curran won player of the match in the final and player of the tournament as well. He was selected as an all-rounder but due to the huge batting depth in the lineup, he did not get any opportunity with the bat.
But with the ball his performance was exceptional, he bowled in the death overs which he does not bowl usually, and took 8 plus wickets. In the 6 matches, he was the second-highest wicket-taker and took 13 wickets with an economy of 6.52 including a 5-wicket haul and one 3-wicket haul. He also averaged 11.38 the third-best in the tournament as well.
8. Shadab Khan: One of the best spin all-rounders in the tournament, he picked 11 wickets with an average of 15.00 and with an economy of 6.34. He was also used as a floater in the batting lineup and he also contributed with his bat including 98 runs with a strike rate of 168.97.
9. Shaheen Afridi: Best bowler from his side in the tournament, he could not find his form in the first matches but later in the tournament he got more dangerous with the new ball. He is also the leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket powerplays since 2020. He took 11 wickets with an economy of 6.16 including one 4-wicket haul and 3-wicket haul each. He got injured during the last few overs in the Final while defending where he was looking in good touch as well.
10. Arshdeep Singh: A young promising talent from India impressed everyone with his exceptional spell, especially in the powerplay overs. He troubled one of the best batsmen of the T20I format including Babar Azam, Rizwan, Quinton de Kock, and many more. He took 10 wickets with a strike rate of 12 and an average of 15.60. He was also very economical in the death as well with his toe-crushing yorkers. His presence in the playing 11 makes the Indian bowling attack more dangerous.
11. Anrich Nortje: Proteas speedster and the best pacer after Sam Curran in the tournament, he touched 150 kilometers per hour plus speed several times in each and every game he played. In his 5 games, he picked up 11 wickets with an average of 8.55 and also had the best economy among Super 12 pacers which is 5.37.
Player Roles T20 World Cup 2022:
Wicket-Keepers: Jos Buttler (C)
Batsmen: Alex Hales, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar Yadav.
All-Rounders: Sikandar Raza, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, and Shadab Khan.
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Anrich Nortje, and Arshdeep Singh.