Given that very less cricket was played this year with many tours suspended, and the games played, were without spectators and with a little change in rules. We saw how the ball need to be wiped every five overs with antimicrobial wipes, and ban on shining the ball using saliva.
With zero spectators in the stands, every match seemed like being played in Abu Dhabi with Arab shiekhs having no time for it.
We saw the BLM social movement overtaking cricket as well and 'taking the knee' adopted by cricket players on field. We recall how even the legends like Michael Holding revealed having faced the incidents of racism in past.
Quantitatively very less cricket was played this year but it was of great quality. We saw James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Southee reaching to six, five and three hundred wickets respectively.
By the end of year we saw KIWIs emerging as new test champions, debacle of team like India on small score of 36/9, the likes of Fawad Alam back into internationals after a gap of ten years.
As a bonus, we also had a IPL, PSL, Big Bash, Srilankan League to entertain us.
It must have been difficult of players to travel and play, they had to be tested, mandatorily quarantined, held within a cluster of people and places strictly, commonly call "covid bubble" that too without WAGs. But they still performed and performed very well.
So here is the squad of players who make it to my cricket team of the year 2020. The list has been justified by the consistency in performances, fitness, special performance' if any, fairplay, man of matches awards across all formats.
A. PLAYING ELEVEN
1. K L RAHUL (IND): 🇮🇳 K L Rahul has proved to be very valuable asset for India. He has been consistent all through the year and across formats scoring fifties and hundreds at will. I reckon, he ought to be groomed for future captainship. He started the year with 54(36) vs SL and 80 (52) vs Aus followed by couple of fifties (56 of 27, 57 of 50, 45 of 33, 88 of 64, 112 of 113) again Kiwis the next series. Recently during Ind tour of Aus, he again impressed with 76(66) in ODIs and 51(40) in T20.
2. A. FINCH (AUS): 🇦🇺 Finchy had been more consistant in his game this year. As a new captain for short format, he played some magical innings through out this year. 110 (114) vs India at start of year, followed by 42(27) and 55 (37) in T20s, 69(87) ODIs against RSA. He also did well on tour to england with 46(32), 40(33), 73(105). By the end of year, he was wonderful with bat against India scoring 114 (124), 60 (69) and 75 (82) in consecutive ODIs.
3. K. WILLIAMSON (NZ): 🇳🇿 I make Kane the captain of this squad, given his game across all three formats of the game and for leading kiwis to 'numero uno' spot in tests. He started the year well with 57 (26) and 95 (48) in T20s, followed it by 89 (153) in tests against IND. Although NZ didnt play much cricket during peak covid season, however by the end of year, he produced some magical performances e.g, 251 (412) during WI tour to NZ, followed by 57 (42) in T20, and sensible 129 (297) against PAK.
4. V. KOHLI (IND): 🇮🇳This was for the first time when 'already a legend' Virat didn't score any century in a calendar year much to the disappointment of his fans. But this doesn't mean his performace was on lower ebb. Kohli scored some heart warming fifties all through the year. e.g, 78 (56), 89(91) against AUS in ODIs and 45 (32) against KIWIs at the start of year. Then by the end of year, on tour to AUS in ODIs, he scored Run a ball 87 and 78 ball 63,, He followed it by 40 (20) and 85 (61) in T20s and patient 180 ball 74 in Test albiet in loosing cause before leaving on paternal leave.
5. S. SMITH (AUS): 🇦🇺Smith with his unorthodox batting style and keen sight, was magical in shorter format of game. He scored three centuries in ODIs and all against India. Some of his best scores include Scored 131(132), 98(102), 105 (66), 104(64) in ODIs and 45(32) , 46(38) in T20. However he ended the year with a disappointment in test series against IND.
6. J BAIRSTOW (ENG):🇬🇧 England played fair bit of cricket in the summer, with teams like PAK, WI, AUS travelling there. English were magical with both bat and ball, With Ben Stokes, the highest run scorer, Jamie getting his 600 wickets, Broad with 500, the induction of likes of Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope in test, and Dawid Malans' fantastic fury in T20s, One player who remains an unsung hero is Jonny B.. Some of his performances include 44 of 24, 82 of 41, 55 of 44, 86 of 48 in T20s againt PAK, IRE, AUS and RSA respectively. He followed it by blistering 84 (107) and 112 (126) against AUS in ODIs.
7. G MAXWELL (AUS):🇦🇺 At number 7, you need an all rounder. Many all rounders were consistent with bat and ball, say H Pandiya who found new form batting at number 6, K Pollard ,WIs new captain, R Jadeja et al, But my choice is Maxwell, whom we saw in a new avatar this year. Some of his top performancee include 108 (90) in 3rd ODI during AUS tour of ENG. He ended the year on high with 45(18), 63 (29), 75(82), 54 (36) against IND in ODIs and T20s.
8. A JOSEPH (WI):🇬🇾 West Indies were once the undisputed champions of world cricket, however the situation aint the same now, that is why finding Alzarri Josephs' name here might surprise a few, but he has done well for Windese with both bat and ball and across formats. His got few eyebrows raised with his game that included 4/32 and 4/32 against T20s against IRE at start of year, 3/42, 4/57 in ODI against S Lanka, He also did well during NZ tour scoring 125 ball 89 and taking 3 wickets.
9. T SOUTHEE (NZ):🇳🇿 Where as this team will be led by a KIWI, Another KIWI will lead the bowling pack. Southee crossed his 300 mark this year and i am sure there are much more to come. Southee did exceptionally well in Tests againt India taking 4/49, 5/61 in first test, followed by humble 3/36 in second one. Against WI, he took 4/35 and 5/32 in two tests. Southee played 2nd T20 against PAK, and ripped the opposition by taking 4 wickets. He also took 2 wickets each in Ist test against PAK.
10. K JAMIESON (NZ):🇳🇿 6 foot 6 inches tall Kyle Jamieson has been sensational so far especially in the tests. He took 25 wickets in the 5 tests he played so far, along with a handy half century. He took 4/39 against IND, 5/34 against WI, followed it by 5/69 against PAK as i write the blog this day.
11. A ZAMPA (AUS): 🇦🇺 You ought to have a spinner in playing XI, To be honest i didnt find any quality spin performance out there this year, I mean the likes of Murali, Warne, Ajmal, Harbajan, Ashwin et al, Albeit, I found Adam Zampa little more consistent in his game than his contemporaries all through the year. He didnt took out those big fives and sixes but humble threes, twos, fours but in almost every game he played. Recalling 3/50 in ODI against IND, on AUS tour of ENG, he took 4/55, 3/36, 3/50 in three ODIs. He also fared well in IND tour of AUS taking 4/54, 2/62, 2/46.
B. BENCH STRENGTH:
With so much cricket played around the world and so many amazing players out there, it is difficult task to select a few and leave others out. Here is a list of four more players who along with playing xi form a perfect cricket team of year 2020.
1. B AZAM (PAK)🇵🇰
2. D WARNER (AUS)🇦🇺
3. J BUTTLER (ENG)🇬🇧
4. C WOAKES (ENG)🇬🇧
What about those who were on downhill side of their game in 2020, that could be a theme for another blog on mufawad.blogspot.com
