2018 T20I round-up: India's 5 most valuable players of the year

2018 is another year in which India continued to dominate in the shortest format of the game. The Virat Kohli-led Indian team saw a lot of success in the T20 format. India's first T20I series in 2018 was against South Africa away from the home, however, the Indian team has managed to clinch the series 2-1.

Their final T20I in 2018 ended with a win over Australia at Sydney. In between, they had also beaten Ireland, England and the West Indies. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team also won the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series in March 2018. Virat Kohli and co., who were unbeaten against Ireland (2-0) and West Indies (3-0), registered the 2-1 series victory over England.

In total, the Indian team played 19 T20I games of which they have won 14 games while losing four, thanks to the consistent performances of the Indian cricketers. There were six players - Shardul Thakur, Vijay Shankar, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed and Krunal Pandya who made their T20I debuts for India in 2018.

Let us take a look at India's five most valuable T20I players of the year.

#5 Yuzvendra Chahal

The right-arm leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal is at the fifth spot in this list. He has been India's mainstay in the shortest format of the game. Chahal, who has the best bowling figure of 6/25 in T20Is, could destroy any batting line-up in the world.

The 28-year-old did not get a good start in 2018 as he picked up just one wicket in two games against South Africa. However, the wrist spinner regained his form when he ran through the oppositions during the Nidahas T20 trophy.

In 2018, he picked up 18 wickets in 13 games at an average of over 25 and an economy of about 8. He is just behind Kuldeep Yadav, who has 21 T20I wickets in 2018, in the list of most T20I wickets by an Indian bowler in 2018.

#2 KL Rahul

2018 was KL Rahul's worst year in the Test and ODI cricket. He has not lived up to expectation in both Tests and ODIs. Rahul has played only three ODIs and could only score a century in Tests this year. But, he has been fantastic in the T20 format.

He was overlooked by the team management in the presence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and did not play a single game against South Africa in early 2018. The 26-year-old did not fail to score when the opportunities knocked him as he scored a fifty and an unbeaten century against Ireland and England respectively.

With 324 runs in 11 innings, Rahul averaged 36 and scored his runs at an impressive strike-rate of about 140. With his consistent performances, he has cemented his place in the shortest format of the game as India's number four batsman.

#3 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan made 2018 his own as he scored runs across all three matches. He was in incredible form in the T20Is throughout the year. Dhawan has played 18 games and accumulated 690 runs at a splendid average of 40.59 and a massive strike-rate of 147.44. He also smashed six fifties with the best knock of 92.

Even though the left-handed batsman has scored 90 and 92 against Sri Lanka and West Indies respectively, his knock of 39-ball 72 against South Africa is one of the finest T20I knocks seen this year as he destroyed the might South African bowling line-up in their own backyard. Dhawan also has produced a couple of brilliant knocks against Australia.

He could have easily scored few more runs in this format but the Delhi-born cricketer decided to take rest from the second T20I game against Ireland. He ended the year as the leading run-getter in T20Is.

#2 Kuldeep Yadav

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is India's one of the most valuable players in the shortest version of the game. The 24-year-old, who became the first-ever Chinaman bowler to represent India, has been impressive in all matches he has played this season.

He was the main reason behind India's T20I series victory over England. He became the first Indian spinner to take a fifer in all formats of the game when he scalped five wickets in a T20I against England.

Kuldeep also has two four-wicket hauls to his name. In spite of playing lesser matches than the other bowlers, he ended the year as the leading wicket-taker for the Indian team.

In 2018, Kuldeep Yadav ran through the batting line-up along with his partner, Yuzvendra Chahal. He has played nine games and scalped 21 wickets at an impressive average of 9.81 and an economy of less than 6 and struck every 9.86 balls.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma has been fabulous with the bat in 2018 as he scored a lot of runs in the limited-overs format. Rohit Sharma ended the year as India's second highest run-scorer in T20Is with 590 runs in 18 innings at an average of 36.88 and a strike-rate of about 150.

The right-handed opener from Mumbai has smashed three fifties and two centuries which is most by any Indian player in this format this year. Even though he did not get a good start in 2018, he went on to break the huge number of records in this format.

He missed a couple of hundreds in T20Is when he scored 89 and 97 against Bangladesh and Ireland respectively. However, the 31-year-old went on to add two more hundreds to his tally (100* against England at Bristol and 111* against West Indies Lucknow).

He hit 31 sixes this year which is most by an Indian player and was giving nightmare for the opposition with some clean strikes.