5 players who could win the 2018 ICC T20I Player of the year award

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is giving away yearly awards in multiple Men and Women categories to recognize the best performers of the year. As far as T20Is are concerned, we have Aaron Finch who set the highest T20I score ever by scoring 172 runs off just 76 balls against Zimbabwe. The opener beat his own record of 156 which he set five years before.

While Rohit Sharma scored two centuries in T20Is in 2018, Babar Azam registered six fifties from his 12 innings. Windies' Keema Paul boasts the best T20I bowling figures of 2018 as he took 5/15 in four overs against Bangladesh in December.

In this article, we are going to shortlist five players who could win the 2018 ICC T20I Player of the Year award.

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#1 Rohit Sharma

India has played 19 T20Is in 2018 and Rohit Sharma played in all the T20I games in 2018. He captained India during Kohli's absence and did justice to the role. As batsman too, Rohit has had a fabulous run last year.

The right-handed batsman has scored 590 runs at an impressive average of 36.87. The Champion batsman has scored two centuries in 2018 - one against England at England and one against West Indies at home.

Against England, he scored his hundred when India was chasing 199 runs to win. Rohit scored a century off just 56 balls helping India to reach England's score in 18.3 overs making a mockery of the target. He scored another match-winning hundred against Windies when he scored 111 of just 61 balls at a strike-rate of 181.97.

Rohit's consistent run in 2018 has helped India to climb up to the second position in the ICC T20I ranking.

#2 Babar Azam

Azam is the No.1 ICC T20I batsman in the world

Bazar Azam is currently the best T20I batsman in the world. He is leading the ICC T20I batting ranking with 858 points. The Pakistan top-order batsman has played 12 T20I games in 2018 scoring 563 runs at an impressive average of 62.55. No T20 player in 2018 boasts a better average than the 24-year-old.

He has maintained a steady strike-rate of 126.51 despite playing most of the T20Is on difficult UAE wickets where batsmen struggled to score runs. Dubbed as Pakistan's Virat Kohli, Babar Azam has scored six fifties from 12 innings. Pakistan has won all the games where Azam has scored 50+ runs this year.

Pakistan played 19 T20Is in 2018 winning 17 games. They lost just two games, one against New Zealand and one against Australia. Azam was rested when Pakistan lost to Australia at Harare Sports Club.

The former captain of Pakistan U-19 has grown into a position as one of the best Pakistan batsmen in recent times at such a young age.

#3 Shikhar Dhawan

Dhawan is the leading run-scorer in T20Is in 2018

Dhawan is leading run-scorer in T20Is in 2018. He has played 18 T20I games in 2018 scoring 690 runs which include six half-centuries. He has maintained a healthy strike-rate and an average of 147.44 and 40.59 respectively.

The opening batsman started 2018 on an impressive note as he scored 72, 24, 47, 90, 55 in his first five games. However, he lost his form in the middle of the year where he had a string of single-digit scores during the England tour.

The right-handed batsman came back to form towards the end of the year as he scored 43, 92, 76 and 41 from his last four T20I innings in 2018.

India has lost just four games out of 19 T20Is they played in 2018 and Dhawan's contribution as an opener played a bigger part in India dominating the game last year.

#4 Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan is the No.1 T20I bowler

Rashid Khan is currently the No.1 T20 bowler in the world in ICC ranking. He has garnered 793 points which are 41 points more than the second-placed Shadab Khan. The right-arm leg-break bowler has been a revelation in T20s since his debut.

In 2018, the Afghanistan cricketer has taken 22 wickets from just eight T20I games. If we retrospect further, Rashid Khan bowled just 30 overs to get those 22 wickets at an impressive strike rate of 12.28. His bowling average in T20Is in 2018 is just 12.41.

He has two four-wicket hauls against his name, one against Bangladesh (4/12) and one against Ireland (4/17).

On the flip-side, Afghanistan hardly played against top teams in T20s last year. They played three against Bangladesh, two against Zimbabwe and Ireland and one against Windies. Rashid would love to play more challenging teams before the 2020 T20I world cup.

#5 Andrew Tye

Andrew Tye is the leading wicket-taker in T20Is in 2018

Andrew Tye is the leading wicket-taker in T20Is in 2018. He took 31 wickets from just 19 games at an impressive average of 18.94. He maintained a healthy strike-rate of 13.26 from the 68.3 overs he bowled in 2018.

The Australian fast bowler, who was struggling to make a mark in international cricket in 2016 and 2017, has become to go-to bowler for Australia in the death overs. He started 2018 on a bang as he claimed his career best of 4/23 against New Zealand at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on 3rd of February during the Trans-Tasman Tri-series.

He continued his good form throughout the year as he went wicketless in only three of the 19 games he played. He was consistently delivering for Australia in different bowling conditions in Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, and UAE.