Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2016: T20I Batsman of the Year

1. Virat Kohli – India

Virat Kohli’s innings against Australia will go down as one of the best ever

Virat Kohli – Sportskeeda’s T20I batsman of the year for 2016

This wasn’t really a surprise, was it? The Indian had one of the most memorable years in cricket history with his exploits in the three formats, but he arguably performed the best in T20s over the course of the year. What distinguishes him from the rest of the pack is his ability to finish games. He doesn’t seem pressured by anything as his works all the numbers in his mind and while he is at the crease, anything is possible.

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	50s, 100s	Best
15	641	106.83	140.26	7, 0	90*

Simply astonishing numbers. He had the most numbers of runs, nearly 150 more than his nearest competitor at a a Brandmanesque average of 106.83 with a 50 in every second game he played. He overcame the disappointment of not registering a century in T20Is by scoring 4 in the IPL.

He saved his best for the Aussies, registering his best score of 90* against them at Adelaide in January. His best knock was undoubtedly the unbeaten 82 against the same opponents in the World T20 when he led the side to a victory in the very last over when everyone else around him was falling.

He was superb against the Windies in the semi-finals as well, scoring 89 runs off 47 balls at a strike-rate of nearly 200.

In an ideal world, he would have won the World T20 in India as well.

It wasn’t to be. But that takes nothing away from the incredible year that he had.