The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the women’s T20I team of the year with India’s Harmanpreet Kaur appointed as captain of the 20-over side.
Harmanpreet has been rewarded for spearheading her side to the semi-final of the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 in the Caribbean in November. In that tournament, Harmanpreet scored 183 runs at a strike-rate of 160.5, while in the 25 matches in the calendar year, she accumulated 663 runs at a strike-rate of 126.2. She is currently ranked third in the ICC Women’s Player Rankings for T20I Batters.
The T20I side boasts players from five countries, including four players from the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 champions Australia (Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt), three players from losing finalists India (Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Yadav), two players from New Zealand (Suzie Bates and Leigh Kasperek) and one player each from Bangladesh (Rumana Ahmed) and England (Natalie Sciver).
Rumana is the first Bangladesh player to have been selected in the ICC squad. The right-arm leg-spinner has been the second most successful T20I bowler in the 2018 calendar year with 30 wickets in 24 matches, including four wickets in four matches in the ICC Women’s World T20 2018.
The voting academy consisted of Melinda Farrell, Melanie Jones, Lisa Sthalekar (all Australia), Charlotte Edwards, Kalika Mehta (both England), Anjum Chopra, Snehal Pradhan (both India), Lesley Murdoch (New Zealand), Urooj Mumtaz (Pakistan), Natalie Germanos (South Africa), Alan Wilkins (Wales) Ian Bishop (West Indies).
ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year (in batting order):
- Smriti Mandhana (India)
- Alyssa Healy (Australia – wicketkeeper)
- Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
- Harmanpreet Kaur (India – captain)
- Natalie Sciver (England)
- Ellyse Perry (Australia)
- Ashleigh Gardner (Australia)
- Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand)
- Megan Schutt (Australia)
- Rumana Ahmed (Bangladesh)
- Poonam Yadav (India)
