Legendary Indian domestic opener, Wasim Jaffer, has picked the best XI in the T20I format with the criteria of choosing only one player from each country.
Jaffer named David Warner from Australia upfront, who opens the batting for his nation in all formats of the game.
From Pakistan, Jaffer took the obvious name of Babar Azam, who has ruled the T20I ranking charts for a notable tenure.
At the crucial number three position, Jaffer picked New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, followed by AB de Villiers from South Africa.
Interestingly, Jaffer elected Jasprit Bumrah from India ahead of Virat Kohli. As a result, the popularly acclaimed best batter in the world could not make the cut into the XI at the top order.
Similarly, ahead of the all-round dimension offered by Ben Stokes, Jaffer included Jos Buttler from England into the XI. Also, Buttler dons the wicket-keeping duties in Jaffer’s XI.
From West Indies, ahead of legends such as Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Chris Gayle, Jaffer named KKR ace Andre Russell in the XI.
Further, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal, Jaffer selected Shakib al Hasan, Rashid Khan and Sandeep Lamichhanne. The trio has been prolific when it comes to wicket-taking abilities in the shortest format of the game.
The pace attack of Jaffer’s XI is bolstered by Bumrah and Sri Lanka veteran Lasith Malinga.
This is my 'Best T20I XI' by picking
ONLY ONE player from a country:
1 @davidwarner31 (c) 🇦🇺
2 @babarazam258 🇵🇰
3 Kane 🇳🇿
4 @ABdeVilliers17 🇿🇦
5 @josbuttler (wk) 🇬🇧
6 @Russell12A 🇯🇲
7 @Sah75official 🇧🇩
8 @rashidkhan_19 🇦🇫
9 @IamSandeep25 🇳🇵
10 Malinga🇱🇰
11 @Jaspritbumrah93 🇮🇳— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) April 20, 2020
Last month, Jaffer announced his retirement from the game, drawing curtains to his glittering career in domestic cricket for Mumbai and Vidarbha.
In as many as 260 first-class matches, Jaffer accumulated 19,410 runs at an average of 50.67. He had clinched 57 hundred and 91 fifties, with the best score of 314.
