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Veteran cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has picked his all-time T20 World Cup XI amid the ongoing 2022 edition of the multi-team competition. Bhogle mentioned that his XI is completely based on performances across different editions of the global showpiece tournament
Bhogle has gone with two stars each from England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan, followed by one from India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
In a video shared by Cricbuzz, Bhogle started off with the openers in the form of West Indies legend Chris Gayle and England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler. Bhogle reckoned Gayle and Buttler would be a deadly combination.
Gayle has 965 runs in 31 innings in T20 World Cups at an average of 34.46 and a strike rate of 142.75. He has scored two centuries and seven half-centuries. Buttler, on the other hand, has scored 574 runs in 21 innings at the T20 World Cup at an average of 41 and strike rate of 144.58, including two fifties and one hundred.
At number three, Bhogle went with Virat Kohli as the only Indian in his all-time greatest T20 World Cup XI, while at number four, the cricket analyst picked former England batter Kevin Pietersen.
Kohli, who was the Player of the Tournament in 2014 and 2016, has scored 845 runs in 19 innings at an unreal average of 76.81 with ten half-centuries. Similarly, Pietersen has made 580 runs in 15 innings with an average of 44.61, including four half-centuries.
For number 5, Bhogle mentioned his first choice was Proteas superstar AB de Villiers, but he went with Australian legend Michael Hussey, who has an average of 54.61 in 16 innings with 437 runs. Bhogle picked another Aussie in the form of Shane Watson for number 6.
Hussey played 16 games in T20 World Cups and scored 437 runs at an average of 54.62, while Watson scored 537 runs in 24 matches and picked up 22 wickets.
The 61-year-old picked Pakistan great Shahid Afridi (546 runs and 39 wickets) at number 7, followed by pacer Umar Gul (35 wickets in 24 matches), Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga (38 wickets in 31 games), New Zealand speedster Trent Boult (17 wickets in 9 matches) and West Indies spinner Samuel Badree (24 wickets in 15 matches).
Harsha Bhogle’s all-time T20 World Cup XI:
Chris Gayle, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Trent Boult, Lasith Malinga, Samuel Badree
