India's T20I Report Card 2018: Rating the players
The Indian team saw a lot of success in the shortest format of the game this year, thanks to the consistent performances from the Indian cricketers. They began the year with a bang when they clinched the three-match T20I series 2-1 against South Africa away from home.
They then traveled to the United Kingdom to beat Ireland in the two-match series and England in the three-match series. The Indian team also won the T20I tournament (Nidahas Trophy) featuring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Later, they defeated West Indies in the three-match T20I series 3-0 before leveling the T20I series against Australia. The Men in Blue were consistent throughout the year as they won 14 out of 20 matches in 2018.
During the course of the year, there were six players (Shardul Thakur, Vijay Shankar, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, and Krunal Pandya) who made their T20I debuts for India.
On that note, we will take a look at how the Indian players have performed in T20Is in 2018.
Note: Players who have played six or more games have been taken into consideration.
Rishabh Pant - 5/10
Even though he is a good hitter of the ball, Rishabh Pant could not deliver in the T20 Internationals. He did not play more games due to the presence of experienced players like MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik in the squad.
But, the left-hander failed to score when the opportunities came beggind. Barring his only fifty against West Indies, he struggled a lot in 2018. He ended the year with 114 runs from 7 innings at a forgettable average of 16.29 and a strike-rate of 118.75.
MS Dhoni - 5.5/10
The former Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a forgettable year. Dhoni, who has been in poor form in the limited-overs format, could only score a fifty in the shortest version of the game this year.
In total, he scored 123 runs in 5 innings at an average of 41 and a massive strike-rate of 155. He was later dropped from the T20I team for the series against Australia following his poor form.