Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2016: T20I Batsman of the Year
2016 has been such a long year. In Test matches, India are on the verge of thrashing England after having comprehensively beaten New Zealand at home. Earlier in the year, there were successful travels to Zimbabwe and the Caribbean islands. The fact that the year started in heartbreak for India, at the hands of the Windies is almost completely forgotten. A crestfallen Virat Kohli couldn’t get his team across the line after an astonishing World T20 that would set the tone for his year.
It might be forgotten now, but 2016 was most certainly the year of the T20s. The first half of the year saw plenty of T20 action. After the ODI series down under, Indian fans had to wait a mighty 6 months to see its team in ODI action again. The wait was even longer for Test cricket as India played its first Test on the 21st of July.
Gearing up for the annual cricket awards, we sat to reflect upon the year that had gone and were left with plenty of questions -
Who had the best year in term of numbers? Who had the biggest impact on the team? Who managed a massive century? Who provided leadership? Who was the most consistent? What matters most in T20s – runs scored or strike-rate?
We probed on a number of these matters to come up with a system on how to rank the best batsmen in T20Is, before deciding to give equal importance to fans votes and our experts’ choices. From our simple list of 5 names, fans voted on who they thought the best player for 2016.