Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2016: T20I team of the year

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were stars for India with the bat in 2016

2016 was a breakthrough year for the shortest format of the game. While that statement might sound strange, given the fact that T20s entered the mainstream a decade ago and are now a part of most bilateral series', the fact remains that the format is still in its nascent stage of development. 

2016 was such a breakthrough year largely due to the fact that India were hosting the World T20 this time around. Being one of the richest boards in the world, it wielded its power to ensure the first half of the year was filled with plenty of T20 action, almost enough to satiate the audiences thirst for the high octane action for the rest of the year. 

Also read: Who were 2016’s best T20I team?

The format still heavily favours the batsmen as high scores are what the audience craves and it provides the perfect opportunity for the big-hitters around the world to strut their stuff.

For Sportskeeda’s Cricket Awards 2016, we sat and deliberated on a number of permutations and combinations to work on a team that was cohesive and well-rounded before finally settling on a final 11. 

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The team of the year for 2016 is as below -

#1 Rohit Sharma – India

Rohit Sharma has been unbelievable for India at the top of the order

It was an absolutely fabulous year for the hard-hitting right-handed batsman who goes from strength to strength in the limited-overs formats. He is absolutely destructive opening the innings and can clear any boundary in the world.

He ends the year as the second highest run-getter with a mighty 497 runs from the 18 matches he played. His highest score came against Bangladesh, the hosts of the Asia Cup, in the very first game of the tournament.

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	50s, 100s
18	497	29.23	131.48	4, 0