Former Sri Lankan star Mahela Jayawardene has named the top five cricketers in T20 cricket to make his favourite XI. There are names of Pakistani stars Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi. The Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman has been named in the XI for his impeccable performance in the recent T20s.
In the last few years, Rashid Khan of Afghanistan has charmed the world with his spin magic. The leg-spinner is ruling internationally and in franchise cricket. The improvement in his batting in recent times is also noticeable. That is why Jayawardene thinks that Rashid can contribute to spin bowling and batting at the end.
Jayawardene gave the Afghan star a place in his T20 XI. The former Sri Lankan legend has placed Shaheen in the XI as the second cricketer after Rashid. The pacer bowled brilliantly in the last T20 World Cup, and Shaheen is very good at swing bowling. That is why Jayawardene has chosen Shaheen as the first bowling weapon of the XI.
In addition to economical bowling, Jaspreet Bumrah is quite adept at controlling opponent’s batters in death overs. The Indian pacer is also good at taking wickets when the team needs them. So Bumrah is the second bowler in Jayawardene’s XI, and England’s Jos Butler accompanies Rizwan as a batsman.
Rizwan has been considered a middle-order batsman in Jayawardene’s XI despite opening with Babar Azam for Pakistan. Meanwhile, Jayawardene named Chris Gayle one of the best cricketers of his career. At the age of 30, this hard hitter batsman of T20 was in great rhythm in the 2007 World Cup.