Glenn Maxwell was asked to choose five T20 players to be included in a team for the shortest format of the game. He picked up five illustrious appellations that would touch every single base that is needed in the shortest format of the game.
Maxy will be a part of the Australian squad that will be travelling to the UAE to play in the T20 World Cup. He is currently deployed on the shores of the United Arab Emirates as he has been playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, who has qualified for the play-offs of the tournament.
Maxwell picked the very best for his T20 side
The players he picked for his team are reputed monikers of the shortest format and can sway the game on any given day if they get going.
Maxwell chose the likes of Rashid Khan, Andre Russell, Ben Stokes, Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Tait. Rashid Khan has been one of the best spinners in the world in the shortest format of the game, given his enigmatic leg-spin and some nerve-wracking wicket-taking capability.
He skids the ball with some late movement on it and a consistent tight line on the stumps imposes manacles on the batters before they can break free.
At the tender age of 23, Rashid Khan has been dominating all formats of the sport with 281 appearances from which he has managed to claim 388 wickets at an astonishing strike rate of 16.60. In the international circuit, he has snapped up 95 wickets from 51 matches at a startling strike rate of 12.10.
The next man on his list was the hard-hitting West Indian all-rounder, Andre Russell. Though fitness has been a major issue for the big man of late, yet the kind of skill set that he possesses is way too overwhelming to be ignored. In his T20 career, he has so far been a part of 382 games out of which he has managed to pile up 6405 runs at an inhuman strike rate of 169 plus.
Plying his trade for West Indies, he has managed to pile up 716 runs from 62 games that have also seen him snap 36 scalps to his name. If he gets going on any given day, even a required rate of 15 plus in an over feels like a cakewalk.
Maxwell chose Ben Stokes to be the third man on the list, and the English all-rounder has established his supremacy in all disciplines of the game.
He has so far been a part of 148 T20 matches where he has managed to whack 2865 runs at a decent average of 24.91 at a strike rate of 135 plus. His bowling flair has been equally brilliant, as the man has claimed 86 wickets at a strike rate of 31.03.
When in the colours of England, the hard-hitting all-rounder has been absolutely prolific as he has bashed 442 runs from 34 matches with 28 wickets next to his name. However, it is his explosiveness and the impact that he creates which makes him one of the most lethal cricketers in the world.
Gilly remains to be one of the most loved cricketers of all time
He picked his country mate, Adam Gilchrist, for the fourth spot in his team. Gilchrist was an absolute beast in any format of the game that he has played. However, T20 seemed like a more colourful forte as he proliferated in the shorter versions of the game more than red-ball cricket.
He didn’t play many T20I’s as the format was just taking flight during the twilight of his career. From the 13 matches he played for his country, he garnered 272 runs at a stunning strike rate of 141 plus.
In his entire T20 career, he was an absolute beast as he played 102 games, bashing 2622 runs at an incredible strike rate of 140.28 with three centuries. Maxwell also underlined the fact that Gilly was one of his favourite players to watch.
In a surprising move, he picked Shaun Tait in his side, which can even be labelled as audacious on his part. A wide-angled action from the fast bowler troubled a lot of batters in their prime, especially whenever he used to hit the 145 plus clicks regularly.
From the 171 T20 matches that he played, he racked up 218 wickets at an excellent average of 22.41. For Australia, he managed to scalp 28 wickets from 21 games at an average of 21.03. He sacrificed a long and illustrious career at the altar of finding more and more pace.
