Former India captain Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and shortest format number one hitter Suryakumar Yadav were voted into the 2022 ICC men’s T20I squad on Monday.
The ICC also announced the 2022 women’s team, which includes four Indians in the lineup: Smriti Mandana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh.
Kohli returned to his original form in 2022, sweeping the Asian Cup and in five matches he scored 276 runs to become his second highest run-getter.
He also ended the nearly three-year drought of the century with a great century against Afghanistan.
Kohli played one of the biggest T20I innings of 82 no-outs in India’s raid against Pakistan in the World Cup opener in Melbourne. Kohli finished the tournament with three more 50s and was the top scorer with 296 runs.
Surya was his second batsman and the only one in the calendar year he scored 1,000 runs. He became the top run-getter in the century (187.43 runs) while standing out with a staggering 187.43 runs.
He finished the year as the number one batsman in the T20I rankings, scoring 239 runs at a batting average of 189.68 at the World Championships.
Hardik has shown he is an all-rounder by leading the Gujarat Titans to his IPL title in his first appearance. He enjoyed his best year in Indian colors, scoring 607 runs and taking 20 wickets as well. The 11-man squad is headed by World Cup winner England’s Jos Butler, with second-placed Pakistani Mohammed Rizwan in the opener and Harris Rauch one of his two lead halves.
India’s batting superstar Smrithi Mandana finished the year as his fourth-highest run scorer with 594 runs, an average of 33.00 and his strike rate of 133.48.
She also spent 250 years playing a key role in India winning a historic silver medal at the Commonwealth Her Games.
Off-spin all-rounder Deepti had a glorious year by winning the Asian Cup in India and earning the Player of the Tournament. She finished the year with 29 wickets. This is her third highest number jointly. She also scored 370 runs for an average of 37 with a strike rate of 136.02.
Richa was named wicket-keeper batsman after scoring her astonishing year of 259 runs in 18 matches.
With her 22 T20I wickets averaging 23.95 and her 6.50 economy rate, Renuka has had a glorious year, making her one of the nominees for the ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year.