ICC’s decision of granting T20I status to all T20 matches played by the Associate Nations proved to be a historic one. A lot criticized the decision, some were doubtful about the quality of the game. But interestingly 2019 saw quite a few players from these nations dominating some of the key Statistical highlights in limited over cricket.
Most successful team-
One of the key T20I tournaments of the year was the ICC Men’s World T20 Qualifier in the UAE. This provided a platform to these Associate Nations to prove their mettle and teams like Papua New Guinea and Namibia excelled in the same.
Team | M | W | L | T | NR | W/L |
Papua New Guinea | 17 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7.000 |
Namibia | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.000 |
Canada | 12 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4.000 |
Afghanistan | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3.500 |
Germany | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3.500 |
Qatar | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4.500 |
Nepal | 19 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6.000 |
New Zealand | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3.500 |
United Arab Emirates | 17 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5.000 |
Scotland | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4.500 |
Best T20I batsmen-
Ireland and Netherlands batsmen dominated the most runs table at the end of the year. Two Irish batter, Paul Stirling, Kevin O’Brien, and the attacking opener Max O’Dowd from Netherlands are only three batsmen to get more than 700 runs individually this year.
Players | Teams | R | Ave | SR |
Paul Stirling | Ireland | 748 | 41.55 | 140.6 |
Kevin O’Brien | Ireland | 729 | 31.69 | 155.43 |
Max O’Dowd | Netherlands | 702 | 29.25 | 120.82 |
Ben Cooper | Netherlands | 637 | 37.47 | 127.91 |
Andy Balbirnie | Ireland | 601 | 33.38 | 143.77 |
Tony Ura | Papua New Guinea | 572 | 47.66 | 147.04 |
Parash Khadka | Nepal | 541 | 33.81 | 145.82 |
George Munsey | Scotland | 526 | 37.57 | 166.45 |
Virat Kohli | India | 466 | 77.66 | 147.93 |
Callum MacLeod | Scotland | 440 | 36.66 | 128.27 |
David Warner ended the year with an astonishing T20I average of 287 to his name. Indian skipper Virat Kohli is another legendary name from top nations to get featured in the list.
Players | Teams | R | Ave | SR |
David Warner | Australia | 287 | 287 | 145.68 |
Sami Sohail | Malawi | 115 | 115 | 118.55 |
Virat Kohli | India | 466 | 77.66 | 147.93 |
Iftikhar Ahmed | Pakistan | 150 | 75 | 144.23 |
Sudesh Wickramasekara | Czech Republic | 214 | 71.33 | 205.76 |
Stuart Poynter | Ireland | 70 | 70 | 137.25 |
Nouman Sarwar | Qatar | 172 | 57.33 | 134.37 |
Rehman Abdul | Italy | 102 | 51 | 99.02 |
Mohammed Nurji | Malawi | 101 | 50.5 | 171.18 |
Muhammad Kashif | Kuwait | 242 | 48.4 | 112.55 |
Highest score
The highest T20I scorer of the year is Hazratullah Zazai from Afghanistan. Thanks to Gyanendra Malla and Paras Khadka that Nepal got featured twice in the top ten T20I scores of 2019.
Players | Scores | Teams | Against | Date |
Hazratullah Zazai | 162* | Afghanistan | Ireland | 23-Feb-19 |
George Munsey | 127* | Scotland | Netherlands | 16-Sep-19 |
Kevin O’Brien | 124 | Ireland | Hong Kong | 7-Oct-19 |
Glenn Maxwell | 113* | Australia | India | 27-Feb-19 |
Bilal Zalmai | 111* | Austria | Czech Republic | 1-Sep-19 |
Tony Ura | 107* | P.N.G. | Philippines | 23-Mar-19 |
Gyanendra Malla | 107 | Nepal | Bhutan | 5-Dec-19 |
Paras Khadka | 106* | Nepal | Singapore | 28-Sep-19 |
Sivakumar Periyalwar | 105* | Romania | Turkey | 29-Aug-19 |
S Wickramasekara | 104* | Czech Rep. | Turkey | 30-Aug-19 |
Leslie Dunbar | 104* | Serbia | Bulgaria | 14-Oct-19 |
Best T20I bowlers-
The wonder boy from Nepal, Sandeep Lamichhane ended the year as the most successful T20I with 28 wickets to his name at an average of 13.75. His colleague Karan NC also got the same number of scalps along with Brandon Glovar from Netherlands.
Players | Teams | W | Ave | Econ |
Sandeep Lamichhane | Nepal | 28 | 13.71 | 6.5 |
Brandon Glover | Netherlands | 28 | 16 | 6.89 |
Karan KC | Nepal | 28 | 17 | 7.23 |
Mark Adair | Ireland | 27 | 15.29 | 6.57 |
Paul van Meekeren | Netherlands | 27 | 18.33 | 7.26 |
Iqbal Hussain | Qatar | 26 | 16.38 | 8.16 |
Damien Ravu | Papua New Guinea | 24 | 9.2 | 5.24 |
Nalin Nipiko | Vanuatu | 24 | 12.95 | 7.9 |
Bilal Khan | Oman | 24 | 15.75 | 6.75 |
Dominic Blampied | Jersey | 24 | 16.45 | 6.4 |
Romania’s Ramesh Satheesan had the best bowling average with just eight wickets to his tally. Moreover, four Argentina bowlers entered the top ten list of best T20I bowling average in 2019.
Players | Teams | W | Ave | Econ |
Ramesh Satheesan | Romania | 8 | 5.5 | 3.38 |
Lega Siaka | Papua New Guinea | 9 | 6.22 | 4.66 |
Jonathan Hurley | Argentina | 5 | 6.6 | 3.3 |
Hernan Fennell | Argentina | 8 | 7.12 | 4.75 |
Bilal Zalmai | Austria | 9 | 7.44 | 4.78 |
Ruann van der Merwe | Argentina | 8 | 7.75 | 4.76 |
Chad Soper | Papua New Guinea | 10 | 8.3 | 4.18 |
Pedro Arrighi | Argentina | 10 | 8.4 | 4.42 |
Irfan Bhima | Malawi | 6 | 8.5 | 3.4 |
Karima Gore | USA | 8 | 8.75 | 4.37 |
Best spell
When Deepak Chahar bowled the record-breaking spell against Bangladesh, it was expected to become the spell of the year. Chahar is the only one in the table who picked up six wickets in an innings which also included a hat-trick.
Players | Spells | Teams | Against | Date |
Deepak Chahar | 6/7 | India | Bangladesh | 10-Nov-19 |
Pedro Arrighi | 5/4 | Argentina | Brazil | 4-Oct-19 |
Ankush Nanda | 5/6 | Luxembourg | Turkey | 29-Aug-19 |
Lasith Malinga | 5/6 | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | 6-Sep-19 |
Christi Viljoen | 5/9 | Namibia | Botswana | 22-May-19 |
Karim Janat | 5/11 | Afghanistan | West Indies | 16-Nov-19 |
Damien Ravu | 5/15 | Papua New Guinea | Vanuatu | 9-Jul-19 |
Aamir Kaleem | 5/15 | Oman | Nepal | 10-Oct-19 |
Charles Perchard | 5/17 | Jersey | Guernsey | 1-Jun-19 |
Norman Vanua | 5/17 | Papua New Guinea | Vanuatu | 13-Jul-19 |