Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
ODI Team of the Year 2020: Who makes the XI? | Which players feature in the ODI Team of the Year for 2020?
Another engrossing year of cricket coming to its end. Some highly competitive cricket matches were played across three formats this year. Although the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus resulted in the postponement of many Bilateral series and also the World T20 in Australia. With a World Cup coming in next year in India and also the cycle of the ongoing World Test Championship the focus of the teams was more on these two formats. ODI cricket took a back seat in a COVID-affected year with the next mega 50 overs tournament to be played in 2023.
Even after all this, we witnessed some of the most enjoyable games, series in the 50 overs format. The ICC super league made the qualification of the World cup 2023 even more interesting to give value to the format before the major even. Based on their performances here’s the ODI team for the year 2020.
1. Aaron Finch ©
The Australian skipper led the batting charts being the top run-scorer of the year 2020. He had another fantastic year with the bat and also while leading the team. His run-scoring was hallmark by his consistency. The opener started his year with a century at Wankhede against India and ended the year on a high against the very opposite in the 3 matches ODI series. Finch amassed 673 runs in 13 innings at 56.08.
2. Jonny Bairstow
The English wicket-keeper batsman has been one of the most important players for England in ODI cricket alongside Root, Buttler, and Morgan. The Yorkshire batsman scored 346 runs in 8 innings at 43.25, the thing which stand-out with Bairstow is the rate with which he has scored all those runs. His strike rate is recorded to be 100.87, which suggests he guarantees you a blistering start at the top.
3. Steven Smith
Australia’s number 3 finds a place in the ODI team of the year because of the enormous impact on the opposition while batting one down for Australia. Smith’s tally of 3 hundreds is the most by any batsman this year. His unorthodox technique made the good balls get smothered, the bad ones cuffed away with clinical poise. In 9 innings he scored 568 runs at 63.11 which includes Twin 62-ball hundreds in Australia’s year-end series against India.
4. Eoin Morgan
Morgan has been in tremendous form for England for as long as the mind can recall. Morgan has scored a plethora of runs en route to becoming England’s all-time leading run-scorer and most capped player in ODIs. Not the best of the year by his standards but still makes the final cut with 250 runs at an average of just over 35.
5. KL Rahul
KL Rahul is the only Indian batsman to find a spot in the team that itself suggests how good he was in the 50 over the format for India. Also, he’s the highest run-getter for India in ODIs this year, 12 runs ahead of Virat Kohli. He’ll also keep the wickets as Bairstow and Billings are outstanding boundary riders. The keeper-batsman aggregated 443 at 55.37 with a healthy strike rate of 106.23 while batting mostly in the middle order.
6. Sam Billings
Billings has been in and out of England’s white Ball team but his performances with the bat this year made him the top contender spot as first the choice reserve such is England’s batting strength. He started with a couple of unbeaten sealers in Ireland and continued the same form against Australia in the home series. In 6 innings he scored 315 at 78.75, also recording his maiden ODI hundred.
7. Glenn Maxwell
When it comes to impactful knocks then you can’t keep Maxwell out of any list. His strike rate was 145.26 to score 353 runs at 70.60. He can be used as a floater, can bat according to the situations, can up the ante whenever he wants. With the ball, the Big show can chip in with a few overs with one or two odd wickets.
8. Ravindra Jadeja
The Indian all-rounder hasn’t had the best of the year with the ball claiming only 7 wickets in 9 outings, but he proved his mettle with the bat coming as a finisher for team India. He’s a live wire in the field and one of the very few players who can make a difference by his fielding alone.
9. Alzarri Joseph
The Windies quick confirmed his ascension to West Indies attack leader in 2020 being the second-highest wicket-taker in this format. His tally of 18 wickets with the best strike rate and average amongst all the pacers who played more than 5 games.
10. Adam Zampa
The will-o’-the-wisp leggie was the standout spinner in the ODIs this year.
He performed well in home conditions and overseas and was Australia’s key to pick wickets in the middle overs. Zampa is seen as the best-attacking spin bowler in the 50-over game. He grabbed 27 wickets at a ridiculous strike rate of 28.4 in 13 games to lead the wickets column in 2020.
11. Josh Hazlewood
With the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in the team, the performances of Hazelwood gets unnoticed many times. But this year Hazlewood excelled with his line and lengths, giving the batsman nothing, and inevitably breaking through at crucial phases of the game. The tall pacemen end the year as Australia’s leading fast bowler with 16 wickets in 10 games at a mere strike rate of 36.9, including dismissing the great Virat Kohli three times in the three-match ODI series late in 2020.
Notable absentees:
David Warner
In the 12 innings, Warner accumulated 465 runs at 42.27. The left-hander would’ve easily made it to the XI, but Bairstow’s numbers this year just pipped out the Aussie opener.
Lungi Ngidi
The Proteas bowler has the knack of picking wickets, even if he goes for plenty he guarantees you wickets. However, the sample size was too small to consider him in the eleven. He bagged 12 scalps in 4 games at a thundering strike rate of 17.0.
Marnus Labuschagne
The rise of Marnus in international cricket was marked by his performances in the red-ball format. South Africa-born right-hander was 3rd on the most run-getters list with 473 runs in 12 innings at 39.41 which also includes his maiden hundred at his birthplace.
Written by Vaibhav Tripathi. Follow Vaibhav on Twitter today.
