Danish Kaneria Picks T20I XI, Selects Jos Buttler Ahead Of Rohit, Kohli And Rahul

Former Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria has picked his T20I XI after the culmination of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and a number of players in his XI are on the basis of their performances in the tournament and throughout the year 2021.

Starting at the top of the order, Kaneria picked the Pakistan duo of skipper Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan. The duo has been simply sensational with the bat for the entire year and have consistently notched up opening stands that have set up a number of wins for Pakistan. They were one of the main reasons why Pakistan were unbeaten in the group phase of the T20 World Cup this year.

“Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are my openers as performed really well throughout 2021. They were outstanding in the T20 World Cup (2021) and they played well in the recently concluded series against West Indies as well,” Danish Kaneria said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Danish Kaneria explains the reason for picking Jos Buttler over the Indian star trio

At No.3, Danish Kaneria didn’t pick any of the big guns from India like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul or Virat Kohli. One of the main reasons for this was that India failed to turn up with the bat in decisive games in the T20 World Cup and got knocked out of the group phase.

On the other hand, Jos Buttler had a sensational campaign for England with the bat. Although England got knocked out in the semis, Buttler scored a magnificent 269 runs in six innings at a staggering average of 89.66 and also had a century to his name against Sri Lanka. This was the reason why Danish Kaneria picked up Jos Buttler ahead of the Indian star batsmen.

“People will say at one down it should be Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul or Virat Kohli but no I have a different opinion, I will go with Jos Buttler as he really batted well and had also scored a hundred in World Cup. So, he deserves the spot,” Kaneria added.

Danish Kaneria’s T20 XI for 2021: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Zampa; Rishabh Pant (12th Man).