The Best of 2017: New Zealand T20I XI

Over the last few years, the team New Zealand has been one of the most improved sides in the shortest format of the game. The year of 2017 proved to be a very lucky year for the black caps. During the year, they managed to escalate to the top of the ICC T20I Team rankings for quite a significant time period. Albeit they lost their top spot to Pakistan towards the fag end of the year, their domination in the shortest format reaped rewards in the calendar year of 2017.

They did not have a plethora of T20 action in the year, yet had some memorable moments in 2017. They started off the year by whitewashing Bangladesh 3-0 at home. Next, they hosted South Africa in a one off T20I at Auckland. Unfortunately, they lost the game by a big margin. New Zealand then toured India for a 3-match T20I series.

Much against all expectations, they ended up stunning the hosts in one of the matches to have the eventual scoreline of 2-1. Overall, they played 7 T20Is this year and registered wins in 4 of them. Also, they managed to unearth some big talents in the shortest format. As the year of 2017 comes to an end, we look at the star performers for them in T20Is this year.

Here is the Best New Zealand T20I XI of the year 2017:

1. Colin Munro

Hard hitting left handed opening batsman, Colin Munro, finished the year of 2017 as the leading run getter for New Zealand in this particular calendar year in the shortest format of the game. Munro featured in all the 7 T20Is that the Kiwis played this year.

He scored 224 runs at an average over 37 with the bat. He had a herculean run with the bat as he slammed two T20I tons this year. His best effort with the bat came in the Rajkot T20I against India where he slammed an unbeaten 109. His effort helped the Kiwis secure a clinical win in the game and stay alive in the series at that point of time.