Opinion: Best T20I captain in 2021

In sports, to lose patience is to lose the battle. Add to it the shortest format of cricket and it further garners the audacity of the competition. It is a no-brainer that in T20Is one cannot wait for the storm to pass. And in this case, the captain has a bigger responsibility of making quick decisions and leading the bunch.

So as yet another year has wrapped up, the question as to who was the greatest T20I skipper of 2021 would strike one’s mind. Well, Babar Azam emerges victorious in this case hands down. Over the course of time, Pakistan has presented itself as one of the strongest contenders in the T20 format. And in this scenario, their captain has run the ship in his own distinct style.

Under Babar Azam, the Men in Green won 20 T20I matches from the 29 they played this year so far. Their series win against South Africa both at home and away unleashed waves of the team’s character. They won 2-1 against Zimbabwe and took an early lead in the rain-affected series against West Indies. Against Bangladesh, they displayed their class act to whitewash the hosts. And recently dominated the proceedings against West Indies as well taking a lead of 2-0 first and then clean sweeping the opponents. The team just lost one T20I series against England this year.

Well, their confidence and dominance were seen in the T20 World cup 2021 as well. Firstly, the side turned the tables by ending India’s 12 matches winning streak in World Cups by registering victory in the opening fixture of the mega event against the Virat Kohli-led side. The journey began with a beautiful in-swinger from Shaheen Shah Afridi to Rohit Sharma and found its destination with an unbeaten opening partnership between Pakistan’s captain and Mohammad Rizwan.

By doing so, Babar Azam became the first Pakistan skipper to secure a win over India in the World Cups. Pakistan then continued their good run further in the multination tournament by winning five matches in a row and blowing the trumpet of their repertoire.

The table below shows Pakistan’s dominance in the shortest format this year: 

The Lion’s share with the bat

There have often been discussions on whether the captaincy responsibility hampers the progress of the players. People have always had mixed opinions on this, but all have agreed that captaincy isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Talking about Babar, responsibility seems to have brought the best of the batter to the fore.

He has contributed to the team with the willow and has lived the saying ‘leading by example.’ When it comes to most runs as captain in this calendar year in the shortest format so far, the Pakistan skipper tops the list. He has chipped in 939 runs from 29 matches at an average of 37.56.

With his aesthetically pleasing and rock-solid batting style, he smashed crucial runs and exuded his hunger for runs. In the second T20I against Bangladesh, he surpassed Mohammad Hafeez and became Pakistan’s highest run-getter in T20 internationals.

The table above shows the most runs by a captain in the calendar year so far. 

Babar Azam thus took the mantle and stood out for the team as both the skipper and a batter. An even temperament grouped with perhaps one of the best cover-drive in the game today is the elements that have probably helped him ace at both the roles.