India’s Harmanpreet Kaur was on Monday named the captain of International Cricket Council’s women’s T20I team of the year, which also included her teammates Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav.
The T20I side has players from five countries, including four players from the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 champions Australia (Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt), three players from semi-finalists India (Smriti, Harmanpreet and Poonam), two players from New Zealand (Suzie Bates and Leigh Kasperek) and one player each from Bangladesh (Rumana Ahmed) and England (Natalie Sciver).
“To be honest, it was really surprising for me,” said Kaur on being named captain of the T20I XI. “The last two years we did not get enough T20I matches to play and it was really tough for me to build that confidence in the team and show that self-belief that we can do well in T20Is. Credit goes to all team members, the way they worked hard and show that self-belief.
Kaur, who led India to the semi-finals of the ICC World T20, made 663 runs in the format in 2018 at an average of 41.43. Mandhana scored 622 runs at an average of 28.27 in 25 T20Is. Yadav, in 25 matches, picked up 35 wickets at an economy rate of 5.80.
Mandhana, who won the ICC Player of the Year award, and Yadav were also part of the women’s ODI team of the year.
T20I team of the year:
Smriti Mandhana (India), Alyssa Healy (Australia) (wicketkeeper), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Harmanpreet Kaur (India) (captain), Natalie Sciver (England), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Ashleigh Gardner (Australia), Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand), Megan Schutt (Australia), Rumana Ahmed (Bangladesh), Poonam Yadav (India)