England's Jos Buttler leads NewsBytes men's T20I XI of 2022

T20I cricket took center stage in 2022, with several stars from around the world adorning the game. From Suryakumar Yadav's carnage to Babar-Rizwan partnerships, the shortest format witnessed some ground-breaking events. Jos Buttler led England to their second ICC T20 World Cup title. He has been picked to lead the NewsBytes T20I XI of 2022. Here are the players who feature on this list.

Buttler and Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan are the two openers in the side. The former, who leads NewsBytes' XI, smashed 462 runs from 15 T20Is at an average of 35.53. Buttler struck at a staggering 160.41 throughout the year. His opening partner Rizwan gave Pakistan numerous memorable starts in the format. He finished as the second-highest T20I run-scorer, having slammed 996 runs at 45.27.

India's Virat Kohli follows Rizwan in the batting order. The former regained his mojo in white-ball cricket. Kohli now has the most runs in T20 World Cup history (1,141 in 27 games). He displaced Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (1,016) at the top. Kohli also became the first man to reach 4,000 T20I runs. Overall, he smashed 781 T20I runs at 55.78 in 2022.

Suryakumar Yadav and his stroke-making grabbed eyeballs in 2022. He remained the only batter with over 1,000 T20I runs this year. He finished with 1,164 runs, having struck at a staggering 187.43. SKY became the second Indian after Rohit (2018) to slam two T20I tons in a calendar year. The right-handed batter, with his uncanny bravado, follows Kohli in the XI.

New Zealand's Glenn Phillips remains the only batter to have slammed over 600 T20I runs this year. He finished the year with 716 runs from 21 matches at an average of 44.75. The tally includes a strike rate of 156.33. Phillips smacked a 64-ball 104 against Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup. He registered the second-highest score by a New Zealander in T20 WCs.

Hardik Pandya was arguably the most prolific T20I all-rounder in 2022. He scored the fourth-most runs for India (607) and took 20 wickets. England's Sam Curran too made waves, having topped the wickets column for England. He was also the Player of the Tournament at the T20 WC. Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza, a potent off-spinner, also makes the list (most runs for Zimbabwe, 735).

Pakistan's Haris Rauf grabbed eyeballs with his searing pace in 2022. He claimed the most T20I wickets for Pakistan this year (31 at 20.74). Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar topped the column for India (37 at 19.56). As many as 21 of these wickets came in the Powerplay. As has been the case, Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga was the standout leg-spinner (34 wickets at 15.67).

NewsBytes men's T20I XI of 2022: Jos Buttler (captain and wicket-keeper), Mohammad Rizwan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Sikandar Raza, Hardik Pandya, Sam Curran, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wanindu Hasaranga, Haris Rauf.