Glenn Maxwell reveals his top five T20 players

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has picked his top five T20 players of all time. Maxwell selected Rashid Khan, Andre Russell, Ben Stokes, Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Tait as his top 5 players in T20s.

Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan has troubled the best batters with his outstanding skills. From IPL to BBL, PSL, CPL - there is no league where Rashid Khan doesn’t feature. The 23-year-old has a stellar record in T20Is and has played 281 T20s, accounting for 388 wickets an average of 17.54 and a strike rate of 16.60.

Taking about Andre Russell, the destructive West Indian needs no introduction. Russell is a match-winner on his day. He is absolutely brutal with the bat and can decimate the best bowlers. With the ball in hand, he is more than handy. Add to that his electric fielding. Russell so far has played 382 T20 games, scoring 6405 runs at a strike rate of 169.22. He also has 340 wickets to his name.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has emerged as one of the best players in this format. His stats doesn’t justify the skills he poses but the numbers are certain to get better given the remarkable improvement he has shown in the last few years. Stokes has played 148 T20s, scoring 2865 runs at an average of 24.91 at a strike rate of 135.07, and picking up 86 wickets as well.

Adam Gilchrist was an integral part of the Australian team that dominated world cricket in the late 90s and early 2000s. He was a game changer and wreaked havoc in the best bowling lineups. His career strike rate was way above than rest of the batters of that era. T20 came into existence during the fag end of his career yet Gilchrist managed to thump his authority on the format. The southpaw played 102 T20 games and scored 2622 runs at a strike rate of 140.29 with three centuries.

The final player on the list was Shaun Tait. The pacer was one of the fastest to have played the game and clocked speeds of over 150 on a regular basis. “Having played against him, I know how quick he was. Even at the back end of his career, he was bowling absolute rockets. I think he’d certainly strike fear into any batter at the other end,” ICC quoted Maxwell.

His career was cut short due to injuries but he managed to make a mark in the limited games he played. In the 171 T20s Tait played, he accounted for 218 wickets at an average of 22.41