Today T20 cricket commands insane popularity among cricket fans. Franchise cricket, as well as ICC tournaments in the T20 format, bring in huge crowds, sponsorships, and eyeballs. The IPL, as well as the ICC T20 world cup, are both hugely successful and popular tournaments. Countries also play bilateral series with each other. There are franchise tournaments that have also mushroomed across the world where mercantile cricketers ply their trade.
The 2021 ICC T20 world cup just finished with Australia winning their first T20 world cup trophy. Due to the Covid-19 induced changes in modalities, fans will witness another T20 world cup in less than 11 months. It will be held in Australia. The teams that underperformed this year, namely Windies and India have already gone back to the strategy table to prepare for next year’s world cup. Therefore, we are bound to see plenty of bilateral T20Is between countries in the next few months.
All cricket-playing nations will be striving to make the most of the matches this year and put up new records in order to prepare well for the next year’s world cup. In world cup years, we see increased T20Is and 2022 should be no different. We look back at the past to see which countries have maximum T20I wins in a calendar year.
1. Pakistan
As mentioned earlier, 2021 was a hectic year for T20I cricket as it was the run-up to the world cup. Pakistan played plenty of bilateral series and considering their splendid performance in the world cup, they have managed to secure 17 wins in the year. They are yet to play 3 T20Is when the Windies tour Pakistan in December. 2021 could have been a historic year for Pakistan if few of the touring teams had not called off their tours. They won all group stage games in the world cup and clean-swept Bangladesh 3-0. They trumped South Africa 3-1 in the home series and 2-1 when they toured South Africa. The scoreline read 2-1 when they toured Zimbabwe and England as well.
In 2021, it was not the first time that Pakistan achieved this feat. In 2018 as well the team had clocked 17 T20Is wins and therefore take the first two positions in this list. They trumped the Kiwis 2-1, Sri Lanka, and Windies 3-0. They finished the year by playing Australia in the UAE and blanking them 3-0.
2. Uganda
An unlikely name to feature on this list is Uganda who won 16 games in 2021. They played the T20I tri-series involving Kenya and Nigeria. They won the tri-series by winning 4 off their 6 games. They are also part of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier which is being held in Rwanda and the Africa Region Qualifier which includes Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
3. India
In 2016, India had a dream run till the semi-final of the ICC T20 world cup before they were knocked out by the Windies. They also played to historic T20Is in the USA. Overall they won 15 T20Is in the year. They won 1-0 against the Windies in the USA and won against England when the English toured India in 2016. They won the tightly contested series against England 2-1.
4. South Africa
2021 has been a busy year for plenty of countries. South Africa have too made an entry in this list by clocking 15 wins in the year. They blanked Ireland and Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20Is series. They won 3-2 against the Windies in a hotly fought 5 match series in the Caribbean. This is apart from their impressive performance in the 2021 T20 world cup .
