Ex-Indian opener keeps Virat Kohli at number three in his list of top five T20I batters in 2022; no place for Babar Azam and Rohit Sharma

Whenever the last year of 2022 will be discussed with reference to cricket, it would always be incomplete without touching the sensational comeback of former Indian skipper and veteran batter Virat Kohli. Notably, the 34-year-old was struggling with a poor run of form with the bat in the international since 2019. He couldn’t touch a three-digit mark in this time span of three years.

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The 2011 World Cup winner batter smashed his 71^st international century during the Asia Cup 2022 in a super-4 match against Afghanistan. Then came the day of 23^rd October when India and Pakistan locked horns with each other in the super-12 opener, the match witnessed the historic unbeaten knock of 82 runs from Virat Kohli that rescued India from a miserable condition to the commanding one.

Meanwhile, the former Indian opener and currently a commentator, Aakash Chopra has picked his top five batters from the last year. However, Chopra didn’t include Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and the latter’s Indian counterpart Rohit Sharma as well in his list.

Suryakumar Yadav(India), Mohammad Rizwan(Pakistan), Virat Kohli(India), Sikander Raza(Zimbabwe), and Devon Conway(New Zealand) were the top five batters rated by Chopra in a video on his YouTube channel.

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Nobody would have imagined that Virat Kohli would find a place on this list - Aakash Chopra

"Nobody would have imagined that Virat Kohli would find a place on this list. He struggled for form for years altogether, and his performances were quite underwhelming in the IPL too. Everything was going wrong for him," said Chopra in his video.

"However, by the end of 2022, he has turned things around in remarkable fashion. In T20Is this year, Kohli has scored 781 runs in 20 matches at an average of 55.78 with a strike rate of 138.23. He was outstanding during the T20 World Cup. The pitches were quite challenging against Pakistan and England during the World Cup, but he still managed to score. Going by the stats, Babar Azam should be the No.5 but I am not including him in my list. He has scored 735 runs in 26 matches and his average is only 32 and his strike rate is merely 123. Sorry! but I can't take him in my team. I am including Devon Conway's name instead at his place. Conway's numbers in T20Is in 2022 are unbelievable, had he played more matches in the format this year, he would have overtaken SKY(Suryakumar Yadav) to claim the top position," he added later.