No 1: Rashid Khan

bowlers win you tournaments” is an accepted cricketing truth. Nowhere is it challenged more, though, than in T20s, where a more accurate learning might be that batters win you games and tournaments, and the bowlers, well, don’t they make for a cuter spectacle than bowling machines?

Accordingly, our list of the top 25 greatest T20 men’s cricketers has only five specialist bowlers in it. And not that it makes for a definitive conclusion but scan the list of cricketers who have won the most T20 titles and see how many specialist bowlers you can spot in the top 25 (two).

So the fact that a bowler tops this list we’ve compiled should be the first indication of how extraordinary Rashid is. And this isn’t some revenge-of-the-underclass or archly contrarian pick. Rashid takes wickets and he takes them quickly. He is the leading wicket-taker of all time in the format now, with a strike rate under 17 balls per wicket, and he concedes fewer than seven runs an over doing so. Given how batter-dominant the format is, these are miracle numbers.

Also, he wins things: six title-winning campaigns now across the world, and in the best leagues; title wins in which he has played a full part or been heavily involved (but not necessarily played the final).

Our traditional understanding of legspin has tended to revolve around — perhaps even been restricted somewhat by — some outsized individual exponents. Abdul Qadir showed us a new world. Then Shane Warne and Anil Kumble created two vaster, and very different, worlds. All leggies are unique — or at least they are the least replicable of cricket’s species — and to that maxim, Rashid adheres.