A scoop full of Billings and going Head over heels

Travis Head - Royal Challengers Bangalore, batting average 29.78, strike-rate 149.73

A highly-rated wicketkeeper-batsman from South Australia, Travis Head hammered a century to help Adelaide Strikers beat Sydney Sixers in the 2015-16 Big Bash League, which prompted Adam Gilchrist to change his Twitter profile picture to one of Head leaping up and punching the air. So why would one of the greatest limited-overs glovesmen in history do such a thing? Because Head struck every single one of the 51 runs Adelaide Strikers needed off a mere 18 balls to claim an astounding victory, and along the way secured Gilchrist's stamp of approval. Someone should ask Head which out of those he considers more special.

Sam Billings - Delhi Daredevils, batting average 20.49, strike-rate 121.54

Sam Billings played rugby at school and tennis at county level, is talented at squash, and plays racquets to hone his reflexes. His football skills were good enough to earn a trial for Tottenham. Billings, however, declined the offer because he was on an Under-14 South of England cricket tour of Barbados. The 24-year-old made his England debut in 2015, when the team courted a more adventurous outlook in limited-overs cricket. Billings proved that he fit in with 53 off 25 balls against Pakistan in Dubai, where he went on a scooping spree even against the pace of Wahab Riaz.

Peter Handscomb - Rising Pune Supergiants, batting average 28.37, strike-rate 114.07

When you win the approval of Ricky Ponting, you must be doing something right. The former Australia captain suggested Peter Handscomb, the Victoria wicketkeeper-batsman, should be fast-tracked into the Test arena after their dismal Ashes campaign in 2015. He usually opens the batting, has sound technique and is fond of using his feet against spin, a practice his father drilled into him when he was 12. Most of Handscomb's success has come in the longer formats, but he does have a T20 century to his credit.

Andrew Tye - Gujarat Lions, bowling average 22.22, economy rate 7.40

"Find of the tournament," was how former Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch described Andrew Tye on Twitter after he led Perth Scorchers to the BBL title in 2014-15. He doesn't quite have outright pace, but he makes up for that with a skill most teams prize - bowling yorkers, again and again and again. Tye was a late bloomer - he was 26 by the time he made his List A debut for Western Australia - but his rise was such that he was playing international cricket three years later, in 2016. But the spotlight proved too harsh. In Australia's home series against India, Tye was given the final over on debut with 16 runs to defend, and couldn't pull it off.

Adam Zampa - Rising Pune Supergiants, bowling average 25.15,economy rate 7.13

Another Australian legspinner who walks to the crease and rolls his arm over. Unlike the greatest of them all, Zampa's threat doesn't come from turning the ball miles, or from his gamesmanship, but in how he uses his wrong 'un and flipper. He claimed 12 wickets in the Big Bash League 2015-16, the most by a Melbourne Stars bowler. Stephen Fleming, the man who coached that team, heads Supergiants as well. Zampa, who led Australia's spin attack in the World T20 with five wickets at an average of 13.80, has impressed the required people to get an IPL contract. Can he take on the masses now?