Farhaan Behardien

An underrated allrounder at international level, Farhaan Behardien is a decorated domestic cricketer who made his name as a flashy middle-order batsman and handy medium pace-bowler. He scores runs with his wrist and bottom hand, takes pace off the ball when he bowls, and prowls the field from the point or cover region.

Behardien got himself noticed in the 2011-12 season when he averaged 45.66 in the domestic limited-overs competition and 66.60 in the 20-over version. He was named the South African T20 player of the year at the 2012 awards, a label that helped push him through the door and into the national side.

He made his T20 debut in March 2012 and was included in the squad to play the World T20 in Sri Lanka that year. An ODI call-up came in January 2013 and he made more of an impact in the 50-over format at first. He scored his first half-century in his fourth match and also proved himself as a viable option to share the fifth-bowler duties. He was part of the squad that travelled to the 2013 Champions Trophy but did not play a game and it was only later, on tours to Sri Lanka and Australia, that he established himself as a regular.

Consistency was hard to come by in a top-heavy line up that often left Behardien limited opportunity, but he took the chances he could. He had to switch between providing middle-order stability and taking on the finishing role and often found himself fighting to keep his place, especially in T20 cricket. He was part of the 2016 World T20 squad and only played once as South Africa were eliminated before the knockouts. That year, he also got his first IPL deal, with Kings XI Punjab.

In January 2017, Behardien was named South Africa's T20 captain for a three-match series against Sri Lanka. The accolade came on the back of strong performances for the Titans in the domestic T20 tournament, where he finished as the third highest-run scorer.
Firdose Moonda