Cricket's Twenty20 superstars: 20 & 19

20. Martin Guptill

The stats | M: 199 | NO: 19 | Runs: 5798 | HS: 120no | Ave: 33.13 | SR: 128.04 | 100s: 3 | 50s: 37

The story: A tall, powerful and strong jawed-man, Martin Guptill would look just as at home jumping in a line-out for the All Blacks as he does opening the batting for the Black Caps. With a wide stance and smooth stroke, Guptill has crashed the most T20 international runs – 2271 in 73 innings with two centuries – since the game’s shortest format began in 2005. He batted at No.3 in his first T20 for Auckland and made a run-a-ball 29 in an easy win, but he would make his name as a destructive opener and represent eight franchises around the world. Behind Kiwi batting colossus Brendon McCullum, Guptill was the second New Zealander to reach three figures at international level in a match-winning performance (see below).

The signature move: Few batsmen in world cricket hit straight as cleanly and effortlessly as Guptill. Using those long limbs as powerful levers, Guptill could be confused for teeing off on the first hole with a driver in his hands rather than lofting a barnstorming fast bowler straight down the ground for six.

The performance: In his first match in South Africa, Guptill lit up East London with an electric century and a last-ball four to win the match. Chasing 169 to win from 19 overs, New Zealand needed 11 from the final over. That equation became four off one ball when Guptill, on 97 from 68 balls, faced up to Proteas paceman Rory Kleinveldt. With a shimmy to leg and a full-blooded swing, Guptill got just enough on a low full toss to lift it over the in-field and to the cover rope. He was rightly ecstatic and became just the second batsman ever to score a T20I century in a run chase.

19. Mike Hussey

The stats | M: 161 | NO: 27 | Runs: 4569 | HS: 116no | Ave: 37.45 | SR: 124.90 | 100s: 1 | 50s: 35

The story: The man known as 'Mr Cricket' signaled his liking for the shortest format in the first-ever T20 International, coming to the crease late in the Australian innings and promptly blasting three sixes in an unbeaten 31 from 18 balls. Over the next 11 years, on all surfaces and against all types of bowling, he barely let up, plundering almost 5,000 runs and establishing himself as one of T20 cricket's most versatile batsmen. Hussey was one of the few batsmen who was equally at home nudging ones and twos as he was biffing the ball over the rope, and he shone in the world's marquee domestic tournament – the Indian Premier League. In 2013, the lethal leftie won the Orange Cap for the most runs in the tournament, while in the KFC Big Bash, his move west to Sydney Thunder began a revolution for the men in lime green, culminating in a BBL|05 title triumph of which Hussey was the architect.

The signature move: The front foot – or advancing – pull shot, which generally sent the ball soaring beyond the ropes at wide midwicket.

The performance: Impossible to go past his staggering 60no from 24 balls in the 2010 World T20 semi-final. With Australia needing 47 from the final 17 balls, Hussey switched gears and put on a breathtaking display of T20 batting, getting his team home with a ball to spare and into their first (and still only) World T20 final. 

Cricket.com.au's T20 Superstars countdown - a tribute to the best players to have graced the sport's shortest format - will continue across the next fortnight.