Cricket's Twenty20 superstars: 14 & 13

14. Rohit Sharma

The stats | M: 284 | NO: 43 | Runs: 7316 | HS: 118 | Ave: 31.94 | SR: 132.68 | 100s: 4 | 50s: 51

The story: Rohit Sharma is one of those batsmen who make the difficult look easy. Using those elastic wrists, he unfurls cover drives and whips stray balls on his pads to the mid-wicket rope. That elegance is right at home in the longer forms, but Rohit can change gears in an instant, from relaxed to rampant in the space of one delivery. He’s used that acceleration to great effect in T20 cricket, where he has amassed the 10th-most runs and is a three-time IPL winner. But his greatness was showcased in the inaugural World T20 final, when as a 20-year-old, he hit a 16-ball 30 that proved to be the difference as India beat their arch-rivals Pakistan by just five runs. 

The signature move: Pitch it up to Rohit at your own risk. While he can clear the boundary straight down the ground as well as anybody, his inside-out shot over cover is one of the best in the world. Offered any width, Rohit has no fear in hitting over the inner circle to the often vacant area wide of long-on.

The performance: Less than two months after South Africa’s Richard Levi scored the fastest T20I hundred off just 35 balls, Rohit matched that with a stunning knock of his own. Against Sri Lanka in Indore, Rohit was 69 from 28 balls before he hit four off Nuwan Pradeep then four sixes in a row from the bowling of Thisara Perera to move to 97 from 34 balls. From the next delivery he whacked Angelo Mathews over cover to equal Levi’s world record. 

13. Kieron Pollard

The stats | M: 422 | NO: 105 | Runs: 8,181 | HS: 89no | Ave: 29.85 | SR: 150.80 | 50s: 41 | W: 251 | Ave: 23.74 | Econ: 8.14 | SR: 17.4 | BB: 4-15

The story: "It doesn't matter how many you need – if he's in at the end with three or four overs to go, you can still win." So said the great Ricky Ponting of Kieron Pollard, and if it's good enough for Ponting, it's good enough for us. Nobody has played more T20 cricket than Pollard, the larger-than-life West Indian who has entertained the masses with his unique blend of spectacular hitting, clever bowling and sublime catching for more than a decade. Few players are more adept at sending an attack to all parts in the pressure-filled closing stages of an innings. The right-hander played the decisive hand in Mumbai's maiden IPL triumph in 2013, led Barbados to CPL success the year after, and stunned Big Bash crowds with his remarkable boundary-line fielding. He's also a World T20 winner with the Windies, and at 31, he still has plenty of years to continue doing his thing.  

The signature move: If you're in the stands anywhere from mid-on to square leg, look out! That's been the direction that many of Pollard's 528 T20 sixes (only Chris Gayle has hit more) have sailed, with the West Indian either pushing forward or stepping back and using his long levers and power to pick up the ball and send it into orbit on a regular basis. 

The performance: Batting first in the 2013 IPL final, Mumbai had slipped to 4-52 against two-time winners Chennai Super Kings. Enter Pollard, who hit his first ball for four and dictated terms from there, finishing with two consecutive sixes to make an unbeaten 60 from just 32 balls and give his team a competitive total of 9-148, which they defended to claim their first title.

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.