help with this sentence please

[IamAporcupine]

I am co-writing/editing a text and my colleague wrote:
The most common type of (say) fruit was a banana, followed by apples and kiwis.

I am not a native English speaker, so I might well be completely wrong, but there is something that does not sound right to me.
Maybe the 'a' banana?

Thanks

The problem is banana is single; apples and kiwis are plural so the sentence is inconsistent.

"The most common type of fruit was banana, followed by apple and kiwi."

It might read better as

The most common type of fruit is bananas, followed by apples and kiwis.

I'm not convinced that you need the word 'type' at all. "The most common fruit was banana, followed by apple and kiwi" or "The most common fruits were bananas, followed by apples and kiwis".

Agree.
Thanks!

Agree that it's the singular/plural mix which is confusing. If you are referring to a type of fruit, then the fruit listed should be singular.

Imagine it in a description of popular names: you would write "The most popular girls' name this year are [for example] Sophie, Emily and Olivia".

In the original context I think we do need type though

what about variety instead of type?

No, variety does not work. Could use class instead of type I suppose.

'The banana' sounds better to me.