T20s are all about batting fireworks, and the entertainment lies in the number of boundary sixes being scored by the batters. There is little room for a bowler to err in their line & length as it is a format where even the best of deliveries can be punished. Hence the main task for a bowler is to keep the run flow as minimal as possible, and with just a maximum of 24 balls in their spell, a bowler need not concentrate on picking heaps of wickets in an innings.
But there are instances where a bowler has run through a batting line-up much like the other two longer formats. These spells put one’s team in the ascendency and make sure the opposition can’t find a way to make a comeback.
Here in this article, “Best Bowling Figures in T20Is,” we will list down such spells.
Best Bowling Figures in T20I Cricket
Player | Bowling Figures | Against | Venue | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Syazrul Idrus (MAS) | 7/8 | China | Kuala Lumpur | 26 Jul 2023 |
Harsha Bharadwaj (SGP) | 6/3 | Mongolia | Bangi | 5 Sep 2024 |
Peter Aho (NGR) | 6/5 | Sierra Leone | Lagos | 24 Oct 2021 |
Deepak Chahar (IND) | 6/7 | Bangladesh | Nagpur | 10 Nov 2019 |
Dinesh Nakrani (UGA) | 6/7 | Lesotho | Kigali | 19 Oct 2021 |
Ajantha Mendis (SL) | 6/8 | Zimbabwe | Hambantota | 18 Sep 2012 |
Moazzam Baig (MWI) | 6/9 | Rwanda | Benoni | 16 Dec 2023 |
Jon Jon Smit (NAM) | 6/10 | Uganda | Windhoek | 10 Apr 2022 |
Mustafizur Rahman (BAN) | 6/10 | U.S.A. | Prairie View | 25 May 2024 |
Abinash Bohara (NEP) | 6/11 | Maldives | Hangzhou | 1 Oct 2023 |
Key Stats
There have been 26 instances of a bowler taking 6 or more wickets in an innings, and Syazrul Idrus is the only player who picked a seven-wicket haul in T20Is. The Malaysian pacer scalped the record T20I figures (7/8) in a game against China at Kuala Lumpur back in 2023.
Only Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka has scalped a six-fer more than once in T20Is. Here is another amazing record the Sri Lanka spinner holds in the sport.
In close to the two-decade history of T20Is, there have been 185 instances of a bowler picking a 5-wicket haul, and it has been achieved by 163 different players. 20 players have done it more than once, with Moazzam Baig and Rizwan Butt of Bahrain managing to do it three times.
Ashton Agar of Australia, Imran Tahir of South Africa, India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav, Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga & Ajantha Mendis, Tim Southee of New Zealand, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan & Mustafizur Rahman, Rashid Khan of Afghanistan, and Umar Gul of Pakistan are the bowlers from a Test playing to pick a fifer twice in T20Is.
Nasrulla Rana of Hong Kong is the only player to pick a 6-fer in a losing game.
India’s Deepak Chahar holds the record for registering the best bowling figures in a T20I game played between two full-member teams. He ended up with sensational bowling returns of 6/7 against Bangladesh at Nagpur in 2019. Here’s what the Indian pacer has to say on this record.