Cricket used to be majorly bilateral cricket before the emergence of T20 leagues cricket around the world. The number of games in the bilateral series has been drastically reduced, with the cricket boards keen on creating separate windows for their league.
However, the bilateral tournaments provide the much-wanted practice times for the players and teams to prepare for the World tournaments. They still provide a big chunk of revenue generation for cricketing boards.
T20s have now become a regular in bilateral tournaments. Often 3 or 5 T20 international matches are played between teams along with Tests and T20s. The compact nature and the crowd-pulling capacity make the format one of the favorites among cricketing countries.
This article will discuss the top ten batters who scored the most runs in the T20 bilateral series.
Most Runs in a Bilateral T20 Series
| PLAYER | RUNS IN A T20I SERIES | INNINGS | SERIES | STRIKE RATE | 50s/100s | HIGH SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Salt (ENG) | 331 | 5 | England in West Indies, 2023 | 185.96 | 0/2 | 119 |
| Mohammad Rizwan (PAK) | 316 | 6 | England in Pakistan, 2022 | 138.60 | 4/0 | 88* |
| Mark Chapman (NZ) | 290 | 5 | New Zealand in Pakistan, 2023 | 165.71 | 2/1 | 104* |
| Babar Azam (PAK) | 285 | 7 | England in Pakistan, 2022 | 143.22 | 1/1 | 110* |
| Leslie Dunbar (SER) | 284 | 4 | Serbia in Bulgaria, 2022 | 202.85 | 2/1 | 117 |
| Finn Allen (NZ) | 275 | 5 | Pakistan in New Zealand, 2024 | 195.03 | 1/1 | 137 |
| Quinton de Kock (SA) | 255 | 5 | South Africa in West Indies, 2021 | 141.66 | 3/0 | 72 |
| Harry Brook (ENG) | 238 | 6 | England in Pakistan, 2022 | 163.01 | 1/0 | 81* |
| Mohammad Ihsan (ESP) | 237 | 6 | Isle of Man in Spain, 2023 | 172.99 | 0/1 | 102* |
| Paul Stirling (IRE) | 234 | 5 | Zimbabwe in Ireland, 2021 | 138.46 | 0/1 | 115* |
You can read the same list for ODIs here.
Key Stats
No player has scored more than one century in a single T20 bilateral series.
David Warner (217) and Shreyas Iyer (211) are the only two players to stay unbeaten in all matches of a 3-match T20I series. Both players achieved this feat against Sri Lanka.
Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli are the two players to have two T20I series with an average of more than 150. Maxwell’s average of 211 in a 2-match T20 series against Sri Lanka is only next to Warner’s unbeaten 217 in a series.
Quinton de Kock faced 180 deliveries in the 2021 T20 series against West Indies – the highest any batsman has faced in a bilateral T20 series, irrespective of the number of matches played.
The Serbian player Leslie Dunbar’s 25 sixes in a 4-match T20 series against Bulgaria is the highest by any player in a two-teams tournament. At the same time, Ghana’s Amoluk Singh tops the boundary list by hitting 30 fours in the Rwanda T20I series in 2021.
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