Spin bowlers play a key role in T20 cricket, and in the modern game, bowling teams prefer to have spinners operating in the powerplays and delivering the opening spell. So they play a vital role not only in keeping runs in check but also in picking wickets.
Like the traditional format of ODIs, spinners also don a similar role by bowling in middle-overs right after the powerplays and sometimes at the death. In this way, a spinner should have the skill set to adapt to different match situations in the game’s shortest format.
We will look at the spinners who have been successful in this format till now as we get into the top 10 wicket-takers in T20Is among the tweakers.
Most Wickets by Spinners in T20I
| Player | Innings | Wickets |
|---|---|---|
| Rashid Khan (AFG) | 93 | 152 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (BAN) | 126 | 149 |
| Ish Sodhi (NZ) | 114 | 138 |
| Adil Rashid (ENG) | 114 | 126 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga (SL) | 74 | 125 |
| Shem Ngoche (KENYA) | 95 | 117 |
| Adam Zampa (AUS) | 94 | 117 |
| Mitchell Santner (NZ) | 104 | 117 |
| Ehsan Khan (HKG) | 77 | 114 |
| Sandeep Lamichhane (NEP) | 58 | 108 |
Key insights from the above stats
748: Number of bowlers who have taken at least 1 wicket in T20 international cricket, while 295 have taken 10 or more wickets in the format.
6: Only 6 of them have taken 100 or more wickets in the shortest format of the game, and this number rises to 47 if we consider bowlers having at least 50 wickets.
1: Shakib Al Hasan is the only spinner who has taken 100 or more wickets in all three formats of the game. Overall, Tim Southee and Lasith Malinga are the only others to have achieved this feat. Shakib leads the wicket tally among spinners with over 140 scalps.
Also Read | List: Players with 1000 Runs and 50 Wickets in T20Is
9.46: The bowling average of Dhruvkumar Maisuria of Botswana is the lowest among all spinners with more than 50 wickets. Lamichanne’s 12.58 is the lowest for a spinner with more than 100 wickets, and Rashid Khan’s 14.80 is the lowest for any spinner from a Test-playing nation.
10.6: This is the bowling strike rate of Dhruvkumar Maisuria in T20Is, which is the lowest in T20Is for a spinner with more than 50 wickets. Among the Test-playing nations and spinners with more than 50 wickets, India’s Kuldeep Yadav has the lowest strike rate (12.4).
