Five brilliant bowling performances by Indians in T20Is
A five-wicket haul in a T20 match isn’t an everyday affair. Bowlers have only 24 deliveries to bowl to batsmen who are baying for blood.
Yuzvendra Chahal knows another bitter aspect of that contest between bat and bowl, given he plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. The Chinnaswamy Stadium is a bowler’s graveyard. To pick a six-wicket haul on that batting paradise against a top-notch and ultra-long batting line-up is as extraordinary as it gets in international cricket.
What is more heartening for an Indian cricket fan is the fact that that performance catapulted Chahal to the third position on the list of best bowling figures in T20Is. Ajanta Mendis holds the top two spots, although six wickets is the maximum anyone has taken in a T20I match.
Also read: 5 most economical bowling performances by Indians in T20Is
Chahal’s performance is way ahead of any other Indian bowlers’ performance in a T20I.
Here we take a look at the top 5 bowling performances by Indians in T20Is. In terms of runs and wickets, the top five are Chahal (6/25 v England, Bangalore), R Ashwin (4/8 v Sri Lanka, Visakhapatnam), Barinder Sran (4/10 v Zimbabwe, Harare), R Ashwin (4/11 v Australia, Dhaka) and Harbhajan Singh (4/12 v England, Colombo). However, the performances we look at below take into account the opposition, ground, conditions and importance of the match.
#1 Yuzvendra Chahal (6/25 v England, Bengaluru, 2017)
With the series on the line, Chahal, India’s young leg-spinner, was given the new ball as India tried defending 203 on a batting paradise. Chahal picked up the prized scalp of Sam Billings, the England opener with his third ball before getting hit for a few runs.
In his second spell, he was deadly, picking up the well-settled Eoin Morgan and then Joe Root in consecutive deliveries. The two batsmen were on 40 and 42 respectively and had added 64 for the third wicket.
The RCB spinner then came back the next over to pick up the wickets of Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan to virtually seal the match for India. Thanks to his devastating second spell, England lost eight wickets for just eight runs in the span of 18 balls. He was, without a doubt, the Player of the Match and also the Player of the Series.