Stats: Sri Lanka's Chanaka Welegedara equals T20 world record for most economical spell
Sri Lankan seam bowler Chanaka Welegedara equalled the world record for the most economical spell in the history of Twenty20 (T20) cricket yesterday. Playing for Tamil Union in Sri Lanka’s domestic competition, Welegedara returned with phenomenal figures of 4 wickets for just 2 runs from his quota of 4 overs with 2 maidens to boot.
Courtesy of the 34-year-old left-armer’s exploits, he has now equalled a record that was earlier solely belonging to South Africa’s Chris Morris, who finished up with figures of 4-3-2-2 while playing for Highveld Lions against Cape Cobras in the Ram Slam T20 last year.
After winning the toss and batting first, Tamil Union posted a competitive total of 142 for 6 from their 20 overs, with Kithuruwan Vithanage, who has been capped 13 times by Sri Lanka across all formats, top-scoring with 46.
In their run chase, Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) were always going to be facing an uphill task against a bowling attack comprising of the likes of Welegedara, Shaminda Eranga and Jeevan Mendis. That was exactly the case as Welegedara produced a magical spell that is likely to stay in the record books for quite some time to come.
Welegedara has played 21 Tests, 10 ODIs and two T20Is for Sri Lanka.
Most economical spells in T20 cricket
| Player | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chanaka Welegedara | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Chris Morris | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Zulfiqar Babar | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Shoaib Malik | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Sunil Narine | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |