Top 5 best bowling figures by an Indian in Men's T20 World Cup history ft. Arshdeep Singh
The Indian team has started the T20 World Cup 2024 on a good note by securing three successive victories. They became the first team from Group A to seal a place in the Super 8 stage on Wednesday (June 12) after beating the United States of America (USA).
Although the Indian team has reached the knockout stage on only three occasions after the title victory in 2007, some bowlers have been impressive with their spells to help them prevail in crunch moments.
With astounding performances from pacer Arshdeep Singh against the USA, let's take a look at the five best bowling performances by an Indian bowler in T20 World Cup history.
#5 Zaheer Khan - 4/19, T20 World Cup 2009
The legendary left-arm pacer came into the tournament with an experience of only four T20I games. But, Zaheer Khan made an impact in the second game against Ireland by finishing with figures of 4/19 on June 10 at Nottingham.
Zaheer's impressive opening spell saw him dismissing William Porterfield, Jeremy Bray, and Andre Botha, which evaded Ireland to have a good start.
In the death over, the former pacer took an important wicket of Andrew White, who was Ireland's top-scorer. As a result of this wicket, the Irish side were restricted to 112, and the Indian side sealed the chase, courtesy of Rohit Sharma's half century. This game also helped the Men in Blue to enter the Super 8 stage.
#4 RP Singh - 4/13, T20 World Cup 2007
One of the heroes of India's T20 World Cup victory in 2007, RP Singh was sensational with his performance in a Super 8 game against South Africa. His efforts played a key role for the Indian team to enter the knockout stage.
The Indian team batted first and posted 153 on the board. Then, RP bowling the second over of the game, trapped Herschelle Gibbs LBW, as the batter had no answer to a perfect good-length ball. Then, he induced an edge of Graeme Smith, which was caught brilliantly by Dinesh Karthik.
Then, the left-arm pacer breached the defenses of Shaun Pollock and Albie Morkel. Interestingly, Morkel's wicket was crucial, as he had already scored 36 and was taking the game away from India. With the Proteas requiring to score 126 to qualify for the semis, RP Singh's figures of 4/13 helped India to dismiss them for 116.
#3 Harbhajan Singh - 4/12, T20 World Cup 2012
On September 23, 2012, India registered a mammoth 90-run victory over England, courtesy of Harbhajan Singh's terrific figures of 4/12 in Colombo.
Batting first, India posted 170, with Rohit Sharma scoring 55* off 33. Brought into the attack in the sixth over, 'Turbanator' took an important wicket of Eoin Morgan by breaching the defense off a straight delivery. Then, Jos Buttler, who tried to make a room, failed to make a connection and was bowled as well.
The other dismissals for Harbhajan were Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, as England were all-out for 80.
#2 Ravichandran Ashwin - 4/11, T20 World Cup 2014
This crucial game saw India beating Australia by a margin of 73 runs and qualify for the semi-finals. Batting first, they compiled a total of 159, with Yuvraj Singh's impactful contribution of 60 off 42.
Ravichandran Ashwin stole the show by picking wickets of openers, Aaron Finch and David Warner. Interestingly, both batters tried to slog Ashwin, but the spinner was sharp enough to induce the edges and get them caught.
In his attempt to reverse-sweep Ashwin's delivery, Glenn Maxwell lost his stumps. The talented spinner took the last wicket of James Muirhead to complete with extraordinary figures of 4/11.
#1 Arshdeep Singh - 4/9, T20 World Cup 2024
After Zaheer Khan, the left-arm pacer, who has shown consistency in picking wickets in the powerplay and death overs, has been Arshdeep Singh. On June 12, Arshdeep Singh registered the best-ever figures of 4/9 by an Indian bowler in T20 World Cup history.
The 25-year-old trapped Shayan Jahangir LBW in the first ball of the game, while closing out the over with an important scalp of Andries Gous. He came back in the middle overs by dismissing Nitish Kumar, courtesy of an excellent catch from Mohammed Siraj. Then, he sent Harmeet Singh to the hut to restrict the USA to 110.
In response, India chased down the score with 10 balls to spare, with Suryakumar Yadav scoring a half-century. The Men in Blue also qualified for the Super 8 stage.