Stats Burst: Another T20I series win for India

Two-time T20 World Cup champions West Indies took on the inaugural T20 World Cup champions India in a three-match series. Going into the series, India had won their last six head-to-head games. But the series was decided in India’s favour in the final match of the series at the Wankhede Stadium, when for the first time three batsmen (all Indians) made 70+ scores in the same innings of a T20I match.  

Batsmen who enjoy Indian bowling

Evin Lewis during his knock of 40 in Hyderabad hit four sixes, which took him past the tally of 23 sixes by Australian Glenn Maxwell, who previously had hit the maximum number of career sixes in T20Is against India. Teammate Kieron Pollard’s six sixes inMumbai has brought him closer to Lewis on this list.

Chahar topsy-turvy in back-to-back games

Deepak Chahar, who returned the best bowling figures in T20I history against Bangladesh in Nagpur last month, that included a hat-trick (with wickets off his last three balls), claimed a wicket off his second ball in the Hyderabad T20I against West Indies. This meant that in a space of five balls over two games, he had managed to claim four wickets. However, his euphoria soon turned into an ordeal when he conceded 56 runs in his next 22 balls. With this, he now holds the dubious record of conceding the third most runs by an Indian bowler in a T20I match.

Kohli – inching towards a personal milestone

Virat Kohli, playing in his 73rd match and 68th innings, registered the highest T20I score of his career in Hyderabad. Kohli, who now has a combined total of 70 international centuries (27 in Tests and 43 in ODIs) in his career, is yet to register a three-figure score in the shortest format for India. Incidentally, this is the seventh occasion in his career that he has been able to surpass his highest score in this format.

Rahul reaches landmark in quick time

KL Rahul, in Hyderabad, became the 57th batsman and seventh Indian in T20Is to aggregate 1000 or more runs. By achieving the landmark in just 29 innings, Rahul became the joint-third quickest after Pakistan’s Babar Azam (26 innings) and Kohli (27). Both Aaron Finch of Australia and he have done it in 29 innings. Rahul, meanwhile, is the third quickest in terms of reaching the milestone in the fewest days (1266) since debut. The two batsmen who took fewer days than him are Babar (788 days in November 2018) and England’s Alex Hales (993 days in May 2014).

Kohli – the master of the run chase

Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 94 in Hyderabad is now the highest individual score by a T20I captain in a winning cause while chasing in matches between two Test playing nations. It should be noted that Nepal’s captain Paras Khadka has a century (106* against Singapore in September this year).

India tops in high octane run chases

India reaching the 208-run target set by the West Indies in Hyderabad was their highest successful run chase in T20I history. 

India’s victory in Hyderabad was incidentally the fifth-highest successful run chase in all T20Is. 

Note: As on date, on 12 occasions sides have won chasing a target of 200 or more in T20I cricket. India in Hyderabad became the first side in history to do so on three occasions. South Africa and Australia have done it twice, while New Zealand, West Indies, England, Bangladesh and Qatar have done it once!

India’s winning sequence

India’s victory in Hyderabad meant that they had beaten West Indies in their last seven head-to-head T20Is since 2018. This was their second-best winning sequence against a particular opponent.

Kohli – man of the moment

Kohli’s match-winning knock in Hyderabad got him his 12th T20I Man of the Match award. This is now the joint-most by any player in this format, equaling the tally of Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi. However, it should be noted that all of Kohli’s awards have come against top level opponents.

Most Man of the Match awards in T20I cricket

Virat Kohli  - 12 (3 vs Australia, Pakistan, 2 vs South Africa, Sri Lanka, 1 vs Afghanistan, West Indies)

Mohommad Nabi - 12 (6 vs Ireland, 3 vs Zimbabwe, 2 vs Hong Kong, 1 vs Bangladesh)

Indian pacers go empty-handed

In the Trivandrum T20I match, Indian pacers didn’t take a single wicket despite bowling 9.3 overs between them. This is now the second most overs delivered by Indian pacers in a match without claiming a wicket.

Sixes galore in the series

In total, 72 sixes were hit by both sides in the series - 39 from the visitors and 33 from the home side. This is now the most sixes hit in a three-match T20I series.

(all records mentioned above are with relation to men’s T20Is and are complete and updated until 11 December 2019)