10 records in T20Is that seem unbreakable at the moment

T20 cricket has been a mega-hit since its inception, and although purists will debate in favour of Test cricket, there is no denying the fact that the shortest format of the game has triumphed at selling the sport to newer audiences all around the globe. With the advent of domestic T20 leagues in almost all the major Test-playing nations, players are much more accustomed to the smash-and-grab format now, and records are most likely to be rewritten every time a quality side takes to the pitch. But there are some records that have been untouched for years and some others which might remain untouched for the coming years. We look at the top 10 records in T20Is, which are almost unbreakable : 1. Fastest fifty in a T20I – Yuvraj Singh (12 balls) Yuvraj Singh. (Photo Source: Getty Images) India’s batting jewel Yuvraj Singh showcased his brutal power-hitting abilities in the 2007 T20 WC match against England, registering a half-century in mere 12 deliveries, a record that still holds after almost 15 years to the day. The southpaw, renowned for his tremendous power-hitting abilities, came into his own after an altercation with English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, unleashing his fury on a young Stuart Broad in the first innings of the WC clash. Yuvraj sent shockwaves around the cricketing world as he hit Broad for six consecutive sixes in an over, joining Herschelle Gibbs as the only player to hit six maximums in an over in international cricket back then. The Indian icon’s blitz meant that he registered his half-century in just 12 deliveries, a world record no one has been able to match or break to date. 2. Fastest to 100 wickets in T20Is – Rashid Khan Rashid Khan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Afghanistan’s spin wizard Rashid Khan has been one of the finds of T20 cricket in the last five years or so. The 23-year-old is a menace with his impeccable lines and flummoxing googlies in the shortest form of the game. The globetrotting leggie is one of the first names on the team sheet for whichever franchise he plays for and is a proven match-winner. The Afghan superstar is already the third-highest wicket-taker in T20Is, with a considerable amount of cricket still left in his career. Rashid became the fastest to 100 wickets in a group stage match against Pakistan during the 2021 T20 World Cup, breaching the three-figure mark in just 53 games, taking 23 games less than Lasith Malinga who is the next best. With the advent of power-hitting batting these days, the Afghan’s record seems almost unbreakable. 3. Most consecutive victories in T20Is – 12 Afghanistan cricket team. (Photo by Michael Steele-ICC/ICC via Getty Images) The shortest format of the game is known for its exhilarating unpredictability as even the most domineering sides can also be beaten on the day. Only a handful of teams have shown consistency over the years, and the longest streak of wins in the format on the international stage is 12 matches. Afghanistan was the first team to set the record for the most consecutive wins as they won 12 games on the trot from February 2018 to September 2019. Later, the associate nation Romania equaled that record by winning the same number of matches in a row from October 2020 to September 2021. But the record was recently threatened by Rohit Sharma’s dominating Indian team who equaled it, beginning from the T20 World Cup in November 2021 to February 2022. It is one record which is safe for the time being as all the top sides are constantly chopping and changing to give a necessary break to their star players. 4. Highest partnership in a T20I – 236 runs (Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani) Hazratullah Zazai. (Photo Source: Twitter) Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani sent the records tumbling when their side squared off against Ireland in the second T20I of the series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun in 2019. The opening batters slew the Irish bowlers to all corners of the ground with an astonishing first-wicket stand of 236 runs in 105 deliveries. Hazratullah Zazai was the tormentor-in-chief during that partnership for Afghanistan as he recorded a sensational unbeaten 162 runs off just 62 deliveries, including 16 sixes, the most by any batter in a T20I innings. Afghanistan finished with a mind-boggling total of 278 runs in their 20 overs, the highest score by a team in T20Is to date. While several records were shattered on the day, the partnership of 236 runs between the opening pair seems almost impossible to break. 5. Most runs scored in a T20I – India vs West Indies (489) KL Rahul of India celebrates his century during the 1st T20i between West Indies and India at Central Broward Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on August 27, 2016. (Photo credit RANDY BROOKS/AFP/Getty Images) India and West Indies, two cricketing powerhouses, sent a full-house crowd at Lauderhill, Florida, into a frenzy in a high-scoring thriller in 2016. The Caribbean islanders batted first in the opening T20I of the series and put the Indian bowlers to the sword by posting a mammoth total of 245 runs in their 20 overs. The match felt like a mere formality at the halfway mark, but the Indian team came out all guns blazing and matched the Caribbean team toe-to-toe and only fell at the last hurdle as they lost their mercurial skipper, MS Dhoni, on the last ball of the match, to be defeated by just one run. Although India were defeated in the match, the crowd had their money’s worth as both the teams displayed some extraordinary skills with the bat and recorded the highest aggregate score in a T20I international with 489 runs. Six years on, the record still holds and looks insurmountable. 6. Most maidens in an innings by a bowler in a T20I – 4 Saad Bin Zafar. (Photo Source: Twitter) One record that is highly improbable to equal, and impossible to break, is Saad Bin Zafar’s figures of 2/0 in his four overs. Yes, you read it right, four maidens out of four overs in a T20I match. In the 20th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Region Qualifier in 2021, Canada took on minnows Panama and broke records after records by absolutely annihilating their opposition. Left-arm spinner Saad Bin Zafar bowled four maidens on the trot to end with figures of two wickets for no runs in a mind-bending bowling display that saw Panama embarrassingly dismissed for just 37 runs as Canada won the match, without breaking a sweat, by 208 runs. 7. Most consecutive matches without a duck – David Miller (103) David Miller. (Photo Source: Twitter) South Africa’s David Miller is one of the most deadly finishers in white-ball cricket and is renowned for his lethal power-hitting abilities. The Protean has so far featured for the national team in 103 T20Is, scoring 1912 runs at a healthy strike rate of 141.73. He is one of the best movers in the outfield and holds the record for most catches in a T20I innings jointly, snaffling up four catches. He also holds the record for the highest fifth-wicket partnership in ODIs with JP Duminy. But the unbreakable record in the southpaw’s armoury is his record of never being dismissed for a duck in his T20I career. In the 103 matches and 89 innings that he has played, he has never been dismissed without opening his account. 8. Highest score by a batter in a T20I match – Aaron Finch (172) Aaron Finch. (Photo Source: Twitter) Australia’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch has been one of the best T20I players of the modern era and is the only Aussie captain to lay claim to a T20 World Cup in its history, and if his side are successful in defending their crown later this year, he will become the second captain to win it twice, after Daren Sammy. Finch is the fifth highest run-getter in T20Is and has played for the team in a number of positions. But he has been the most prolific at opening the innings for the Aussies. The explosive opener recorded the highest score by a batter in a T20I match when he scored an inexplicable 172 runs off just 76 deliveries against Zimbabwe in July 2018. His record innings is the longest in terms of deliveries faced and consisted of 16 fours, the most by a batter in a T20I innings. 9. Biggest margin of victory in a World Cup match – 172 runs Team Sri Lanka (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images) The records were shattered when subcontinent giants Sri Lanka took on minnows Kenya in a group stage fixture in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sri Lanka batted first in the game as Mahela Jayawardene’s side finished with 260 runs on the board, the highest total in T20Is at the time, on the back of scintillating knocks from Sanath Jayasuriya, the skipper himself, and Jehan Mubarak, who scored 46* off just 13 deliveries. Kenya, in their reply, never threatened to even get close to the Asian side’s mammoth total and were eventually bowled out for a meagre 88 runs, handing Sri Lanka a victory by 172 runs. It was the largest margin of victory in T20Is for more than a decade, and is the largest margin of victory in a T20 World Cup match to date. 10. Most T20I runs by a batter in a calendar year – (1326) Mohammad Rizwan. (Photo by ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images) Consistency is a rare commodity in the shortest format of the game, with unpredictability taking precedence in the thrill-a-minute form of the game with the batters looking to maximize scoring opportunities on every delivery they face. Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan has emerged as one of the most reliable batters in T20Is as he has scored 1662 runs in 56 matches, averaging an astonishing 50.36 for the Men in Green. The wicketkeeper-batter had a sensational 2021 as he blazed 1326 runs in 29 T20Is, the most runs ever by a batter in a calendar year. With the increasing emphasis on short and impactful cameos, it’s highly unlikely to see Rizwan’s record being surpassed anytime soon.

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10 records in T20Is that seem unbreakable at the moment

With the T20 World Cup in Australia fast approaching, we look at the top 10 unbreakable records in T20Is.

7. Most consecutive matches without a duck – David Miller (103)

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