3 Lesser known bowling records held by Indians in Twenty20 cricket

The India Premier League (IPL) is an example of how India lacked in producing some top bowlers for the T20 format on a consistent basis. The leading wicket-taker of the tournament is Lasith Malinga, an overseas pacer. There have been three 6-wicket hauls in history of the league thus far; all by the foreigners only.

However, quite a few records have been owned by Indian bowlers in the Twenty20 format. The Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy alongside the IPL has provided the platform for those records.

Here are some of the unique records held by the bowlers from Indian players in the Twenty20 format:

3. Most Hat-tricks

Hat-trick was quite a rare event especially in Indian cricket which was changed by the Indian Premier League (IPL). Yuvraj Singh’s left-arm spin was rewarded in the 2009 edition where he took two hat-tricks. With that, he became the first player to take two hat-tricks in Twenty20 cricket. Yuvraj was also the first player to take multiple hat-tricks in a calendar year in the T20 format and also the first player even to have claimed more than one hat-trick in the same series/tournament.

Amit Mishra bettered Yuvraj’s feat by picking up as many as three hat-tricks. He took one hat-trick apiece for the three teams he represented in the League – Delhi Capitals (Previously Delhi Daredevils), Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mishra was the first player to pick three T20 hat-tricks, a feat that was matched by the likes of Andrew Tye, Andre Russell, Mohammad Sami and the recent entrant Rashid Khan during the 2019-20 BBL.

2. Most maidens in a match

Manpreet Gony has been making a regular appearance in various T20 leagues recently after officially retiring from professional cricket post the 2018-19 domestic season. He made it to the national team for a couple of ODIs in 2008 but never got close to the Indian squad after that. Gony wasn’t an IPL regular after initial editions of the tournament as well. However, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament 2011-12, the fast-medium pacer created World record by bowling three maiden overs.

Representing Punjab team, Manpreet Gony became the first player to bowl 3 maidens in a T20 game. He recorded analyses of 4-3-5-3 in the quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh that fetched him the player of the match. Four players have managed to bowl as many as three maiden overs in a T20 after Gony achieved the feat. Samiullah Khan bowled three maidens and conceded 16 runs in another over during the 2013 Pakistan Domestic T20 for Sui Northern against WAPDA.

Andhra’s D Siva Kumar replicated Gony’s feat in 2013-14 edition of SMA T20 Trophy where he picked 4/6 against Karnataka. Chris Morris gave away just 2 runs in his four overs during the 2014-15 Ram Slam for Lions against Cape Cobras while bowling 3 maidens. Mohammad Irfan is the recent most occurrence as he recorded the most economical T20 figures during a 2018 CPL match. Irfan had bowling analyses of 4-3-1-2 for Barbados Tridents against the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

1. Most consecutive 4-wicket hauls

Cheepurapalli Stephen, a left-arm pacer from Andhra is not known but is famous for a Twenty20 record which he created during 2015-16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the game against Delhi, Stephen took a 5-wicket haul though he conceded as many as 52 runs in his four overs. His opening spell left Delhi reeling 40/4 by 5th over but Nitish Rana (97 off 40) and Milind Kumar (58 off 28) rescued their team. Delhi finished with the then record total of 236/9 despite Stephen’s three wickets in the 20th over.

In the following match, the left-arm seamer took 4 wickets for 15 runs as Andhra restricted Railways to 122/9 but won the game by 7 runs. Later, Andhra took on Assam where they were restricted to 117/8 batting first. The equation came down to 13 runs needed from the last over which was to be bowled by Stephen only. He claimed a hat-trick with the first three balls of the over including the wicket of Assam’s top-scorer J Syed Mohammed who made 38 from 42 balls to seal a 12-run win.

Thus, Cheepurapalli Stephen became the first player to claim 4-wicket hauls in three consecutive matches or innings in the Twenty20 format. Only one more player replicated this feat till date – Craig Young of Ireland. The pacer had figures of 5/15 and 5/22 during the 2017 Domestic T20 Trophy and later picked up 4/21 in the first game of the 2018 edition of the tournament. Young’s consecutive 5-fers in 2017 also made him only the 2nd player to bag successive T20 5-fers only after Faf du Plessis (2011-12).