T20 WC 2022 Stats Round-Up: Rilee Rossouw and Rohit Sharma’s feat, Zimbabwe’s smallest victory in T20Is, and other stats

Rilee Rossouw began the triple-header day with a bang as he slammed a magnificent century against Bangladesh as South Africa defeated the Bangla Tigers by a mammoth 104 run margin in Match 22 of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Sydney.

Rossouw, who hit his second ton in as many innings, scored 109 runs off 56 balls while Quinton de Kock also amassed 63. In the second match, Suryakumar Yadav struck a 25-ball 51 with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli also registering fifties as India beat the Netherlands by 56 runs. Zimbabwe stunned Pakistan with a one-run victory in the third match of the day in Perth as the Asian side suffered a heartbreak.

Speaking of the opening match of the day, it was all about Rossouw who slammed seven fours and eight maximums on his way to a spectacular hundred. The Proteas posted 205/5 in their allotted 20 overs with Taskin Ahmed leaking 46 runs for just one wicket in his three-over spell.

In reply, Bangladesh had no answers against Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shami who took four and three wickets respectively. The former registered his career-best spell of 4/10 in 3.3 overs. The Proteas won their first match of the campaign as Rossouw won the Player of the Match (POTM) award for his match-winning ton.

Team India batted first against the Dutch side and KL Rahul was dismissed for another single-digit score. Skipper Rohit, who has now hit the most sixes (34) for India in T20 World Cups, made 53 off 39 with four fours and three maximums while the man of the moment Kohli remained unbeaten on 62 off 44.

Suryakumar also stayed right till the end for his 51* which included seven fours and a six as India reached 179/2 in 20 overs. The Netherlands’ innings never really got going as they managed to score only 123/9 in 20 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, R Ashwin, and Axar Patel all snared two scalps each. Suryakumar won the POTM award as India made it two in two.

In a shocking final clash, the Zimbabweans grabbed all the highlights as the ongoing edition witnessed yet another upset. The African nation batted first and posted only 130/8 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. Pacer Mohammad Wasim recorded his career-best spell of 4/24 while Shadab Khan took 3/23. In reply, skipper Babar Azam fell early yet again for just four while his partner Mohammad Rizwan made 14.

Shan Masood looked good again as he top-scored for his side with his knock of 44. But the Zimbabwe pacers kept bowling superbly and Sikandar Raza also chipped in with his solid spell of 3/25. With three needed from the last three balls, Brad Evans held his nerve to script a stunning one-wicket win for his side. Raza won the POTM award for his terrific spell, his third POTM award of this World Cup and seventh in 2022.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Matches, 22, 23, and 24 in T20 WC 2022:

1 – Rilee Rossouw became the first South African batter to hit a century in T20 World Cups. Overall, he is the ninth player to achieve the feat in the marquee event.

2 – Rossouw is now joint-top with David Miller for most centuries (2) for South Africa in T20Is.

168 – Quinton de Kock and Rossouw shared the highest partnership (168) in T20 World Cups. The duo surpassed Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 166 runs against the West Indies in the 2010 edition.

4/10 – Anrich Nortje registered his career-best spell of 4/10. Previously, he had taken 3/8 against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2021.

14 – Soumya Sarkar has gone 14 innings without a half-century in the format. His last fifty came against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2021.

23 – Temba Bavuma has scored just 23 runs in his last seven innings with all single-digit scores.

2 – Rossouw also became the second batter to smash hundreds in consecutive T20I innings. France player Gustav McKeon is the first player who achieved the feat this year.

1 – de Kock and Rossouw also scripted the highest partnership (168) for the second wicket for the Proteas. Previously, Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks shared 131 run-stand against Pakistan in 2019.

8 – South Africa have faced Bangladesh eight times in a T20I and defeated them on all eight occasions.

14 – de Kock has now hit the third most 50-plus scores by a wicketkeeper in T20Is, surpassing Mohammad Shahzad’s tally of 13. Mohammad Rizwan (22) and Jos Buttler (18) are in the top two positions.

50 – Wayne Parnell appeared in his 50^th T20 international match.

104 - South Africa scripted their second-biggest win by 104 runs in the T20I format. Their victory by 130 runs margin against Scotland in 2009 remains at the top.

8 – Rossouw has now slammed the most sixes (8) for Proteas in a T20 World Cup innings. Previously, Justin Kemp hit six against New Zealand in 2007, AB de Villiers hit six against Scotland in 2009, and Rassie van der Dussen smashed as many against England in the 2021 edition.

1 – Nortje also recorded the best bowling figures by a South African in T20 World Cup tournaments. He went past Wayne Parnell’s record of 4/13 against the West Indies in the 2009 edition.

34 – Rohit Sharma has now hit the most sixes (34) for India in T20 World Cups. He went past Yuvraj Singh who has 33 maximums to his name.

867 – Suryakumar Yadav has hit the most runs (867) in T20Is in 2022. Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan is in the second spot with 839 runs.

989 – Virat Kohli is now the second-highest run-scorer with 989 runs in T20 World Cups. He surpassed Chris Gayle who has scored 965 in the competition. Mahela Jayawardene tops the chart with 1016 runs.

35 – Rohit also equaled Tilakaratne Dilshan at the top for playing the most matches (35) in the global tournament.

9 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar is now joint-top with Jasprit Bumrah for delivering the most maidens (9) in T20 internationals. Nuwan Kulasekara and Mustafizur Rahman, who bowled six maidens are joint-second among the full member nations.

99.33 – Run-machine Kohli has scored 298 runs in five innings at a staggering average of 99.33 with four fifties in Sydney.

5 – Suryakumar Yadav has now won the second-most POTM award (5) in 2022. Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza tops the list with six awards.

9 – Rohit is now tied with Gayle on the second spot for the most 50-plus scores (9) in the tournament. His teammate Virat is in the first position for hitting 12 such scores.

4/24 – Mohammad Wasim registered his best figures of 4/24 in T20Is. His previous best spell of 4/40 came against the West Indies in Karachi in 2021.

18 – Sikandar Raza has now won the most POTM award (18) for Zimbabwe in international cricket. He surpassed Grant Flower who has 17 awards to his name.

1 – Zimbabwe registered their smallest victory by one run in T20Is. Previously, they had defeated India by a margin of two runs in 2016.

2 – For the second time, Pakistan suffered a one-run defeat in T20 internationals. They lost to New Zealand by the same margin in Bridgetown in 2010.

2 – Zimbabwe scripted just their second victory against Pakistan in the format. Both have played 18 matches with Pakistan winning 16.