As part of their Bangladesh Tour, the Indian Men’s Cricket Team will head to play a three-match T20I series starting from Sunday (October 6) in Gwalior. The second T20I will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on October 6, while the third and final match will be played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on October 12. India will be led in the T20I series by Suryakumar Yadav and will also feature star all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the 15-men squad.
Why the number of matches will be only three is, the possibility of injuries to Hardik, who has played 102 T20I matches till date and has himself taken 86 wickets, removing fly in the series for Hardik, who will have the opportunity to rewrite and break various bowling records. If the 30-year-old cricketer is able to get hold of five wickets at the very least in the given series, he will surpass Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 90 T20 international kills and occupy the pole position in the list of wickets taken by Indian pace bowler in the history of T20 internationals.
The record for the highest number of wickets collected with the ball for the country of India in T20Is belongs to Yuzvendra Chahal. The member of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning team has accounted for the dismissal of 96 batters in 80 matches played so far. Hardik, who made his T20I debut for India in January 2016 against Australia, needs 11 more wickets to get past Chahal’s T20I killing spree record as Anil Kumble has the highest tally of T20I wickets for India in T20 format.
Hardik has played five T20Is against Bangladesh so far, and in that he has managed to dismiss six batters. If he takes at least four, in the upcoming three matches, he will achieve the records for the best bowler in T20I encounters of Bangladesh and India.
Most wickets for India in T20Is
Yuzvendra Chahal – 96
Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 90
Jasprit Bumrah – 89
Hardik Pandya – 86
Arshdeep Singh – 83
Currently, Yuzvendra Chahal has taken the record for most wickets in T20I matchups between India and Bangladesh. The 34-year old spinner has not represented the Asian giants since August 13, 2023 but has sent back nine Bangladeshi batters in the six matches played to date.
Most wickets in India-Bangladesh T20Is
Yuzvendra Chahal (India) – 9
Deepak Chahar (India) – 8
Al-Amin Hossain (Bangladesh) – 8
Rubel Hossain (Bangladesh) – 7
Washington Sundar (India) – 7
Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh) – 7
Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 6
Hardik Pandya (India) – 6
Besides Hardik, Arshdeep Singh is also on the brink of becoming the most high-profile India-Bangladesh T20I wickets taker. The left-arm quick, who was one of the joint leading wicket-takers in the T20 World Cup 2024, has picked up five Bangladeshi wickets in three T20 games.
He is all set to lead the Indian bowling attack and will have fellow inexperienced Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav to back him up. Both Mayank and Harshit played some brilliant cricket in IPL 2024 but have not donned the Blue jersey as yet.
