India suffered a shock defeat in the first T20I against West Indies at Trinidad's Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday, August 3. The star-studded Indian batting lineup struggled while chasing 150 runs and fell four runs short with debutant Tilak Varma top-scoring with 39 off 22.
It was below average batting performance from the world no.1 T20I side but the bowlers put on an impressive display to restrict the hosts to just 149 runs. Mukesh Kumar made his T20I debut but was not able to make a big impact with wickets.
Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal were India's top performers while bowling with both taking two wickets each. Chahal was limited to only three overs but gave India a breakthrough with both openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers' wickets in the fifth over. Chahal remained unbeaten on one run while batting and conceded a major unwanted record to his name.
Chahal has now conceded 119 sixes, including two in his most recent game, from 1674 balls he bowled in T20I cricket. He joins the veteran English spinner Adil Rashid who has conceded the same number of maximums from 1988 balls so far. New Zealand's experienced spinner Ish Sodhi has conceded record 129 sixes from 2035 balls so far while teammate Tim Southee has conceded 117 sixes.
Bowlers to concede most sixes in T20I history:
- 129 sixes in 2035 balls - Ish Sodhi (New Zealand)
- 119 sixes in 1674 balls - Yuzvendra Chahal (India)
- 119 sixes in 1988 balls - Adil Rashid (England)
- 117 sixes in 2335 balls - Tim Southee (New Zealand)
- 108 sixes in 2535 balls - Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
The 33-year-old Indian spinner didn't get any chance in the recent ODIs against West Indies but remains India's premier spinner in the shortest format with record 93 wickets in 76 matches at an average of 24.40 and an economy rate of 8.13.
