“If it’s a T20 match, I’d want to be batting!” - I’m sure this is what most cricketers in the world would say as bowling in this format can at times make even the best of bowlers look worse than part-timers. Power-hitting combined with cheeky improvisation can turn bowlers’ analysis into such horrific numbers that they won’t ever want to look at them again.
Also Read: Most expensive bowling spells in ODIs
In this vein, let’s have a look at which the 5 most expensive spells in T20Is are. This list contains, rather surprisingly, 4 strike bowlers and one genuine all-rounder, which tells us that in a T20 game, when batsmen go berserk, even the best of bowlers can be taken to the cleaners, and when there’s carnage, there’s nowhere to hide.
#5 Mashrafe Mortaza – vs Pakistan at Dhaka, 30 March 2014
Figures: 4 overs, 0 for 63
It was the World T20 in 2014, and Bangladesh were playing Pakistan at home in Dhaka. Pakistan won the toss and batted first. Mashrafe opened the bowling and bowled a more than decent first over, the first of the innings, in which he gave away just 5 runs.
In his 2nd over, Ahmed Shehzad, the flamboyant Pakistan opener, tore into him and smashed 3 fours and a six, taking 18 off it. 23 off 2 overs now, which was still not too bad, but the worst was yet to come.
He was taken off after his 2nd over and then brought back by captain Mushfiqur Rahim in the 16th over of the innings. Here again, Shehzad took 2 fours of him and also fooled him by smart footwork into bowling a huge leg-side wide that cost 5, making it 16 off the over.
But it was his last over, the 19th of the innings, that proved to be the costliest, where Shehzad, who’d by now fallen in love with Mashrafe’s bowling, hit him for a four and a six, and Shahid Afridi, who had come in to bat in just the previous over, powered 2 huge sixes, one off a free hit, to loot 24 off the over.
The result – a spell of 4 wicket-less overs for 63.
#4 Rubel Hossain – vs West Indies at Mirpur, 10 December 2012
Figures: 4 overs, 2 for 63
West Indies won the toss and chose to bat. Out came the imposing West Indian opening pair of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith. After 2 relatively sedate overs to start the innings, Rubel Hossain was introduced in the 3rd over, and conceded 9 runs off his first 5 deliveries, including a boundary to each opener, but came back with the massive wicket of Chris Gayle off his last ball of the over.
His 2nd over was the 5th of the innings, and this one went even better. 2 fours were conceded, but Dwayne Smith was knocked over as well. Both openers’ middle stump had been uprooted by Rubel as it looked like a dream day for him.
One would have thought it was a great start and things will be rosy from here. Captain chose to take him off despite taking 2 big wickets in his 2 overs, and only brought him back in the 18th, hoping for 2 tight overs at the death.
What followed though, was nothing short of a nightmare.
Over no.18 saw 2 fours by Lendl Simmons and a flat six by the classy Marlon Samuels, which meant a total of 17 runs taken from it.
But it was the last over of the innings wherein Samuels unleashed all his wrath on poor Rubel, hitting him for 4 sixes and a four, in the process taking 29 off the over. A day that started promisingly with 2 wickets in consecutive overs ended with figures of 4-0-63-2.
#3 Sanath Jayasuriya – vs Pakistan at Johannesburg, 17 September 2007
Figures: 4 overs, 0 for 64
In what can best be described as a case of the predator becoming the prey, it was Sanath Jayasuriya, also known as the “Matara Marauder”, who entered the unwanted list of the most expensive T20I bowling spells ever. I’m sure he’d have wanted to be on this list as the batsman who took all those runs off the bowler instead.
The opposition was Pakistan in this inaugural ICC world T20 game in 2007. Captain Mahela Jayawardena won the toss and opted to bowl.
Sanath came on to bowl in the 9th over. Pakistan were in trouble at 49 for 3, with Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, both more grafters than hitters, at the crease. Shoaib Malik hit him for a four and a six here, which combined with 4 more singles meant 14 off his first over.
His 2nd over, the innings’ 11th, saw another four by Malik, and some brilliant running between the wickets that saw him take three twos, making it 12 off the over.
3rd over – and this time it was the turn of Younis Khan to take mighty Sanath to the cleaners, hitting him for 2 sixes and a four to take 20 off the over.
Despite three not so impressive overs, skipper Mahela decided to give the last over of the innings to Sanath again, but Misbah–ul-Haq, a hitherto unknown name at the international level, hit him for 2 sixes in the over and took 18 off it.
The innings ended with Sanath Jayasuriya having conceded 64 off his 4 overs, which at the time, were the joint most expensive T20I figures, with the man who is no.2 on this list.
#2 James Anderson – vs Australia at Sydney, 9 January 2007
Figures: 4 overs, 1 for 64
Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat in a match which marked the T20I debut for 3 cricketers on each side: Shane Harwood, Ben Hilfenhaus and Cameron White for Australia, and Paul Nixon, Monty Panesar and James Anderson for England.
And what a match it was going to turn out to be for Jimmy!
He took the new ball with Andrew Flintoff, bowling the 2nd over of the innings to big Matthew Hayden, who hit him for 3 fours and a two, taking 14 off it.
Cut to over no.2, where he was welcomed once again by big Haydos with a huge six off the first ball, but Jimmy took his revenge off the very next one, having him caught at mid-off. The rest of the over wasn’t too adventurous but Adam Gilchrist did hit him for a four, which meant a total of 12 runs off it.
England captain, Michael Vaughan, perhaps buoyed by the fact that Jimmy had got Hayden out in his previous over, decided to give him a 3rd straight one, which turned out to be a huge mistake. Adam Gilchrist, well set by now, hit him for 6-6-6 off the first 3 deliveries. Three singles off the next 3 meant an over that went for 21.
Anderson returned for the final over of the innings, with Cameron White, the man nicknamed “Bear”, on strike. Debutant vs Debutant. Who was going to have the last laugh?
Well, it was the Bear, who lived up to the nickname and hit 2 massive sixes to take 17 off the over and spoil the evening for Jimmy, who ended up with what were at the time the worst T20I bowling figures: 4-0-64-1.
#1 Kyle Abbott – vs West Indies at Johannesburg, 11 January 2015
Figures: 4 overs, 1 for 68
But the not-something-to-be-proud-of record for the worst T20I bowling figures till today belongs to South African pace bowler, Kyle Abbott; the man who made a roaring start to his international career in a test match against Pakistan in 2013, with figures of 7 for 29 in his first ever bowling innings.
As he found out here vs the mighty West Indian hitters, T20 is a different beast.
Darren Sammy won the toss and chose to bowl first, having chased successfully in the first match of the series. South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis played a stunning innings of 119 off just 56 deliveries to set a target of 232 for the West Indies.
Out came Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle, with our man in question, Kyle Abbott, bowling the first over. Smith took 3 fours of him and played 3 dots, which meant 12 off the first over.
Come over no. 2 and Chris Gayle was in his elements. Abbott smashed for 4 fours and a six, and the over conceding 22 to give West Indies the much-required momentum in the run chase.
Skipper Faf took him off and held him back for the death, the tense part of what was now becoming an interesting chase. West Indies needed 46 off 4 overs and Abbott came on to bowl the 17th over. Andre Russell, or “dre russ” as he’s called these days, took 12 off his first 3 balls including a four and a six, but Abbott bounced back to dismiss him off the 4th.
Dwayne “Champion” Bravo hit a four off his last delivery to make it 16 off the over.
Then came the 19th over, often considered to be the most important of a T20 innings, with West Indies needing 21 off 2 overs. Ramdin and Sammy were batting. The first 2 deliveries fetched 6, with Ramdin hitting a four, but then it was Captain Sammy, who took 2 fours and 2 twos off the last 4 to end Kyle Abbott’s misery for the day, and inch West Indies ever closer to the highest T20I chase of all time.
18 from the over meant West Indies needed just 3 off the last over, which they comfortably managed, and Kyle Abbott ended his spell with 4-0-68-1, to get an extremely unwanted record for a bowler to his name - the most expensive T20I spell ever.
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