Top 10 T20I teams and the best individual performance by their bowlers

T20 is the shortest form of the game played at the international level. The format came into limelight after the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. The format was expected to be a batsman-friendly format since the batsmen had the license to strike the ball hard from the first ball itself.

A plenty of batsmen have literally ended bowlers' careers by destroying them with their shots. However, there have been a few bowlers who have always had the upper hand over the batsmen. The leg-spinners have completely revolutionized T20 bowling and have been successful in scalping more than 5 wickets in their 4 overs.

Here are the top 10 T20I teams and the best individual bowling performance by their bowlers in a T20I innings:

#10 England - Ravi Bopara - 4/10 vs West Indies, 2011

England v West Indies - NatWest International Twenty20 Match

Surprisingly, the record for the best bowling performance by an English player in a T20I innings is held by all-rounder Ravi Bopara. The player whose full name is Ravinder Singh Bopara brought up his best bowling performance against a mighty West Indies side.

When England battled the Caribbean side in a T20I match at London, English skipper Graeme Swann elected to field first after winning the toss. J Charles and DR Smith helped Windies to get off to a stable start as they were 62/1 at one stage. But the game changed when Swann introduced Bopara into the attack.

The medium pacer derailed the Windies innings by dismissing D Hyatt, N Bonner, C Barnwell, and opposition captain Darren Sammy. He had figures of 3.4-0-10-4 at the completion of the Windies innings. Bopara, who has picked just 16 wickets in his entire T20I career was adjudged the man of the match for his epic performance with the ball.

#9 Australia - James Faulkner - 5/27 vs Pakistan, ICC WT20 2016

James Faulkner is the only Aussie bowler to pick up 5 wickets in a T20I innings

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner became the first Australian bowler to scalp 5 wickets in a T20 international when he achieved this feat against Pakistan in a WT20 group stage match in 2016.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Australia posted 193/4 in their 20 overs led by captain Steve Smith's 61*. James Faulkner bowled the sixth over of the Pakistani innings and dismissed opener Sharjeel Khan by uprooting his stumps. He then picked up the wicket of Khalid Latif who was looking well set on 46. Faulkner sent back Imad Wasim to the pavilion as well on the very next ball.

In the final over of the innings, the all-rounder completed his 5-wicket haul by scalping the wickets of Sarfraz Ahmed and Wahab Riaz off the first two balls of the over.

#8 West Indies - Darren Sammy - 5/26 vs Zimbabwe, 2010

Sammy picked his maiden 5-wicket haul against Zimbabwe

Windies squared off against Zimbabwe in a one-off T20I at the Port of Spain. The match was quite a low-scoring one as only 184 runs were scored in the match where 39.5 overs were bowled.

Batting first, the African nation crumbled and was shot out for just 105 in 19.5 overs. S Benn (4/6) and Darren Sammy wrecked the Zimbabwean batting order. Sammy dismissed Hamilton Masakadza, G Lamb, E Chigumbura, S Masakadza and skipper P Utseya en route to his 5-wicket haul.

However, this tidy bowling performance was not enough for Windies as they failed to achieve the small target of 106. The Caribbean side could only score 79/7 in their entire 20 overs. 5 out of the 8 Zimbabwean bowlers had an economy rate of under 4.5 in that innings. Nevertheless, Sammy recorded the best bowling figures by a Windies bowler in this match.

#7 South Africa - Ryan McLaren - 5/19 vs West Indies, 2010

Ryan McLaren was one of the key all-rounders of South Africa

Ryan McLaren was one of the best T20 all-rounders who made his mark in almost all the T20 leagues around the world. Apart from those T20 leagues, McLaren also made his presence felt in T20 internationals by holding the record of the best individual bowlers by a South African bowler. In the first T20I against Windies at North Sound, South Africa batted first and set a target of 137 for the home side.

The Windies, led by Chris Gayle, lost both of its openers early on in the innings as Ryan dismissed both Andre Fletcher and the captain himself before the completion of the mandatory powerplay. McLaren then returned to bowl the death overs and picked the wickets of Kieron Pollard, Sammy, and S Benn to complete his 5-wicket haul. The man of the match had figures of 3.5-0-19-5 in that match.

#6 New Zealand - Tim Southee - 5/18 vs Pakistan, 2010

Tim Southee wrecked the Pakistani batting order by taking a hat-trick

Pakistan toured New Zealand in December 2010 and the two sides clashed in a T20I series. In the first match of the series, home captain Ross Taylor won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. The visitors started off the innings on a good note and were 58-2 after 6 overs. However, Tim Southee came to bowl the eighth over of the innings and turned the tables on Pakistan by taking a hat-trick.

The tall Kiwi pacer sent Younis Khan, Mohammed Hafeez, and Umar Akmal back to the pavilion off successive deliveries to derail the Pakistani innings. He had earlier dismissed Ahmed Shahzad and completed his 5-wicket haul by picking the wicket of all-rounder Abdul Razzaq. A man of the match performance by Tim Southee ensured that NZ picked up a 1-0 lead in the series.

#5 Bangladesh - Elias Sunny - 5/13 vs Ireland

The Irish batsmen had no clue to tackle the Bangladeshi spinner at Belfast

Bangladesh visited Ireland in 2012 to play a T20I series and in the first match of the series at Belfast, scored 190/5 after batting first. The Irish side were expected to give a strong fight in home conditions.

However, they had no clue how to tackle the spin of the left-arm spinner Elias Sunny. Sunny, who was making his T20I debut for Bangladesh, etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Bangladeshi bowler to pick up a 5-wicket haul on T20I debut.

Sunny dismissed Ed Joyce, Niall O' Brien, J Mooner, A Cusack and D Johnston to complete his 5-wicket haul. The spinner was adjudged the man of the match for his match-winning figures of 4-1-13-5. Elias has, so far, picked only 9 wickets in his T20I career for Bangladesh.

#4 Pakistan - Umar Gul - 5/6 vs New Zealand, ICC WT20 2009 and 5/6 vs South Africa, 2013

Umar Gul picked 5/6 twice in his career

Umar Gul was one of the quickest bowlers of Pakistan to have played the T20I format. He enjoyed tremendous success in the shortest format as he picked up his career-best figures of 5/6 twice in his career.

Gul first achieved these figures on 13th June 2009 in a WT20 match against New Zealand. The pacer ripped apart the NZ batting order as they were skittled out for meager 99 inside 19 overs. Gul dismissed Scott Styris, McGlashan, Nathan McCullum, James Franklin, and Kyle Mills to complete his first 5-wicket haul.

The second occasion where Gul picked up 5/6 in a T20I match came in 2013 when Pakistan played South Africa in a T20I match at Centurion. The speedster picked up the wickets of F du Plessis, Chris Morris, J Ontong, Farhaan Behardien, and Kyle Abbott to send the home side packing.

#3 Afghanistan - Rashid Khan - 5/3 vs Ireland, 2017

Rashid Khan once again proved why he is the best leg-spinner in T20Is

The young talented leg-spinner who has played a huge role in bringing Afghanistan on the cricket map, Rashid Khan has the best figures for an Afghan bowler in T20Is. Playing against Ireland at their adopted home Greater Noida, Afghanistan set a target of 185 for the touring Irish side. The innings was reduced to 11 overs and Ireland were set a revised target of 111. They were looking set to achieve the target by sitting at 68/2 at one stage.

However, Rashid Khan bowled a magical spell of 2 overs where he conceded just 3 runs and dismissed Kevin O'Brien, G Wilson, L Tucker, B McCarthy, and G Thompson to restrict Ireland to 93/9 in their 11 overs. Khan even bowled a maiden over in that spell.

#2 India - Yuzvendra Chahal - 6/25 vs England, 2017

Yuzvendra Chahal is the only Indian bowler to pick a 6-wicket haul in T20Is

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has established himself as the top leg-spinner of the country with his remarkable performances for the nation at the international level. He became the first Indian bowler to pick 6 wickets in a T20I innings when he helped India win the series against England in 2017.

With the series drawn at 1-1, the two sides met for the final T20I in Bengaluru and the home side smashed 202/6 in their 20 overs. England were off to a flyer as they were 119/2 at 13.2 overs and Morgan and Root seemed to take England home.

But Chahal had other plans as the leggie who had dismissed Sam Billings earlier in the innings sent both Root and Morgan back to the pavilion in the 14th over of the innings. In his next over, he picked up the wickets of Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, and Chris Jordan and won the man of the match for his figures of 6/25 in the match.

#1 Sri Lanka - Ajantha Mendis - 6/8 vs Zimbabwe, ICC WT20 2012

Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis also

hold

the record for the best bowling figures in a T20I match for any country

Ajantha Mendis burst onto the international scene with his mystery leg-spin at the Asia Cup where he dismantled the Indian team in the final. He became a mainstay in the Sri Lankan team and had played a huge role in the team's success in the 2012 T20 World Cup. In the first match of the tournament, Mendis blew away the Zimbabwean batting order in the second innings.

Chasing 183, Zimbabwe were never in the match as their batting order suffered a collapse at the hands of Ajantha and Jeevan Mendis who picked up 9 wickets between them. However, it was the former who was the wrecker-in-chief as he dismissed half a dozen Zimbabwean batsman to record the best figures for a bowler in T20 Internationals.