In T20 cricket it’s great for batters but tough for bowlers. It started in the early 21st century. Teams often chase big scores, making matches exciting. Few teams defend scores lower than 120,
Let’s see the 5 lowest scores defended in T20I cricket.
5. Sri Lanka -119 vs New Zealand -March 31st, 2014
In the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka and New Zealand were in the same group. They were both playing their last match in the group stage, and they had to win to move on to the semi-finals.
The New Zealand team’s captain, Brendon McCullum, won the coin toss and chose to let Sri Lanka bat first. New Zealand’s players quickly got all of Sri Lanka’s players out for 119 runs in 19.2 overs, which made New Zealand seem like they would win.
But something unexpected happened. Rangana Herath, a spinner for Sri Lanka, bowled really well. He got five New Zealand players out while only giving away three runs in the 3.3 overs he bowled. New Zealand’s team only scored 60 runs, so Sri Lanka won the match. They made it to the semi-finals and eventually won the whole tournament. This is one of the lowest scores defended in T20I cricket history.
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4. Zimbabwe – 118/9) vs Pakistan – April 23, 2021
Zimbabwe surprised Pakistan by bowling them out for only 99 runs. Zimbabwe defended their own score of 118/9 quite easily.
Pakistan didn’t play well when they were chasing. After 10 overs, they only scored 44 runs. Even though Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez, experienced players, were playing, Zimbabwe’s bowlers did a great job stopping them.
Luke Jongwe took 4 wickets for 18 runs, and Ryan Burl took 2 wickets for 21 runs. Other Zimbabwe players also played well. This win was one of Zimbabwe’s biggest in T20 cricket. If you think this was the first time Zimbabwe beat a strong team in T20 cricket, there’s more to come.
3. South Africa – 115/6 vs Sri Lanka – August 2, 2013
Sachithra Senanayake from Sri Lanka bowled really well. He took the important wickets of Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, and the team captain Faf du Plessis. This made it hard for the other team to score runs, and they only managed to get 115/6 in their first turn to bat.
When South Africa batted, Jean-Paul Duminy bowled just as well as Senanayake did. He got rid of Tillakaratne Dilshan in his first over, and then quickly got the wickets of Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis. Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell also took two wickets each.
Kumar Sangakkara played really well, scoring 59 runs without getting out. But even with his effort, Sri Lanka couldn’t win. They ended up with 103/9, which is one of the lowest scores ever defended in T20I cricket history.
2. West Indies – 113/5 vs England – September 25, 2011
West Indies didn’t have some of their best players, like Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, when they played against England. In both games of their series, they didn’t score very well. In the first game, they only got 125 runs before all their players were out, and in the second game, they did even worse, only getting 113 runs.
But then, something surprising happened. Garey Mathurin, a left-handed spinner from St Lucia who wasn’t well-known, did something amazing. He took three wickets for only nine runs in four overs. Because of him, West Indies won by 25 runs, even though they were not expected to. The series ended with both teams winning one game each. In the last game, England only scored 88 runs, with Ben Stokes being the top scorer with 31 runs.
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1. Zimbabwe -105 vs West Indies February 28, 2010
I was surprised to see Zimbabwe’s name on the list again. I told you to wait for something good. Zimbabwe set a record for defending the lowest score in T20I cricket. They did it against a team that’s really good at this type of cricket and is feared by other top teams.
Sulieman Benn, a player from West Indies, bowled really well and took 4 wickets by only giving away 6 runs. Hamilton Masakadza scored 44 runs and Elton Chigumbura scored 34 runs for Zimbabwe, helping their team reach a total of 105 runs. Zimbabwe’s spin bowlers Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb did a great job. Cremer took 3 wickets for 11 runs, while Lamb took 2 wickets for 14 runs.
Cremer got rid of Kieron Pollard and Daren Sammy, while Lamb dismissed Dwayne Smith. West Indies couldn’t score much and ended their turn with only 79 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. So, Zimbabwe won by 26 runs. This is the smallest total that a team has successfully defended in T20I cricket history.
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