Team India won a thrilling match against Australia by six runs in the fifth T20I at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, December 3. With this victory, India claimed the five-match T20I series with a commanding 4-1 lead.
On a difficult pitch for batting, India scored 160 in their first innings. Shreyas Iyer led the way with a brilliant 53, while Axar Patel (31) and Jitesh Sharma (24) made valuable contributions.
In response, Travis Head started strong with 28 runs off 18 balls, and Ben McDermott hit five sixes in his half-century, keeping Australia in the game.
However, India’s spin bowlers, Axar Patel (1/14) and Ravi Bishnoi (2/29), managed to slow down Australia’s scoring. Mukesh Kumar also had his best performance, taking 3 wickets for 32 runs, as India restricted Australia to 154/8.
The series was highly successful for India, who gave opportunities to new players. With the T20 World Cup 2024 coming up in June, it was important for players to make the most of their chances.
One standout performer was Ruturaj Gaikwad, who ended up as the highest run-scorer of the series with 223 runs. His performance places him among the top Indian players in T20I bilateral series.
Now, let’s look at the top five Indian batters with the most runs in a T20I bilateral series.
5. Shreyas Iyer vs Sri Lanka in 2022- 204 runs (3 matches)
In February 2022, Sri Lanka visited India for a three-match T20I series, and Shreyas Iyer was the standout performer. Batting at No. 3, he scored fast half-centuries in all three games.
The series began in Lucknow, where Iyer hit a quick 57* and helped India win by 62 runs. The next two matches were held on consecutive days at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala.
In those games, Iyer scored 74* and 73*, respectively, finishing the series with a total of 204 runs. Remarkably, he was not dismissed in any of the matches and set a record for the most runs by an Indian in a three-match T20I series, surpassing Virat Kohli’s 199 runs against Australia in 2016.
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4. Ishan Kishan vs South Africa in 2022- 206 (5 matches)
After the IPL 2022, India played against South Africa in five T20 matches. The first games didn’t go well for India, but Ishan Kishan played great in the first match with 76 runs. India lost both of the first two games.
But then, India did better and won the next two matches. The last match got stopped by rain, so no one won.
Kishan was the best scorer in the series, scoring 206 runs in total across five games, with an average of 41.20. He even made a half-century in the third match.
3. Ruturaj Gaikwad vs Australia in 2023- 223 runs (5 matches)
The newest player, Ruturaj Gaikwad, scored 223 runs in the recent five T20I matches against Australia. This helped him get selected for the team. Since Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill weren’t available, Gaikwad had a great chance to prove himself as an opener.
He started off on a bad note by getting out without scoring in the first match. But he bounced back, scoring 58 runs in the second match. His best performance came in the third match in Guwahati, where he scored an unbeaten 123 runs in just 57 balls. However, despite his efforts, Glenn Maxwell from Australia scored even better with 104 runs in 48 balls.
In the remaining matches, Gaikwad scored 28 and 10 runs respectively. Overall, he ended the series with 223 runs at an average of 55.75 across five innings.
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2. KL Rahul vs New Zealand in 2020- 224 runs (5 matches)
In January 2020, when India played against New Zealand, KL Rahul, who was both the second batsman and the wicketkeeper, scored 224 runs. In the first two matches in Auckland, he scored 56 runs in the first match and 57 runs in the second one. Even though he started well in the remaining three matches, scoring 27, 39, and 45 runs respectively, he couldn’t make big scores. Additionally, he scored a total of 15 runs in the two Super Overs played during the series. However, these runs don’t count as official international runs, so they’re not included in his total.
1. Virat Kohli vs England in 2021- 231 runs (5 matches)
In February 2021, England came to India for a series that lasted nearly two months. India won the Test series 3-1 and the T20I series 3-2. Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, was outstanding in the T20Is and was named Player of the Series.
Kohli didn’t score in the first T20I but made an unbeaten 73 in the second match. He also scored 77 not out in the third match, although India lost that game.
Even though Kohli only scored one run in the fourth T20I, he made a big impact in the final match, scoring 80 runs in 52 balls, helping India win by 36 runs.
Kohli finished the series with 231 runs at an impressive average of 115.50, the highest by an Indian in a T20I series.
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