India pacer Arshdeep Singh had a day to remember during the second T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch on Saturday. Arshdeep was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he finished with figures of 2/33 from four overs.
His performance helped India restrict the Black Caps to 180/5 from 20 overs, which the Men in Blue later chased down with four wickets and just one delivery to spare.
By taking the two wickets in Christchurch on Saturday, Arshdeep took his total T20I wickets tally in 2026 to 38, and became the highest Indian wicket-taker in T20Is in a calendar year.
He broke the record of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who recently made his comeback to the Indian team. The Uttar Pradesh pacer had taken 37 T20I wickets in 2022, which was the most by an Indian in a calendar year at that time.
Arshdeep Singh’s India career so far
Since making his India debut in a T20I against England in July 2022, the Punjab pacer has played 18 ODIs and 101 T20Is. He has taken 30 wickets from the 18 ODI matches at an economy rate of 5.49. When it comes to T20Is, the 27-year-old has taken 148 wickets at an average of 8.65.
Talking about the match, India chased down the total of 181 after getting off to a nervy start. Sanju Samson (14) and Abhishek Sharma (27) forged a 40-run partnership from 28 deliveries, but the Kerala batter departed in the fifth over.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (4) too failed to make much of an impact, and not long after, skipper Shreyas Iyer (7) and Axar Patel (11) were also dismissed in quick succession in the 11th over.
However, Tilak Varma then came to the rescue as he slammed an unbeaten 51 runs from 26 deliveries. He went on to forge a 42-run stand with Naman Dhir for the sixth wicket, and later a 69-run stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy which helped India seal the win.
The two teams will next travel to Wellington for the third T20I which will be held on Tuesday.