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Lowest score in T20 international defended by India: Lowest total defended in T20 World Cup history

Dixit Bhargav
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Lowest score in T20 international defended by India: Lowest total defended in T20 World Cup history

India will have to defend their lowest T20I innings total if they are to continue with their unbeaten streak in the ongoing eighth edition of ICC T20 World Cup. Having failed as a batting unit in their third Super 12 match against South Africa in Perth tonight, the bowlers have no option than to do the heavy lifting in the second innings to not let the opposition chase down a 134-run target.

Electing to bat first on a pace-friendly surface at the Optus Stadium, India captain Rohit Sharma (15) was part of a top-order failure which saw them getting reduce to 49/5 even before the 10th over started.

In addition to Sharma, vice-captain KL Rahul (9), former captain Virat Kohli (12), all-rounders Deepak Hooda (0) and Hardik Pandya (2) and wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik (6) were all part of a collective batting collapse on a Sunday night.

Had it not been for batter Suryakumar Yadav’s counterattacking 11th T20I half-century, India would’ve struggled to reach the 100-run mark primarily due to a lack of depth in their batting department. Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the last over of the powerplay, Yadav scored a hard-hitting 68 (40) at a strike rate of 170 to impress one and all with a much-needed devil-may-case approach.

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Included in the South African Playing XI in place of spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, fast bowler Lungi Ngidi was the pick of their bowlers with figures of 4-0-29-4. Ngidi, who picked all four wickets in his first three overs, dismissed the likes of Sharma, Rahul, Kohli and Pandya.

In addition to Ngidi, pacers Wayne Parnell and Anrich Nortje also made optimum use of the conditions to pick three and one wicket respectively.

Lowest score in T20 international defended by India

ScoreOversOppositionGroundYear
138/620ZimbabweHarare2016
144/820EnglandNagpur2017
146/720BangladeshBengaluru2016
152/620South AfricaColombo (RPS)2012
153/220South AfricaDurban2007

Lowest total defended in T20 World Cup history

As far as T20 World Cups are concerned, six innings totals lower than 133 have been successfully defended in the past. Speaking particularly about India, the third-lowest innings total in the above mentioned table is their lowest in a World Cup. In fact, the fourth and fifth-lowest in that table have also come in T20 World Cup matches.

ScoreOversTeamOppositionGroundYear
11919.2Sri LankaIrelandDharamsala2016
123/720AfghanistanWest IndiesNagpur2016
126/720New ZealandIndiaNagpur2016
128/720South AfricaNew ZealandLondon (Lord’s)2009
130/520South AfricaIndiaNottingham2009

The record for lowest T20I innings total defended in Australia lies with Papua New Guinea for successfully defending 116 runs against Ireland in Townsville six years ago. If India manage to win this match, it will become the fourth-lowest innings total defended in a T20I played in Australia.

NOTE: Rain-affected matches reduced to less than 20 overs per innings haven’t been considered in this story.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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