Sri Lanka’s Kasun Rajitha holds an unwanted record for the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings.

The right-arm medium-pacer bowled the most expensive spell in T20 international cricket history during Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia in 2019.

Kasun Rajitha conceded 75 runs in his quota of four overs in the first T20I of a three-match series in Adelaide.

Scotland’s Chris Sole features second on the list for the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings.

The pacer finished with expensive figures of 4/72 against New Zealand in Edinburgh in 2022.

The likes of Turkey’s Tunahan Turan, Ireland’s Barry McCarthy and Kyle Abbott of South Africa occupy the next three positions on this undesirable list.

Among the Indian bowlers, pacer Prasidh Krishna holds the record for the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings. He gave away 68 runs versus Australia in the third T20I of a five-match series in Guwahati in 2023.

Know the top 10 list of the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings.

Most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings

Kasun Rajitha | 4-0-75-0 vs Australia in 2019

Sri Lankan bowler Kasun Rajitha set an undesirable record for the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings in 2019. During the first T20I of Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia in Adelaide, the hosts hammered Kasun Rajitha to all parts of the ground as he gave away 75 runs in his four overs. The unfortunate spell helped Australia post a mammoth 233/2 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka could only manage 99/9 as they suffered a massive 134-run loss.

Chris Sole | 4-0-72-1 vs New Zealand in 2022

Scotland’s Chris Sole is second on the list for the most runs conceded by a bowler in a T20I innings. Chris Sole became the second-most expensive bowler in T20Is during the first match of New Zealand’s tour of Scotland in 2022. Despite picking James Neesham’s wicket, Sole gave away 72 runs in his quota of four overs in Edinburgh. With the help of Sole’s costly spell, New Zealand scored 225/5 in their 20 overs. The Kiwis later restricted Scotland to 157/8 to register a comprehensive 68-run victory.

Tunahan Turan | 4-0-70-1 vs Czech Republic in 2019

Turkey’s Tunahan Turan featured third on the unwanted list. The right-arm medium-pacer conceded 70 runs in his four overs against Czech Republic in a Continental Cup clash in 2019. Electing to bat first, the Czech Republic batters smashed the Turkish bowlers including Tunahan Turan to post 278/4 in their 20 overs. In reply, Turkey were bundled out for 21 to record the then lowest score in T20 cricket.

Photo credit: Alamy

Eoin Morgan’s Team Kolkata registered their 100th Indian T20 League victory on Sunday, April 11, when they got the better of a struggling Hyderabad unit by 10 runs.

Hyderabad’s decision to field first backfired big time as Kolkata made a blistering start to their new season. Openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill combined for a 53-run partnership, which was followed by Rahul Tripathi’s quick-fire half-century and a little cameo from Dinesh Karthik which took Kolkata total to 187/6.

No one apart from Rashid Khan from Hyderabad managed to keep their bowling economy in check. David Warner’s men faltered with the bat too, with only Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow making sort of mark. The contrast in their batting display can be laid down by the fact that while Kolkata scored 50/0 in the powerplay overs and 95/1 between 7-15 overs, Hyderabad could only muster 35/2 in powerplay and 84/1 in the middle overs.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the key stats from the game.

Nitish Rana - The man in form

Opener Nitish Rana left no stones unturned as he was on the neck of Hyderabad’s bowlers right from the beginning. The 27-year-old first played a fifty-plus run stand with Shubman Gill and repeated the feat with Rahul Tripathi. In the midst, he got his 12th half-century in the Indian T20 League, two of which have come against Hyderabad.

Interestingly, this was Rana’s third half-century in his last five Indian T20 League innings, with the 27-year-old crossing the 80-run mark in all of those outings. This effort of a 56-ball 80 is now the second-best score by a Kolkata batsman against Hyderabad. Here’s the list:

• Gautam Gambhir - 90* in April 2016
• Nitish Rana - 80 in April 2021
• Yusuf Pathan - 72 in May 2014

Rana scored a whopping 75% of his runs through boundaries (60/80), which is also the second most runs scored by a Kolkata player against Hyderabad through boundaries. Rana played with a certain pattern against Hyderabad. While he was particularly destructive against the pacers, scoring 75% of his runs, he looked weak against spinners as his strike rate against them was just 90.9. He anyway got the job done.

Rashid Khan loves Kolkata

While all of the other Hyderabad bowlers were taken to the cleaners, the Afghanistan duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi kept things tight for Kolkata. Rashid Khan, in particular, was at his very best picking two wickets while giving away just 24 runs. Nabi, on the other hand, picked two but went for 32 runs.

As things stand, Rashid Khan has an impressive economy of 6.78 against Kolkata in the Indian T20 League, which is the best figure by any other bowler with a minimum of 250 balls. As far as Nabi is concerned, both of his victims - Rana and Morgan - were left-handers, which means that 76.92 % of his wickets in the league are left-handers. He has had major success against them, bowling at an economy of 5.53 compared to his economy of 7.92 against right-handers.

Pace bowling comparison 

It goes without saying that there was a huge difference between the pace bowling contingent of both the teams. Despite having the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T. Natarajan in the rank, the Hyderabad pacers gave away a whopping 131 runs at an economy of over 10. The stark contrast here is the return of Kolkata’s pacers, who gave away 97 runs in 11 overs at 8.82 while bowling 25 dot balls.

If not for Bairstow and Pandey, the figure would have been much lesser. Prasidh Krishna, in particular, was the star of the show, picking two wickets while giving away 35 runs. He has now taken his tally to six wickets against Hyderabad in the Indian T20 League, which is the most wickets he has picked against any other team.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @IPL

Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna’s early inspiration to bowl fast came from an unlikely, but perhaps, an apt place.

Growing up, Prasidh watched MotoGP and was influenced by multiple world champion Valentino Rossi, whose performances seeped into the Bengaluru boy’s formative years of playing cricket.

“I used to cycle a lot because our road was a dead end,�?Prasidh told the Kolkata team website. “I used to watch a lot of Valentino Rossi back then, so I had followed him a lot. 

“Maybe that's where the speed factor came in because I was, you know, seeing him go so fast. It's so much speed. So that's where my liking for speed came into existence.�?/span>

Valentino Rossi is a legend. The Italian racer is a seven-time MotoGP world champion. He won the premier class title in the 500cc in only his second season in 2001 with Honda. It was the first of five straight titles.

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A post shared by Valentino Rossi (@valeyellow46)

During the course, Rossi got the better of his rivals Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi comprehensively and even won championships when he changed teams, moving from Honda to Yamaha.

In recent years, Valentino Rossi’s rivalry was against Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, both formidable in their challenge.

However, Rossi’s last premier class title came in 2009 although he still races today at the age of 42 for the Petronas Yamaha SRT team.

Prasidh Krishna was just 13 years old when Rossi was last champion.

But from 2001 and 2009, Valentino Rossi took part in 151 races and won 75 of those, which explains the Italian’s influence over a young Prasidh.

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A post shared by Prasidh Krishna (@skiddyy)

“Nobody really advised me in terms of taking up cricket as a career option,�?Prasidh pointed out. “It's just that my school coach figured out that I was tall and I was getting the ball to move back. So, the coach is the one who first corrected my running technique, the angle of my running, my loading and all of that.

“By doing all this, I also realised I was getting quicker and better,�?added Prasidh, who admires Brett Lee. “I was getting sharper with things. So that is when I realized, OK, there is something with fast bowling. And I always had a liking for fast bowling.�?/span>

Prasidh Krishna made his maiden appearance in One Day Internationals against England earlier this month and recorded the best bowling figures for an Indian on ODI debut when he picked up 4/54.

Pacer Prasidh Krishna recorded the best bowling figures in ODI debut for India as he helped his team secure a 66-run victory over England in the first game of the three-match series on Tuesday.

The Karnataka fast bowler became the first Indian bowler to pick more than three wickets on ODI debut as he ended with figures of 4/54 in Pune. Prasidh scalped Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Sam Billings and wrapped up the innings by dismissing Tom Curran.

The right-arm pacer broke the record held by Noel David who had registered figures of 3/21 against West Indies in the Port of Spain in 1997. The record stood for 24 years.

Only 14 bowlers have picked up a five-wicket haul in their maiden appearances with the record for the best bowling figures in an ODI has been set by Kagiso Rabada. He picked up 6/16 in South Africa’s match vs Bangladesh in 2015.

Interestingly, before Prasidh Krishna, 16 Indian bowlers had taken three-wicket hauls in ODI debuts.

The best bowling figures in ODI debut for India

Prasidh Krishna - 4/54, vs England in 2021

Noel David - 3/21 vs West Indies in 1997

Varun Aaron - 3/24, vs  England in 2011

Subroto Banerjee - 3/30 vs West Indies in 1991

Hardik Pandya - 3/31 vs New Zealand in 2016

Dilip Doshi - 3/32 vs Australia in 1980

Tinu Yohanan - 3/33 vs West Indies in 2002 

Bhupinder Singh - 3/34 vs United Arab Emirates in 1994

Bhagwath Chandrasekhar - 3/36 vs New Zealand in 1976

Piyush Chawla - 3/37 vs Bangladesh in 2007

Featured photo: BCCI

The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced an 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming ODI series against England to be played in Pune.

Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna has earned his maiden India call-up while swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav, all-rounder Krunal Pandya and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj have also been included in the Indian ODI squad for the first time.

TEAM - Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, W Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur.

�?BCCI (@BCCI) March 19, 2021

The Chetan Sharma-headed selection panel has, however, ignored in-form Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal, who were the two highest run-getters in the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shaw and Padikkal had amassed 827 and 737 runs respectively in the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The three-match ODI series will be played from March 23 to 28 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. 

Meanwhile, India and England are currently involved in a five-match T20 series, with the series tied 2-2. The deciding T20I will be played at the Motera Stadium on Saturday, March 20.

India’s ODI squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur.

Feature image courtesy: BCCI