The Twenty20 Cricket that is known as bowler’s nightmare had some great performances by the bowlers. There were also talks that the bowlers Wasim Akram, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Shane Warne will be very hard to score off in the T20 version. But there are some bowlers in the current era who had stamped their authority in the shortest version of the game. Here is a list of top five spells that were bowled by bowlers in World T20 in its previous editions.
5. Mark Gillespie vs Kenya in Durban, 2007
Gillespie, not the one with his surname Jason but Jason’s Trans-Tasmanian counterpart Mark is one of the forgotten face in New Zealand cricket. He was one of the crucial member of the team in 2007. The year got better for him in the World T20 in South Africa, where in the very first match of the tournament for the Kiwis, he picked 4 wickets in a span of 2.5 overs giving away only 7 runs against minnows Kenya in a group game. He opened the bowling alongside quickie Shane Bond and both of them in tandem ripped off the fragile Kenyan batting line-up. Gillespie called the shots right away as he picked two wickets in his first over, which also turned out to be the crucial wickets of Kenya’s most dangerous batsmen Steve Tikolo and opener David Obuya. Kenya were reduced to a sorry 1/4 in 2 overs and could never think of coming back into the match. Gillespie was not done with his demolition job as he came back in his third over to pick the last two wickets as Kenya folded for an appalling 73. It was a comfortable finish for New Zealand, with a 9-wicket win eventually with Gillespie running away with the Player of the match award.
4. Sunil Narine vs Sri Lanka in Colombo, 2012
The stage was ready for the finals of 2012 World T20. West Indies, after choosing to bat first put on a fighting total of 137 with the help of some lusty blows from Marlon Samuels. Ajantha Mendis dented the West Indian batting line-up by picking up 4 wickets for just 12 runs from his quota of four overs, the best bowling figures by a bowler in World T20 finals. In spite of being the best bowling performance, Mendis’ spell failed to come into the top 5 spells in World T20’s. Instead, another impressive bowling performance from the same game gets a look in into the list. Sunil Narine’s spell of 3.4-0-9-3 made it to the list. It was not only an economic performance but it also helped West Indies to win the World T20. Defending a par total of 138, West Indies had put in their faith in Narine to come good and win the match for them. Narine responded his teammates in style as he applied brakes on the Lankan innings and once when DL was about to came into equation, Jayawardene seemed to up the run-rate. That’s when Narine struck with his first scalp and when Nuwan Kulasekara was threatening to take the game away from Windies, Narine accounted for him before dismissing Malinga to shut the door of Sri Lankan batting. Eventually West Indies bundled out Lanka for 101 and went on to lift the trophy.
3. Rudra Pratap Singh vs South Africa in Durban, 2007
Many would have forgotten the man behind India’s triumph in the 2007 World T20, RP Singh. RP Singh, who shone for India with the ball throughout the tournament had many impressive performances to his name. And the one that stood out is against South Africa. Coming from a thumping win over England, India needed nothing other than a victory to seal its spot in the semi-finals. India were off to a shaky start as they were reduced to 61-4 in the eleventh over. Then it was Rohit Sharma and skipper MS Dhoni who anchored the Indians to a below par 146, a total that needed the bowlers to come good in order to defend. RP Singh provided exactly what was needed from him as he claimed the wickets of dangerous Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith in his very first over and accounted for Shaun Pollock in his third over inside the power-play. The break-throughs made the proteas to play with caution. And when the Proteas were looked to cruise off, RP Singh struck again to remove the set Albie Morkel to finish with a figures of 4-0-13-4.
2. Umar Gul vs New Zealand at The Oval, 2009
Umar Gul, one of the most sought after bowlers in T20 circuit is the second leading wicket taker in the history of Twenty20 Internationals. He is the only pacer who proved his skill and ability to pick up a fifer in T-20 cricket twice. His first fifer came against New Zealand at The Oval during the World T20 in England. It was a Super-Eight game for Pakistan which was an extremely crucial one since a victory would have given them a place in the semifinals. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first, only to be bowled out for a paltry 99 in 18.3 overs. Scott Styris top-scored with 22, but the rest collapsed with Gul being the destroyer-in-chief with 5 wickets for just 6 runs off his 3 overs. When Gul came into the attack in the 13th over of the match, the kiwis were playing it safe with a score of 72 for 4 and setting a platform to score runs at the death. But Umar Gul had other ideas as he picked five wickets in a span of five overs. Gul accounted for the wickets of Scott Styris, Peter McGlashan, Nathan McCullum, James Franklin and Kyle Mills, all are players who are capable of scoring runs with the bat. Pakistan chased the 100 runs required without much difficulty, winning by 6 wickets in the end with 6.5 overs to spare. Pakistan qualified for the Semi-Finals and even went to win the championship in the end, as this spell from Gul gave them a huge morale booster.
1. Ajantha Mendis vs Zimbabwe in Colombo, 2012
Sri Lanka, the hosts of 2012 World T20 won the opening match of the tournament against Zimbabwe in style as Lanka’s mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis broke his own world record of best bowling as rewrote the best bowling figures in Twenty20 internationals as well as in World Cup history. Batting first after losing the toss, Jayawardena led Sri Lanka posted 182 runs for 4 wickets courtesy Sangakkara’s 44, Jeevan Mendis’ 43 and Dilshan’s 39. Zimbabwe’s innings in reply was collapsed for a partly 100 in the 18th over itself. Ajantha Mendis and Jeevan Mendis crushed batting line-up by taking 9 wickets in their 8 overs. Ajantha’s show started in 6th over of the innings when he bowled Sibanda on third delivery, and had Brendon Taylor stumped in the very next ball. He took one wicket each in his second and third over before claiming two in the fourth over. So totally he took 6 wickets for 8 runs including 2 maidens in his spell and went on to record the world’s best bowling figures in T20 cricket, bettering his own previous best bowling record of 6 for 16 runs against Australia.