On Friday (8th November), during the opening day of the 2019/20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Karnataka created a new record in Indian T20 cricket history. Breaking the previous record of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the 2018/19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy winners now become the most consecutive T20 winning team in Indian cricket history. Meanwhile, Karnataka is now in the joint second position in the overall list of most consecutive T20 victories.
On the day one of this new domestic T20 tournament season, the defending champions Karnataka beat Uttarakhand by nine wickets at Visakhapatnam.
After winning the toss, Uttarakhand decided to bat first. Karnataka bowlers were very disciplined as they restricted their opposition to 132/6 (20 overs).
Only the captain Tanmay Srivastava (39) and the wicketkeeper-batsman Saurabh Rawat (26) reached the 20-run mark in that innings.
Among the Karnataka bowlers, Abhimanyu Mithun (2/20) and Shreyas Gopal (2/20) both took two wickets each.
In reply, the defending champions chased down the target in 15.4 overs after losing only one wicket. While the opener Ravikumar Samarth (7) departed cheaply, the second wicket had the unbroken 108 runs partnership. Another opener Rohan Kadam was not out on 67 runs (55 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal scored 53 not out off 33 balls.
Karnataka won their 15th straight T20 matches
It was Karnataka’s 15th successive T20 victory. Since 24th January 2018, Karnataka have won all the T20 matches till the date. With their latest victory, they become the most consecutive T20 winning side among the Indian teams.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) team KKR were the previous record holder in this talking list. They won 14 successive T20s from 7th May 2014 to 2nd October 2014. In that period, KKR won nine consecutive IPL matches and five other successive Champions League T20 matches.
Meanwhile, Karnataka have also become the joint-second most consecutive winning side in T20 cricket history. Apart from breaking KKR’s record, they also equalled the New Zealand domestic team Otago’s record of 15 straight T20 victories (including one Super Over victory).
Now, only the Pakistan domestic team Sialkot Stallions is ahead of the Indian team. Sialkot Stallions managed a remarkable record of 25 successive T20 victories from 24th February 2006 to 10th October 2010.
Top teams with most consecutive T20 victories
| Team (Country) | Consecutive victories | Duration |
| Sialkot Stallions (Pakistan) | 25 | February 2006-October 2010 |
| Karnataka (India) | 15* | January 2018-Running |
| Otago (New Zealand) | 15 | December 2012-September 2013 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders (India) | 14 | May 2014-October 2014 |
| Surrey (England) | 13 | June 2003-August 2004 |
| Afghanistan* | 13 | March 2016-May 2017 |
(Special Note: Afghanistan is a T20I side)