Statsman: Devon Conway is New Zealand’s best

As of date, a total of 95 batters have aggregated 1000 T20I runs in their careers. Only two others, neither of whom are from New Zealand, have done it in fewer innings than Devon Conway.

Devon Conway took 26 innings to reach 1,000 T20I runs. | Photo Credit: AP

26 The number of innings New Zealand’s Devon Conway needed to reach his personal landmark of 1000 runs in T20I cricket. He achieved this in the opening Super 12 match against Australia in Sydney on 22 October 2022 during his unbeaten knock of 92. As of date, a total of 95 batters (Conway is the 91st) have aggregated 1000 T20I runs in their careers. Only two others have done it in fewer innings than Conway. This, however, is the best for a Kiwi batter. Kane Williamson needed 34 innings to reach 1000 runs, in Jan 2017. Conway’s batting average of 57.39 is by far the highest for any batter in the match they reached their 1000th run. Only two others — Babar Azam (54.26) and Dawid Malan (50.15) — averaged over 50 at the end of the match they reached their respective landmarks.

Inns	Mts	Batter	For	Achieved on	Runs	Ave.	100/50	HS
24	24	Dawid Malan	England	20 Mar 2021	1003	50.15	1/5	103*
24	24	Sabawoon Davizi	Czech Republic	24 Jul 2022	1000	47.92	3/5	115*
26	26	Babar Azam	Pakistan	4 Nov 2018	1031	54.26	0/8	97*
26	29	Devon Conway	New Zealand	22 Oct 2022	1033	57.39	0/7	99*
27	29	Virat Kohli	India	2 Oct 2015	1015	46.14	0/9	78*

Note: This is the third occasion in his T20I career, Conway has made a score in the 90s, which equals the record tally of 90s of team-mate Martin Guptill. However, Conway is still to be dismissed in all his three instances, while the latter has been dismissed twice in the 90s.

Batters with maximum scores in the 90s during a T20I career

Martin Guptill (NZ)

Runs	Against	Venue	Date	Result
91*	Zimbabwe	Auckland	11 Feb 2012	Won
97	Australia	Dunedin Univ	25 Feb 2021	Won
93	Scotland	Dubai	3 Nov 2021	Won

Devon Conway (NZ)

Runs	Against	Venue	Date	Result
99*	Australia	Christchurch HO	22 Feb 2021	Won
92*	Bangladesh	Hamilton	28 Mar 2021	Won
92*	Australia	Sydney	22 Oct 2022	Won

Note: Seven other batters have twice made scores in the 90s during their T20I career.

3 The number of occasions where the defending champions lost their opening match of the next edition of the T20 World Cup. Australia, in 2022, dubiously achieved what twice T20WC champions West Indies did so in 2014 and 2021 as defending champions

How the defending champions have fared in their opening game of the next edition.

Year	Result for the defending champion side	Opponent	Venue	Date
2009	India won by 25 runs	Bangladesh	Nottingham	6 June 2009+
2010	Pakistan won by 21 runs	Bangladesh	Gros Islet	1 May 2010
2012	England won by 116 runs	Afghanistan	Colombo RPS	21 Sep 2012
2014	West Indies lost by 7 wickets	India	Mirpur	23 Mar 2014
2016	Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets	Afghanistan	Kolkata	17 Mar 2016
2021	West Indies lost by 6 wickets	England	Dubai	23 Oct 2021
2022	Australia lost by 89 runs	New Zealand	Sydney	22 Oct 2022

+ India won their next game too against Ireland in Nottingham on 10 Jun 2009 making it the only defending champion side to win their first two games.

8 The number of players who have achieved the distinction of aggregating 1000 runs and also taking 50 or more wickets during their T20I career. Hardik Pandya became the latest player to join this elite group when he crossed 1000 career runs in the T20 WC match against Pakistan in Melbourne on 23 Oct 2022. Pandya is incidentally the sixth Asian to do so. This list includes two Pakistanis, one from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and now India. Pandya became the quickest to reach this milestone i.e in the fewest time (days) since his debut. He needed just 2462 days (6 years, 8 months, 27 days). The previous record holder Pakistani Shahid Afridi, who was the first to achieve it, in Dec 2013, needed 2662 days (7 years, 3 months, 13 days).

Players with over 1000 runs and 50 wickets in T20I career (listed chronologically)

Player	For	Achieved on	T20I career
			Mts	Runs	Ave	Wkts	Ave
Shahid Afridi	Pak	11 Dec 2013	99	1416	17.92	98	24.45
Shakib Al Hasan	Ban	16 Mar 2016	+108	2243	23.36	127	21.11
Dwayne Bravo	WI	27 Aug 2016	91	1255	22.02	78	26.10
Tissara Perera	SL	31 May 2018	84	1204	23.15	51	33.67
Mohd Hafeez	Pak	1 Jul 2018	119	2514	26.46	61	22.75
Mohd Nabi	Afg	20 Aug 2018	+104	1686	21.07	84	28.27
Kevin O’Brien	Ire	24 Feb 2019	110	1973	21.22	58	19.81
Hardik Pandya	Ind	23 Oct 2022	+77	1036	24.67	60	27.42

+ current players

14 The number of Man of the Match awards for Virat Kohli after the India-Pakistan T20WC match in Melbourne on 23 Oct 2022. This is now the maximum for any player in T20I history. Afghanistan’s Mohd Nabi (13) and India’s Rohit Sharma (12) follow Kohli with the most MoM awards in T20I cricket. Kohli extended his tally with 15 MoM awards in the match against Bangladesh in Adelaide on 2 November 2022.

Players with maximum Man of the match awards in T20I cricket

MoM	Player	Mts	For	Career span
15	Virat Kohli	113	India	2010-
13	Mohd Nabi	104	Afghanistan	2010-
12	Rohit Sharma	146	India	2007-
11	Shahid Afridi	99	Pakistan	2006-2018
11	Mohd Hafeez	119	Pakistan	2006-2021
11	David Warner	99	Australia	2009-

36 The number of matches played by Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cups. During India’s encounter against South Africa in Perth on 30 October 2022, Rohit became the most capped player in the T20WCs. Previously Sri Lankan Tillekeratne Dilshan held the record of playing in 35 matches from 2007 to 2016. As of now, Rohit Sharma has appeared in 37 matches.

Matches	Player	For	2007	2009	2010	2012	2014	2016	2021	2022
37*	Rohit Sharma	India	4	5	3	5	6	5	5	4*
35	Tillkeratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	5	7	6	7	6	4	—	—
35*	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	5	2	2	2	7	7	6	4*
34	Shoaib Malik	Pakistan	7	7	—	6	4	4	6	—
34	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	7	7	6	6	4	4	—	—
34	Dwyane Bravo	West Indies	2	6	5	5	5	6	5	—
34	David Warner	Australia	—	2	7	6	4	4	7	4*

Note: Rohit Sharma and Shakib Al Hasan are the only two players to appear in all eight editions of the T20WC.

2 The number of players who have the distinction of aggregating 1000 or more runs in the T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli became the latest to achieve this landmark in the T20 World Cups during his knock of 12 against South Africa in Perth on 30 October 2022. In the next match against Bangladesh in Adelaide on 2 Nov 2022 he became the leading run-getter by bettering the previous record tally of runs by Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene.

Leading run getters in T20 World Cup

Runs	Batter	For	Mts	Inns	Ave	100/50	HS	Span
1065	Virat Kohli	India	25	23	88.75	0/13	89*	2012-
1016	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	31	31	39.08	1/6	100	2007-2014
965	Chris Gayle	West Indies	33	31	34.46	2/7	117	2007-2021
921	Rohit Sharma	India	37	34	35.42	0/9	79*	2007-

How the title ‘leading run-getter in T20WC’ changed hands

Runs	Batter	For	Date achieved
117	Chris Gayle	West Indies	11 Sep 2007
149	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	15 Sep 2007
158	Misbah-ul-Haq	Pakistan	18 Sep 2007
168	Justin Kemp	South Africa	19 Sep 2007
178	Kevin Pietersen	England	19 Sep 2007
203	Matthew Hayden	Australia	20 Sep 2007
277	Gautam Gambhir	India	6 Jun 2009
382	Tillakeratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	19 Jun 2009
394	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	30 Apr 2010
1065	Virat Kohli	India	2 Nov 2022

Note: Jayawardene was the first to reach the aggregate of 500 runs (on 7 May 2010) and 1000 runs (on 6 Apr 2014) in T20 World Cup.

All records are correct and updated until 4 November 2022