Statsman: Dinesh Karthik’s unique record, Virat Kohli’s long wait

At 15 years and 281 days (as on September 9, 2022), Dinesh Karthik now has the longest playing career by an player in T20I history.

Dinesh Karthik has been playing T20 Internationals since December, 2006. | Photo Credit: AFP

15 The number of years Dinesh Karthik has been playing T20 international cricket for India, since his debut in Johannesburg on 1 Dec 2006, which incidentally, was also India’s maiden T20I match (Karthik was the Man of the match in that game). At 15 years and 281 days, he now has the longest playing career by any player in T20I history. During the recent Asia Cup tournament in the UAE, in the match against Afghanistan in Dubai, he set the record by going ahead of the two Bangladeshi veterans Shakib and Mushfiqur. This match was also the 50th of his T20I career.

Longest careers in T20I cricket

+ career in progress

83 The number of innings taken without a three-figure score in international cricket by Virat Kohli. Nearly three years ago, he had registered his 70th international century (136) on 23 November 2019, in the Kolkata Test match against Bangladesh. His recent maiden T20I century (122*) against Afghanistan in Dubai in the Asia Cup on 8 September 2022, has meant that this effort has taken him 1020 days to register one. Interestingly, during this period, Kohli’s only other competitive cricket, other than the internationals, has been the IPL. In 46 innings he again failed to register a three-figure score (the details are provided in the table below). This is by far the longest in terms of innings and days, he has taken to register a century during his international career.

Virat Kohli’s record in international matches between his 70th and 71st century

Most innings without an international three-figure score for Virat Kohli

122 Virat Kohli’s unbeaten knock against Afghanistan in Dubai on 8 Sep 2022. This is now the highest individual score by an Indian batter in T20I cricket. The previous record was the 118 held by Rohit Sharma against Sri Lanka in Indore on 22 Dec 2017.

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Incidentally, Kohli’s century is the first such score against Afghanistan in T20I cricket. The previous highest was the unbeaten 99 by England’s Luke Wright in the WT20 in Colombo on 21 Sept 2012.

Highest scores for India in each international format

The progress of India’s highest individual scores in T20I cricket — how the record changed hands

Note: Suryakumar Yadav (117 v Eng in Nottingham on 10-7-2022 — lost) recently came close to bettering Rohit Sharma’s 118

96 The number of innings Virat Kohli needed to register his maiden T20I century, against Afghanistan in Dubai on 8 September 2022. This is now the longest in terms of innings and the second longest in terms of days for any batter to reach a maiden three-figure score in T20I cricket history.

Batters taking maximum number of innings to register maiden T20I century

Notes: ** Kohli is the first player to register a maiden T20I century after appearing in over 100 matches.

** Mahmudullah (113), Shoaib Malik (111), Mohd Hafeez (108), Eoin Morgan (107) and Shakib Al Hasan (99) have appeared in maximum innings in T20I cricket without a three-figure score to their credit.

Batters taking maximum number of days since debut to register their maiden T20I century

# Kigali is the capital of Rwanda

522 The number of innings Virat Kohli needed to register his 71st international century during his unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan in Dubai on 8 September 2022. Only two others have reached the landmark of 71 international centuries, with Sachin Tendulkar going on to register 100 centuries. As seen in the table below, Kohli is the quickest to do so in fewer innings, despite his recent struggles of 83 innings without a three-figure score.

Overall record after making 71st international century

7 The number of bowlers from a Test nation who have a better T20I bowling record, statistically, than Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five wickets for four runs against Afghanistan in Dubai on 8 Sep 2022. Fellow-Indian Deepak Chahar’s 6/7 against Bangladesh in Nagpur on 10 Nov 2019 currently represents the best T20I figures by a bowler from a Test-playing country. Following him are Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis (6/8 & 6/16), West Indian Obed McCoy (6/17), Indian Yuzvendra Chahal (6/25), Australian Ashton Agar (6/30) and Sri Lankan Rangana Herath (5/3).

Incidentally, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan in T20Is. Interestingly, in this match, Virat Kohli became the first to register a three-figure score against Afghanistan.

For the record, Bhuvneshwar, with this bowling performance, becomes the first pace bowler in T20I cricket history to claim a five-wicket haul while conceding less than five runs.

Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar (84) became India’s leading wicket-taker in the match against Afghanistan. He went ahead of team-mate Yuzvendra Chahal (83), who held this record since 24 Feb 2022.

Highest individual T20I scores against Afghanistan

Best T20I bowling figures against Afghanistan

282 The number of matches played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium across all international formats. Now this ground has hosted the maximum number of games than any other ground in international cricket history. In the recent Asia Cup tournament on 3 September 2022, between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, Sharjah Cricket Stadium went ahead of the Sydney Cricket Ground to hold this unique distinction.

Cricket grounds hosting maximum number of international matches

Note: Except for Sharjah, rest of the above grounds first hosted Test matches

All records are correct and updated until 9 September 2022