By the Numbers: Buttler's mind-boggling average, Hasaranga's record run
Jos Buttler is in the form of his life. Across four innings in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, the opening batter has accumulated 214 runs at an average of 214.00 and a strike-rate of 153.95 with the help of 12 sixes.
His 101 not out off 67 balls against Sri Lanka in Sharjah made him the first man to score a hundred for England in each format of international cricket as he already has two centuries in Tests and nine in ODIs.
No batsman in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history has stayed at the wicket longer than him (67 balls). He broke the record of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels. The West Indies duo batted 66 balls against India in Bridgetown in 2010 and against England in Kolkata in 2016 respectively.
As England lost three wickets in the Powerplay, Buttler first anchored the innings and then powered England to a winning total of 163. His first 50 came off 45 balls and the second off only 22. The century however was the slowest in the competition’s history that to do date has witnessed 9 centuries. The previous slowest hundred was by Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene against Zimbabwe in Guyana in 2010.
Buttler blasts tournament's first century | T20 World Cup
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Eoin Morgan the batter might not be at his best (he is averaging only 16.12 in nine innings in T20Is this year) but Eoin Morgan the captain is taking himself and his team to new heights.
England’s 26-run victory against Sri Lanka in Sharjah was their 43rd win under Morgan making him the most successful captain in Men’s T20Is.
He went past the record of India’s MS Dhoni and Afghanistan’s recently retired Asghar Afghan (42 T20I wins each). Of Morgan’s 43 wins, two came in the super overs – against Pakistan in Sharjah in 2015 and New Zealand in Auckland in 2019.
Match Highlights: England v Sri Lanka
With eight wickets in the Super 12s stage (the most by anyone), Sri Lanka’s wily leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has taken this year’s tally to 34 scalps, a new world record for most wickets in a calendar year in Men’s T20Is.
Hasaranga and South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi are going neck to neck for this record this year. Shamsi has 32 victims in 2021, the second highest in a calendar year.
Hasaranga, who is playing in his first T20 World Cup, is having a memorable tournament with both bat and ball.
He took three wickets for 21 runs against England and also scored 34 off 21 balls. In the previous match, against South Africa in Sharjah, he became only the third bowler, after Brett Lee in 2007 and Curtis Campher in 2021, to take a hat-trick in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The leg-spinner also had taken a hat-trick on his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in Galle in 2017.
Wanindu Hasaranga: Sri Lanka superstar | T20 World Cup
Two batters in as many days reached the landmark of 2000 runs in Men’s T20Is.
Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad completed the milestone during the course of his 45 off 33 balls against Namibia in Abu Dhabi and became the first from his country to 2000 runs in T20Is.
The following day, England’s Jos Buttler became the second from England, the first being Eoin Morgan, to 2000 runs. Only 13 batters in the world have 2000plus runs in Men’s T20Is.
Afghanistan’s charismatic fast bowler Hamid Hassan staged a comeback to T20 Internationals after a gap of five years. He had not played a T20I since the last T20 World Cup in India in 2016. In his first appearance he showed what Afghanistan were missing as he accounted for three wickets for 9 runs, the best figures for any Afghan fast bowler in ICC Men’s T20 World Cups.
In the absence of the off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who is nursing an injury, it was the spirited display of fast bowling by Afghan seamers as they took 8 wickets between them, the most they have ever nailed in a T20 International.
Player-of-the-match Naveen-ul-Haq was the other seamer who took 3 wickets against Namibia while Gulbadin Naib dismissed two batters.
Nissan POTD: Hamid Hassan's fiery spell
England have taken 39 out of 40 available wickets in the tournament and bowled out their opponent three times in four games.
Sri Lanka, Australia and West Indies lost all of their 10 wickets to England while Bangladesh lost nine. There have been four run outs at the hands of England fielders and 35 wickets by bowlers at an average of 12.34, the best by any team in the tournament.
India on the other hand have the highest bowling average (130.50) and taken only two wickets. These are remarkable numbers considering there are 16 bowlers in the tournament who have taken 2 wickets off 2 balls.