Arshdeep Singh Eyes Historic T20I Records in Asia Cup 2025

Arshdeep Singh returns for Asia Cup 2025 in UAE, chasing 100 T20I wickets and a unique death-over record as India’s leading T20 bowler.

Arshdeep Singh (Image Source: Google)

Arshdeep Singh is back where he belongs. Recently it was reported that the left-arm speedster Arshdeep Singh ‘got impatient’ after not getting a chance in the five Test series in England. Now he is in India's squad for the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates along with Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana, as frontline pacers. He belongs to T20s and now has a chance to set two special records when he bowls in his first match in this Asia Cup, being played under T20 International format.

He is India's top T20I wicket-taker, with 99 scalps at an average of 18.30 and at the verge of becoming first from India to record 100 wickets in T20I. So far only 24 bowlers, before him, have claimed 100 wickets in T20I. If Arshdeep reaches the milestone in his first match in Asia Cup (his 64th T20I), he will be number four to record the feat in the least number of matches.

24 bowlers who have recorded 100 wickets in T20I with number of matches in which the record was achieved: 53- Rashid Khan, 54- S Lamichhane, 63- W Hasaranga, 66- Rizwan Butt, 71- Ehsan Khan and Haris Rauf, 72- MR Adair and Bilal Khan, 74- Shaheen Shah Afridi, 76- SL Malinga, 78- IS Sodhi, 80- KC Karan, 81- Mustafizur Rahman, 82- H Ssenyondo, 83- A Zampa, 84- Shakib Al Hasan and TG Southee, 85- SO Ngoche, 88- Shadab Khan,90- MJ Santner, 92- CJ Jordan, 100- AU Rashid, 103- Shahid Afridi, 135- Mohammad Nabi.

He is also on the verge of another big record. When he will claim his first wicket in death overs (over number 16-20), he shall become first India bowler to take 50 wickets in death overs. Would you believe that Arshdeep's death over wicket record in T20 International is better than even Jasprit Bumrah. Arshdeep has taken 49 out of his 99 wickets in death overs in 53 matches.

Most wickets for India in death overs in T20I: Arshdeep Singh 49 in 53 matches, Jaspreet Bumrah 44 in 58 matches, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 36 in 61 matches, Hardik Pandya 35 in 45 matches, Shardul Thakur 21 in 19 matches, R Ashwin 19 in 27 matches.

Arshdeep made his T20I debut on 07 July 2022 vs England at Southampton and has claimed 99 wickets in 63 T20 International matches. Since then, only Rizwan Butt (Bahrain) 122 and Ehsan Khan (Hong Kong) 106 have claimed more wickets than him in T20I but Rizwan played 76 and Ehsan Khan played 71 matches and that too not against the top teams. Arshdeep is better off at strike rate also.

So far Arshdeep has claimed 172 wickets in 122 T20 matches since his T20I debut and only Rashid Khan (200) and Harris Rauf (174) have claimed more wickets than him, but Rashid played 154 and Harris played 129 matches. Arshdeep is better off at strike rate also.

Arshdeep Singh starred as India ended their wait for a major ICC trophy win with victory in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and USA and cemented his reputation as one of the leading powerplay and death bowlers in the game. And 2024 was the year when Arshdeep established himself as a world-class bowler in T20I and was selected Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards 2024. During the year he was the leading Indian wicket-taker bagging 36 wickets in just 18 games.

Only four players in the world took more T20I wickets than Arshdeep in the calendar year – Saudi Arabia’s Usman Najeeb (38), Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga (38), UAE’s Junaid Siddique (40) and Hong Kong’s Ehsan Khan (46) – with all four playing more matches. Of those bowlers, only Hasaranga featured for a full-member nation. Arshdeep took his wickets at an average of just 15.31 and, despite being on bowling duty in the powerplay and death overs, finished the year with an economy rate of 7.49.

This year he has so far played only 3 T20I claiming 4 wickets and this is the reason that he is currently number 10 in the T20 rankings. Now he has a chance to script a new history. Arshdeep will have to forget the disappointment of not playing a Test and focus on T20 cricket again.