Arshdeep Singh scripts history, becomes first Indian to 150 T20I wickets

Arshdeep Singh etched his name in the record books during the fourth T20I against New Zealand in Auckland on Friday, becoming the first Indian bowler to claim 150 wickets in the shortest format.

The left-arm pacer reached the landmark in the final over of his spell when he dismissed New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner for five. Arshdeep bowled a full delivery outside off, forcing Santner to reach for the shot. The batter sliced it towards sweeper cover, where Nitish Kumar Reddy took a well-judged catch near the boundary. Arshdeep finished with his 150th T20I wicket in his 103rd match, further strengthening his position at the top of India's list of leading wicket-takers in the format. He has also reached the milestone in just 1,577 days since making his T20I debut, the quickest by any bowler. He surpassed Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga, who took 2,325 days to get to 150 wickets. Arshdeep is also among the quickest to the landmark in terms of deliveries bowled. He took 2,143 balls, behind Hasaranga (2,035), Rashid Khan (2,098) and Ehsan Khan (2,143). Among fast bowlers, the previous quickest was Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman, who needed 2,532 deliveries.

The achievement adds to a remarkable year for Arshdeep. With 40 T20I wickets in 2026, he has become the leading wicket-taker in a calendar year among players from Full Member nations. Ireland's Josh Little took 39 wickets in 2022, while Hasaranga claimed 38 in 2024 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 37 in 2022. Arshdeep's consistency has also been reflected in his economy rate. He has been India's leading T20I wicket-taker while maintaining an economy of 8.66.

Most T20I wickets for India

Player Matches Wickets Economy Arshdeep Singh 103 150 8.66 Jasprit Bumrah 100 126 6.52 Axar Patel 116 116 7.76 Hardik Pandya 138 114 8.34