Taking wickets in a batting-oriented format is excellent stuff. Nowadays bowlers bowl on flat batting decks in the shortest format of the game, bringing out the bowlers’ creative side, forcing them to showcase their variations. Every bowler’s success in the T20 format is proportional to their skills. Over the years, the celebrated game has spectated many great bowlers to come and dominate the format. Let’s have a look at the bowlers with the fastest 50 wickets in T20 International.
Ajantha Mendis
Among test-playing nations, former Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis holds the record for the fastest 50 wickets in T20I, achieving the milestone in just 26 games. The right-hand multi-delivery spinner deceived everyone with his unplayable carom ball, off-spin, and leg-spin. There were very few batters who were able to handle him. In the 2012 T20 World Cup, Mendis returned with a bowling figure of 6/8 against Zimbabwe, the best figure in T20s ever.
Mark Adair
Mark Adair is an Irish medium-fast bowler who has recently hogged the limelight with his quality swing bowling, getting 2nd place on the list of the fastest 50 wickets in T20. The 27 years old created the record against Sri Lanka in the 2021 T20 World Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi, touching the feat in mere 28 matches. Adair boasts a fascinating strike rate of 15.1 in the format.
Kuldeep Yadav
The best chinaman bowler in the international arena lately, Kuldeep Yadav reached the 50 wickets mark in T20 international in only 30 matches, making him the 3rd fastest bowler to take 50 T20I wickets. He bamboozles the batsmen due to his knack for bowling astonishing googly and leg spin with pace and flight variations. In the 3rd T20 of the India tour of West Indies 2023, the ace wrist-spinner claimed Brandon King’s wicket as his half-century scalp.
Imran Tahir
One of the mainstays of the South African bowling line-up from 2014 to 2019, leggie Imran Tahir finds himself in the 4th spot on the tally of the fastest 50 wickets in T20I. Tahir outreached the landmark in his 31st game, which happened to be against New Zealand in 2017. The Pakistani-born Proteas bowler possessed mind-boggling googlies to get most of his scalps.
Among associate countries, Botswana leg-spinner Dhruv Kumar Maisuria has bagged the fastest 50 wickets in T20I in just 22 matches.
List of Fastest 50 Wickets In T20I
| Player | Matches | Against | Year |
| D Maisuria (BOTS) | 22 | Eswatini | 2023 |
| S Idrus (MAL) | 25 | Myanmar | 2023 |
| A Mendis (SL) | 26 | Pakistan | 2008 |
| M Adair (IRE) | 28 | Sri Lanka | 2021 |
| S Lamichane (NEP) | 29 | Ireland | 2022 |
| K Yadav (IND) | 30 | West Indies | 2023 |
| I Tahir (SA) | 31 | New Zealand | 2017 |
| R Khan (AFG) | 31 | Bangladesh | 2018 |
| V Patel (KEN) | 31 | Botswana | 2023 |
| W Hasaranfa (SL) | 32 | England | 2021 |
Ajantha Mendis has taken the fastest 50 wickets in T20I (26).
Kuldeep Yadac has taken the fastest 50 wickets in T20I (30) among Indians.
Senior Cricket Content Editor at Skyblogs Cricket.
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