India registered a thrilling victory in the third T20I against Sri Lanka in Pallekele to register a 3-0 clean sweep against the hosts. Defending a low total of 137/9, Rinku Singh and the skipper Suryakumar Yadav shone with their bowling in the last two overs of the match and didn’t let Sri Lanka go beyond India’s total.
The scores were level and India went on to win the match in the super-over, registering a famous win and whitewashing the series. However, this was not the first time India won a low-scoring thriller in T20I cricket. The Men in Blue have showcased some brilliant bowling to defend a low total in the shortest format. After this performance let’s look back at the top lowest totals defended by India in T20I cricket.
Lowest T20I Totals defended by India
5. 152/6 against South Africa in 2012
India registered a thrilling one-run win against South Africa during the 2012 T20 World Cup fixture in Colombo on October 2nd. The Men in Blue needed a big win in their last league match to qualify for the semi-final and ended up putting up a total of 152/6, thanks to Suresh Raina’s 45(34) runs. After that, the Indian bowlers did a tremendous job and took the match to the last ball. Lakshmipathy Balaji dismissed Morne Morkel in the second-last ball of the match to wrap up the innings as the Proteas fell short of just one run from India’s total. However, despite winning the game, India failed to make it into the top four.
4. 146/7 against Bangladesh in 2016
Another famous T20 World Cup victory for India came in a must-win match against Bangladesh in Bengaluru on March 23, 2016. On a batting-friendly surface of the M. Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangladesh restricted India at a score of 146/7. However, the Indian bowlers also did great work with the ball by taking wickets at regular intervals and took the match to the last over. Coming to bowl the last over, Hardik Pandya took back-to-back wickets on the fourth and fifth balls after getting hit for two boundaries on the first three balls. In the last ball, wicketkeeper MS Dhoni made a famous run out as India won that epic counter by just one run.
3. 144/7 against England in 2017
After losing the first match by seven wickets, India needed to win the second T20I of a three-match series against England to keep themselves alive in the series. With the help of KL Rahul’s 71(47) runs, India posted 144/7 in the second match of the series in Vidarbha on January 29, 2017. However, the Indian bowlers again stood up in a low-scoring encounter with death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah pulling up a match-winning performance by giving just two runs in the last over. India won the match by five runs and defended another low total in T20I cricket.
2. 138/6 against Zimbabwe in 2016
The three-match T20I series between India and Zimbabwe was levelled 1-1 with the final T20I of the series being played in Harare on June 22, 2016. In a series decider, India could only post 138/6 on board, thanks to Kedar Jadhav’s 58(42) and Axar Patel’s quickfire 20*(11). Despite a low score, and the inexperienced bowling line-up, India didn’t let the hosts cross the line and restricted them to 135/6, winning the match by just three runs to clinch the three-match series by 2-1.
1. 119/10 against Pakistan in 2014
India defended their lowest score in T20I against the arch-rivals Pakistan during the 2024 T20 World Cup fixture in New York on June 9th. Batting first at a difficult surface of the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, India were bowled out for just 119 runs in 19 overs. Rishabh Pant was the top scorer for Men in Blue with a fighting 42(31). Chasing a target, Pakistan had a steady start but started losing momentum with a regular fall of wickets. Jasprit Bumrah delivered a match-winning spell taking three wickets as India bowled Pakistan out just 113 runs 20 overs to win by six runs and defend their lowest total in T20I.