While making the last over count is extremely important in any limited over game, it’s even more so in a T20 game, because the last over of a T20I innings holds the potential of changing the complete complexion of the game. It has happened so often in T20 cricket, not just at the international level, but in franchise leagues around the world as well.
Here are the three Indian batsmen who have scored 19 runs for India in the last over of a T20I innings –
Rohit Sharma
The first man to score 19 runs for India in the last over of a T20I innings was the Indian captain Rohit Sharma who did it against West Indies in 2018, while playing at the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow. Rohit, although he was not the permanent captain at that stage, was standing in for Kohli in that particular series and he scored an unbeaten hundred while opening the batting, which was the 4th hundred of his T20I career.
Rohit faced Carlos Braithwaite in the last over of that game and smashed him to all corners to power India off to a score which was overpar and India eventually won the game.
Deepak Chahar
This might be a slightly surprising name on the list because although Deepak Chahar can bat, he is still considered more of a bowling allrounder and bats at no. 8 for India generally.
However, in the third game of the T20I series against New Zealand that India played right after the T20 World Cup 2021, Chahar showed what he could do as a lower order batsman, as he finished the innings for India with quite a few boundaries and scored 19 runs all by himself in the 20th over of the innings.
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav has not batted in the last over of a T20 international game a lot of times in the past, but in the recent third T20I against West Indies, he had the opportunity to do so and he was well set as well. The West Indies fast bowlers were struggling with a little bit of dew towards the end of the innings.
Facing Romario Shepherd in the 20th over, Suryakumar just made sure he put the ball over the fence everytime Shepherd missed his length while trying to go for a yorker. Shepherd eventually got Suryakumar out on the last ball of the innings, but before that Suryakumar had already done enough damage.
