Discover Indian wicket-keepers with the most 50+ scores in T20Is. From Dhoni to Samson, explore their unforgettable knocks and stats.
Indian Wicket-Keepers to Score Most 50+ Scores in T20I Cricket
Wicket-keeper batters have slowly and steadily become suitable additions to Team India in the T20 format of cricket, where every run is gold-dusted and the impact and knock often supersedes the virtues of consistency. As players under immense pressure to also keep wicket and bat, they often stood up for the team when it mattered the most.
India has seen some quality wicket-keeper batters. Till date, 11 in T20Is have gloved up. And only a few of them have crossed the individual 50-run mark more than once. So let's narrate the Indian wicket-keeper's own stories who have scored 50 plus on most occasions in T20I cricket. These stories are the sight to cherish and brought milestones associated with them.
5. Rishabh Pant - 2 Fifties
One can term Rishabh Pant as a showman when batting is concerned, audacious in stroke play, with two fifties in T20I cricket. Both his fifties were against the West Indies, always playing against pressure, which he fears not.
1st Fifty: The first half-century Pant registered was at Providence in 2019, where he played a composed knock of 65* to take India to a seven-wicket win.
Pant got another fifty by scoring his second fifty on this Eden Grounds sheet in 2022. Among Pant hitting a furious fifty off 28 balls with seven boundaries and a six, he deservedly pocketed the Player of the Match award.
Pant is easily one of those versatile, match-winning players to watch out for in any format.
4. MS Dhoni – 2 Fifties
MS Dhoni, the man of legend, who never gets hot-headed and is a finisher extraordinaire, could count only twice managing to score more than 50 against the opposition throughout his glorious T20I career.
1st Fifty: Dhoni had hammered 56 off 36 balls against England at Bengaluru in 2017 when India had posted an imposing total of 202.
2nd Fifty: In 2018 he thrashed 52 off 28 balls against South Africa at Centurion where India lost the high-scoring chase.
Even though Dhoni's T20I career did not have too many fifties, his impactful innings and the leadership he gave made him a loss no team could afford to lose.
3. KL Rahul – 3 Fifties
KL Rahul is a stylish and versatile player who has three T20I half-centuries in his account, achieved in 2020.
1st Fifty: Vs New Zealand in Auckland, Rahul provided India with a stable 56-run momentum in the chase.
2nd Fifty: Then he scored another fifty at (57) in the next match, which represented his ability to perform consistently.
3rd Fifty: His third fifty came against Australia at Canberra, and his 51 strokes got India's innings ready.
2. Ishan Kishan
He has played some crucial knocks in T20 cricket as his flamboyant left-handed batting style has yielded him three 50+ scores in T20Is.
First Fifty: Kishan scored his first T20I half-century 89 against Sri Lanka in Lucknow in 2022 where he took India to the mountain of a score.
Second Fifty: He batted doggedly for 52 against Australia in Visakhapatnam in 2023 and took India home by the skin of their teeth.
Third Fifty: Kishan hit yet another half-century in Thiruvananthapuram later in the year when India reached a mammoth score of 235.
Kishan's explosive batting means rapid fire changes and the base of big scores.
1. Sanju Samson - 4 Fifties (Including 3 Centuries)
Sanju Samson has been absolutely on fire and has established himself as the most prolific Indian wicket-keeper batter in T20I cricket. He remains the only Indian wicket-keeper to score a T20I century and has done so thrice in 2024.
1st Fifty: Samson's very first fifty he struck was of 54 runs, against Zimbabwe in Harare, which more or less set up for a great tour.
1st Century: His first hundred was 111 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad, which stamped his class.
2nd & 3rd Centuries: During the South Africa tour, more of his sublime form came out as he struck centuries in Durban (107) and Johannesburg (109).
Samson's ability to build innings and scoring big underlines a possibility of him being the harbinger of consistency for India in T20I cricket.
Legacy of Indian wicketkeepers in T20 cricket.
From finishing MS Dhoni to Sanju Samson breaking records, wicket-keeping has played its mettle in T20Is. These players have done very well with the bat, and in fact, have turned out to be match-winners. As time progresses, the importance of wicket-keepers will continue to thrive for the game of T20 and in Indian cricket, the cut-throat competition will make it only stronger.
Who is the next to break records and set benchmarks in this always-changing format? Only time will tell.
