The Twenty20 cricket is the youngest format in professional cricket has it has a life span of little below 17 years. The format officially began in 2003 during English domestic season with the introduction of Twenty20 Cup. The new format came into existence at the International level inside two years.

These 17 years were enough to witness some variety of records due to the increase in demand for the format. In this article, we look at some of the records from the T20 format which are active for more than a decade at least.

Here we look at five major records in T20 cricket which haven’t been broken for more than a decade:

5. Most consecutive wins (2010)

Many teams have registered pretty long winning streaks in the recent times but have fell a long way behind of the biggest winning streak ever recorded in the Twenty20 cricket. It is Sialkot Stallions who hold the record as they won 25 consecutive matches in the T20 format which they played across six domestic competitions between 2006 and 2010.

The Sialkot team won each and every match played in the T20 tournaments during 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 Pakistan domestic seasons. They began the 2010-11 Domestic tournament with a win to extend their winning streak to 25.

The dream run finally came to an end in 2010 October when Sialkot fell 14 runs short of a 198-run chase against Rawalpindi Rams. The Stallions were 163/4 in 15.1 overs during the chase but scored only 21 runs in the last 29 balls when 35 runs were required. No team other than Sialkot till date managed to win more than 15 consecutive matches in the Twenty20 format.

4. Youngest captain (2009)

Awarding T20I status to associate nations witnessed players of the secondary school becoming International cricketers and the same happened with a few players who were well past half-century in the age. However, they couldn’t break two records which have been created around the 2010s – The youngest player to make a debut and the youngest to make captaincy debut. The Royal Bank of Scotland Twenty20 Cup took place during the 2009 Pakistan domestic season.

During the game between Faisalabad Wolves and Quetta Bears, a total of ten players made their debut. The Quetta team itself had six debutants including Taimur Ali who was the team’s captain. Taimur was a week away from his 18th birthday (17 years and 358 days) when he made his T20 and captaincy debut. Taimur wasn’t an unknown personality as he represented Pakistan Under-19s at the age of 15-16 years itself.

By making his debut for Quetta in the T20 competition, Taimur Ali became the youngest captain in the Twenty20 format, a record which is still alive even after nearly 11 years. The youngest player in the T20 cricket also debuted for Quetta Bears during the 2012-13 season. Shah Mureed was only 13 years and 284 days when he made his T20 debut against Multan Tigers. Mureed bagged a duck on debut and scored 9* four days later. Mureed hasn’t played a professional game other than those two T20 games.

3. Most byes conceded in a match (2008)

Mark Boucher is known for being the most prolific wicketkeeper in International Cricket. However, one record he might not be proud of came during a T20I match against West Indies in 2008. The South Africa wicketkeeper conceded as many as 15 runs through byes. These are the most number of byes a keeper conceded in a T20I match.

Interestingly, all those 15 runs through byes came in the last five overs of West Indies’ innings. The last over bowled by Morne Morkel began with Daren Sammy hitting a maximum. The next five balls yielded eight runs including seven of them through byes. West Indies ended with a total of 131/7 out of which 29 runs came through extras (15 byes, 9 leg-byes and 5 wides).

Boucher’s tough day behind the stumps didn’t cost the Proteas who chased down the target losing six wickets with four balls to spare. The 15 byes by Mark Boucher are not only the most conceded by a keeper in a T20I game but all in a single match in all Twenty20 format. Gurkeerat Singh came close to breaking this record in 2011 when he conceded 14 byes while keeping the wickets for Punjab against Services.

2. Best figures on debut (2007)

Michael Dighton, a former cricketer from Australia, finds himself in an elite list of players who scored a century and also took a 6-wicket haul through their Twenty20 career. Dighton was generally an opening batsman and produced a brilliant 111-run knock playing for Tasmania during his debut T20 tournament – the KFC Australian T20 2006-07. Dighton’s innings against New South Wales stood as the highest T20 score on Australian soil until 2012.

Dighton was an occasional wicketkeeper and also a part-time medium-pace bowler. His team Tasmania was in trouble during his T20 debut game against Queensland who were cruising at 164/3 by the 16th over. Dighton was introduced as the 7th bowler by the Tasmanian team who were trying to break the 4th wicket partnership which lasted 9.5 overs yielding 126 runs. The move paid off for the Tasman as Dighton dismissed both the set batsman in his first over where he picked up three wickets.

The medium-pacer picked one more wicket in his 2nd over and a couple in the final over of the innings to keep Queensland down to 202/9. Tasmania were bowled out for only 164 in 18.1 overs leaving Dighton’s bowling figures of 3-0-25-6 going in vain. However, Michael Dighton became the first player in the Twenty20 history to claim a 6-wicket haul on debut. Even after 13 years, Dighton remains as the only player to have taken a 6-fer on T20 debut.

1. Most dismissals in a match (2005)

Sri Lanka was only the 3rd country to adopt the Twenty20 format as they hosted the first domestic T20 competition in 2004 itself. A total of 16 teams featured in the tournament which was played in knockout style. The 2005 edition was a long one and the very second day of the tournament witnessed a World record. Moors Sports Club clashed off Lankan Cricket Club in a match at the Colombo’s Bloomfield. Moors Sports Club, who batted first, were bowled out for only 119 in 19.5 overs.

The Lankan CC reached the 120-run target with three balls and three wickets to spare. Their wicketkeeper Upul Fernando scored an unbeaten 58 after walking to bat at the score of 3/2. It wasn’t Fernando’s first major contribution in this victory. Fernando picked up as many as seven catches during the Moors’ innings. Upul Fernando’s seven catches in that game made him hold the record for most dismissals in a T20 match. This is the oldest standing record in Twenty20 history.

In fact, till date, only one more player managed to claim six catches in a T20 game – Aditya Tare for Mumbai against Madhya Pradesh in 2019. Akeem Dodson (For USA in 2015) and Minod Bhanuka (For Colombo CC in 2020) are the other players to affect six dismissals in a Twenty20 match which includes two stumpings. During the 2019-20 BPL, Bangladesh keeper Jaker Ali also claimed six catches for Dhaka Platoon but he actually kept wickets during the 2nd innings in absence of Anamul Haque.