Fastest 2000 Runs in T20:– the newest edition in the form of cricket has brought revolutionary changes and ushered a new dimension the game of cricket. It is a shorter form played for only 20 overs per team and hence the name. It was originally initiated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county tournament in England and Wales. The main crux of this game is that the two teams have a single innings each, which is restricted to a maximum of 20 overs.
Along with first-class and List A cricket, T20 is one of the three current forms of cricket recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as being at domestic or the highest International level. In general, a Twenty20 match is completed in about three hours, with each innings lasting for about 90 minutes and in between the innings there is an official 10 minutes break. This time span is much shorter than the previously-existing forms of the game and is similar to the time span of other popular team sports like football etc. It was introduced with the primary aim to create a fast-paced form of the game which would be appealing to spectators at the ground and viewers on television.
In our daily busy lives, it is very hard to find time for entertainment. Also, the common phrase goes “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.” Hence entertainment and some sort of relaxation are very much important to keep us motivated for the work we do. T20 opened the door for a new form of “less time-consuming” entertainment for us. Nowadays, this short form of the traditional game has earned huge popularity among all and has brought glamour and grand pomp in the world of cricket.
However, this is one of the trickiest forms of any sport. Since it is a 20 overs match and each over consists of 6 balls, the total number of balls in this match is 120. Within these 120 balls, a team has to perform extraordinarily well in order to keep the overall score high. These type of matches witness a lot of sixes and fours. All the players try to score the maximum within their capability. Hence, a T20 should be played strategically from the beginning. Playing dot balls can become suicidal for the batting team. On the other hand, a player has to keep his cool while aiming to hit high. The chances of getting bold or caught out are the highest in this form of cricket. In such a form of cricket, a player’s batting skills can have two outcomes. Either he will score high runs or he will fail. It’s a do-or-die situation game for a batsman. On the other hand, the bowler’s aim is to provide as much of dot balls as he can.
It is a newer version of international cricket and hence very few players have excelled and gathered the maximum runs in this form. However, those who have excelled have bagged thousands and hundreds of runs. When it comes to Indian players, they are amazingly good and possess all the skills needed to win this game. In fact, it was the Indian men’s cricket team that won the first ever T20 World cup. In such a scenario, the idea of this blog is to discuss the players who have scored the fastest 2000 runs in T20.
Mithali Raj
There is a perception among many viewers that women aren’t as good as men in cricket. Mithali Raj, the captain of the Indian Women cricket team broke all barriers and showed her prowess. She scored the highest runs in women’s international cricket. She is also the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in WODIs and is often regarded as one of the best batswomen in the world.
Her achievements and contributions in the field of cricket are endless. In June 2018, during the 2018 women’s T20 Asia cup at Kuala Lumpur, she became the first ever Indian player (either male or female) to have crossed the 2000 runs mark in T20 matches. When Mithali scored 2000 runs, no other Indian had scored 2000 runs then. Virat Kohli, the Indian men’s team skipper, had 1983 runs from 57 matches in his bag during that time.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli, the present captain of the Indian cricket team, is one of the most loved players in every Indian household. His positive attitude and aggressive playing mentality have helped him reach one of the top positions in the world of cricket. His list of contributions and achievements both as a player and also as a captain are endless too. In 2018, Time magazine declared Kohli as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
He is the first Indian male batsman to reach the 2000 runs milestone in the T20 format of the game. This extraordinary feat was achieved by the captain in the twenty-20 clash with England in Old Trafford in 2018. He is also the fastest batsman ever to have made this record. Virat has taken 60 matches and 56 innings to achieve the fastest 2000 runs in the shortest version of international cricket. With this achievement, Kohli joins the elite league of fastest 2000 runs.
It was previously scored by New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum. While Brendon McCullum took 71 matches and 66 innings to score 2000 runs, Guptill reached the milestone in 75 matches and 68 innings.
Records are built to be broken. While Kohli holds the record today, maybe some other player from India or other countries will play exceptionally well and break all records. The only aim of the T20 form of cricket is to provide entertainment and enjoyment to all cricket lovers across the world. When Indians break records, we cherish it and wish that it remains with us forever. However, everything keeps changing. We should not be overly concerned about records, else the essence of any sport will be lost.
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