In usual circumstances when we talk about T20I cricket, we talk about fours and sixes and high scoring games. But it has often been seen in the shortest format of the game that the teams have registered ridiculously low totals as well, with the batsmen playing their shots in a hurry and the wickets falling like ninepins.
With the fours and sixes creating drama, the quick fall of wickets also provides some real entertainment to the fans.
5. West Indies vs England (8 March, 2019)
This was a game between two prominent T20 sides and although England were a better team in comparison to West Indies, it wasn't a mismatch by any stretch of the imagination. But as it turned out, England thumped West Indies by not letting them reach even the score of 50 in their pursuit of the target of 183 runs.
Sam Billings' 87 off 47 balls and Joe Root's 55 off 40 balls helped England get to 182 batting first and then the English fast bowlers got on to the act . David Willey gave England a couple of breakthroughs with new ball before Chris Jordan broke the back of the West Indies middle order with a 4- wicket haul in just 2 overs.
Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett wiped out the tail as West Indies got out for their lowest ever in T20 cricket and the 5th lowest in the history of this format.
4. Netherlands vs Sri Lanka (24 March, 2014)
This game was played in the World T20 championship in 2014. It was a group stage game where the Dutch were up against the Sri Lankans, who went on to become the eventual champions of the tournament. It was a complete mismatch considering the skill set that the two teams possesed, but Netherlands were still expected to show some fight.
It however, turned out to be a totally one-sided affair as Netherlands failed to deal with the variations of Lasith Malinga and the mystery factor of Ajantha Mendis, the two of whom got 5 wickets together. Angelo Matthews chipped in with 3 wickets as Netherlands were bowled out for just 39.
Tom Cooper was the only Dutch batsman who managed to get past the score of 10. With a score of 16, he was Netherlands' highest scorer in the game.
Sri Lanka got to the target in just 5 overs losing Kusal Perera's wicket. Tilakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene stayed unbeaten on 12 and 11 respectively.
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3. Turkey vs Austria (31 August,2019)
The third in the list is Turkey with a total of 32. They registered these three lowest totals in three consecutive days in the Romania Cup. In this game, they were up against Austria and were batting first.
Habib Ahmadzai who took the new ball for Austria and Zeeshan Arif who came into the attack at first change just blew away Turkey's top and middle order and sent them packing inside 9 overs of their innings. Ahmadzai and Arif shared 8 wickets between themselves with both registering a 4-fer each to their name.
Austria completed the chase in the third over of their innings without losing any wicket. The skipper Arsalan Arif took the game to the Turkey bowlers right from the word go as he scored 26 off 11 balls with 5 fours. His partner Habib Ahmadzai who had started with the ball as well for Austria, remained not out on 6 off 5 balls.
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2. Turkey vs Luxembourg (29 August,2019)
Turkey holds the record of the second lowest total in T20 cricket as well. This time around, they were playing against Luxembourg and were batting first. They were off to a horror start as they lost their first three wickets for just 18 runs and nobody tried to hold the innings together after that, even though there was no scoreboard pressure to deal with.
Although, the credit must be given to the Luxembourg bowlers as for the areas they bowled . Turkey's performance with the bat was lethargic to say the least. There was no spine and no fight at all. No batsman were able to get into the double figures.
Luxembourg chased down the target of 29 in mere 3.1 overs at the loss of 2 wickets. It could easily have been a ten wicket defeat for Turkey but Serkan Kizikaya restored some pride with a couple of wickets upfront.
1. Turkey vs Czech Republic (30 August,2019)
Turkey registered the lowest total in history of T20 cricket as they got bundled out for just 21 in 8.3 overs chasing down a score of 279 against Czech Republic. It was the scoreboard pressure which got the better of the Turkey batsmen as they kept playing rash shots in pursuit of the mammoth target that was in front of them.
Czech Republic's middle order batsman Sudesh Wickramasekura scored a rapid 100 off just 36 balls with 8 fours and 10 sixes to power his team to a huge score. Sumit Pokhriyal also contributed with a 52 ball 79, while Honey Gori scored 32 off 21 balls.
Chasing down 279 was a near impossible task for Turkey anyway but the discipline that Czech Republic bowlers showed , it was exemplary.
Despite having a lot of runs to play with, they didn't offer any freebies and the Turkey batsmen had to play low percentage strokes which led to their dismissals. Sameera Watgthage was the pick of the bowlers for Czech Republic as he got 3 wickets for just 4 runs.
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