Veteran leg-spinner Ish Sodhi became only the third bowler in men's T20Is and fourth overall to complete 150 wickets in the format at the highest level after his career-best bowling New Zealand to a 60-run win in the final group stage match of the T20I tri-series against the hosts, Zimbabwe. Sodhi registered his career-best figures of 4/12 as he ran through Zimbabwe's line-up, who were already chasing a stiff target of 191 in their final game of the series, in a bid to end their campaign on a high. However, it wasn't to be.
Sodhi went past the Bangladesh legend Shakib Al Hasan to join the likes of Tim Southee (164) and Rashid Khan (161) on the list. Megan Schutt is the only women's player in the club with 151 wickets to her name for Australia. With the four-fer, Sodhi now has 316 wickets to his name in T20 cricket, three more than India's Jasprit Bumrah and a couple more than Pakistan's Hasan Ali, for now.
Most wickets in T20Is
164 - Tim Southee (New Zealand), in 123 innings
161 - Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), in 96 innings
150 - Ish Sodhi (New Zealand), in 121 innings
149 - Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), in 126 innings
139 - Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), in 110 innings
191 was always going to be a challenging task for the hosts after Rachin Ravindra and Tim Seifert bulldozed their way to quickfire half-centuries for New Zealand. Dion Myers was the only one in the top five to enter double digits, as Sodhi and Matt Henry were all over the Zimbabwe batting line-up.
Tony Munyonga and Tashinga Musekiwa taped the leaking tap a bit in the middle overs but the writing was on the wall. Sodhi picked up another to complete the milestone while Zak Foulkes, Will O'Rourke and Michael Bracewell chipped in with a wicket each to bowl Zimbabwe out for just 130. Zimbabwe are out of the series while New Zealand will take on South Africa in the final on Saturday, July 26 at the same venue.