Tim Southee becomes first cricketer to pick 150 T20I wickets, check list of highest wicket-takers in format

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Tim Southee on Friday became the first cricketer to pick 150 T20I wickets. The 35-year-old achieved the feat during the first T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland.

Tim Southee achieved the feat after picking the wicket of Pakistan debutant Abbas Afridi. He picked a total of four wickets in the match in which he gave away just 25 runs in four overs. The veteran pacer picked the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan (25), Iftikhar Ahmed (24), Afridi, and Haris Rauf (0).

The performance from Southee helped New Zealand bundle out Pakistan for 180 in 18 overs and win the match by 46 runs. Batting first New Zealand scored 226/8 on the back of fifties from captain Kane Williamson (57) and Daryl Mitchell (61).

Tim Southee has a total of 151 T20I wickets to his name in 117 matches. He carries an average of 22.74 and an economy rate of 8.11 in the format. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is second on the list of men's cricketers with most T20I wickets. The left-arm spinner has picked 140 wickets in 115 innings.

Most Wickets in T20I Cricket

• Tim Southee - 151* (115)
• Shakib Al Hasan - 140 (115)
• Rashid Khan - 130 (82)
• Ish Sodhi - 127 (102)
• Lasith Malinga - 107 (83)

Virat Kohli is the only cricketer with more than 4000 runs in each format of the game, while Tim Southee is the only bowler with more than 150 wickets in Test, T20I and ODI cricket.

Talking about the match, Babar Azam was the only batter from Pakistan who scored above 30 runs. The former Pakistan captain scored 57 runs off 35 balls.