Highest individual scores on T20I debut among Test-playing nations
Making a debut for your country is always a special feeling in any format of the game but to score the most runs for your nation in that very first innings is something more remarkable. T20 is a fast-paced format as a batter is always excited as well as nervous to take the field for the first time in their career.
Let’s take a look at the highest individual scores on T20I debut among all Test-playing countries
- Ricky Ponting (Australia)
In the first-ever T20I, Ponting scored 98* off 55 against New Zealand in Auckland in 2005. He still holds the record for the highest score by an individual among full-members on a T20I debut.
2. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan)
Gurbaz scored 43 off 24 against Zimbabwe in Mirpur in 2019. He opened the batting for Afghanistan as the Asian team posted 197/5 and won the T20I by 28 runs.
3. Junaid Siddique (Bangladesh)
In T20 WC 2007, Siddique scored 71 off 49 against Pakistan in Cape Town. His side posted 140 thanks to his crucial half-century. He hit six fours and three sixes against a quality bowling line-up of Pakistan.
4. Dawid Malan (England)
Malan mustered 78 off 44 against South Africa in Cardiff in 2017. England scored 181/8 and won the T20I and the series. His T20I exploits also made him the no. one T20 batter in the ICC rankings.
5. Ajinkya Rahane (India)
Rahane scored 61 off 39 while opening the innings in the only T20 during India’s tour of England in Manchester in 2011. India scored 165 thanks to Rahane’s half-century but failed to win the match.
6. Simi Singh (Ireland)
Simi Singh amassed 57* off 29 in the Tri-Nation series against the Netherlands in Rotterdam in 2018. The Irishmen were chasing 145 and Singh scored a fifty coming in to bat at no. eight.
7. Scott Styris (New Zealand)
Scott Styris cracked 66 off 39 while chasing 215 against Australia in the first-ever T20 international in 2005. The right-handed batter Styris had a strike rate of 169.23.
8. Haider Ali (Pakistan)
Haider Ali scored 54 off just 33 with a strike rate of 163.63 against England in Manchester in 2020. Ali batted at no. three as Pakistan scored 190/4 and won the match by five runs.
9. Oshada Fernando (Sri Lanka)
Oshada Fernando mustered 78 off 48 while making his debut against Pakistan in the third T20I in Lahore in 2019. He batted at no. five and struck eight fours and three sixes with a strike rate of 162.50.
10. Rilee Rossouw (South Africa)
Rossouw helped his side chase down 145 against Australia in Adelaide in 2014 as the left-handed batter scored 78 off 50 in his first T20I. He struck seven fours and three sixes in his innings.
11. Devon Smith (West Indies)
Devon Smith played an innings of 61 off 34 against England at The Oval in 2007. He opened the innings with Chris Gayle as West Indies scored 208/8 and won the game by 15 runs.
12.Tarisai Musakanda (Zimbabwe)
Tarisai Musakanda notched up 43 runs off 35 balls for Zimbabwe while chasing a target of 183 against Pakistan in the Tri-Series match in Harare in 2018.
