Star India pacer Arshdeep Singh is just five wickets away from breaking pace veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s record of most wickets by an Indian bowler in T20Is during a single calendar year. Arshdeep will have a chance to go further into record books as India takes on South Africa in the second T20I of the four-match series at Gqeberha on Sunday. India won the first T20I held on Friday by 61 runs and the young pace starred in the victory with a spell of 1/25 in three overs, getting the wicket of skipper Aiden Markram.

So far in 21 T20Is this year, Arshdeep has taken 33 wickets at an average of 18.12, with the best bowling figures of 4/37.

On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar had taken 37 wickets in 32 matches at an average of 19.56, with the best figures of 5/4 in 2022.

The highest wickets taken by any bowler in T20Is during a calendar year record belongs to Uganda’s Alpesh Ramjani, who took 55 wickets in 30 matches at an average of 11.29 and best figures of 4/9 last year.

South Africa Squad: Aiden Markram(c), Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Patrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter, Mihlali Mpongwana, Donovan Ferreira, Ottneil Baartman, Reeza Hendricks

India Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Avesh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Ramandeep Singh, Yash Dayal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)