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Team India have been playing T20Is for 17 years, as they went on to play their first T20I match against South Africa on 1st December 2006 at Johannesburg. Interestingly, India will play their 213th T20I game today against Australia at Raipur. India has been the most successful team in the world when it comes to winning games in this format, hence in this article, we will look at India's journey over the years in T20Is.
India in T20Is:
- Played - 212
- Won - 138
- Lost - 67
- Tied - 1
- NR - 6
India have won most games (138) in T20I history
1st December 2006 - The Indian team played their first T20I match and defeated South Africa by 6 wickets. This remains the only match played by Sachin Tendulkar in the T20I format.
13th September 2007 - India participates in T20 World Cup with an experience of playing just one T20I match in December 2006 under a new leader MS Dhoni
14th September 2007 - India defeated Pakistan by bowl-out method after the match got tied at Durban
19th September 2007 - Yuvraj Singh created history by smashing six sixes in a T20I match against England
20th September 2007 - Youngster Rohit Sharma smashed a fifty and helped India to beat South Africa in a must-win game to qualify for the knockouts.
22nd September 2007 - Yuvraj Singh smashed 70 runs off 30 balls against Australia in the Semi-Final game and helped his team to beat the invincible Aussies
24th September 2007 - India lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup title and created history after a debacle, which happened six months ago in the ODI World Cup. India beat Pakistan by just 5 runs in the T20 World Cup Final match.
October 2007 to February 2009 - India played just five T20I games and managed to win only two games.
June 2009 - India defeated Bangladesh and Ireland in the preliminary stage of the T20 World Cup 2009 but lost all their remaining three games in the super-eight stage and exited with three losses in five games.
December 2009 - India won one T20I and lost one T20I game against Sri Lanka
May 2010 - India defeated Afghanistan and South Africa in the preliminary stage of the T20 World Cup 2010, but lost all their remaining three games in the super-eight stage and made an exit with three losses in five games.
Suresh Raina became the first batsman to smash a century for India in T20Is during the 2010 T20 World Cup.
June 2010 to September 2012 - India won six T20I matches and lost five T20I games in this period.
Important key players like Kohli, and Ashwin made their debut under Raina's captaincy
September to October 2012 - India won four out of five games in the T20 World Cup 2012 which happened in Sri Lanka but still they failed to qualify for the semi-finals due to their poor net run rate unfortunately despite having equal points as Australia and Pakistan
December 2012 to October 2013 - India won three games and lost two games in this period in T20Is.
March to April 2014 - India remained unbeaten throughout the tournament by winning the first five out of five games but lost the final match to Sri Lanka and ended as runners-up.
Virat Kohli won the Player of the Series award for scoring 319 runs in this tournament from 6 innings.
September 2014 to July 2015 - India lost the one-off T20I match against England and drew the two-match T20I series by a 1-1 margin against Zimbabwe
October 2015 - For the first time India started playing a three-match bilateral T20I series. India lost that series by 0-2 margin to South Africa on their home soil.
January to February 2016 - India won a three-match T20I series against Australia by a 3-0 margin, and won a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka by a 2-1 margin.
February 2016 to March 2016 - India won the Asia Cup 2016 by winning all five games in the tournament against BAN, PAK, SL, the UAE, and defeated Bangladesh in the final again.
March 2016 - India started T20 World Cup 2016 by losing their first match to New Zealand but went on to win their remaining games in the tournament and reached the semi-finals. India unfortunately lost the semi-final game to West Indies by 7 wickets at Wankhede Stadium.
Virat Kohli once again won the Player of the Series award for scoring 273 runs in the tournament.
June 2016 to July 2021 - India were the most consistent side in this period in T20Is, winning 47 out of 72 games in T20Is (NR-3).
India hardly lost any three (or) five-match T20I bilateral series during this time under Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma's captaincy. India won the Nidahas Trophy 2018 trophy finals also in this period.
India in T20I bilaterals from June 2016 to July 2021 (Min 3 games):
- Played - 20
- Won - 15
- Drawn - 3
- Lost - 2
One of India's series losses came against Sri Lanka in July 2021 when they played a second (or) third-string side as their major players suffered from COVID-19.
October 2021 to November 2021 - India after back-to-back losses against Pakistan and New Zealand in the group stage (super-12) have made an early exit from T20 World Cup 2021 without qualifying for knockouts despite winning their remaining three games.
November 2021 to October 2022 - India won 8 out of 9 bilateral T20I series they played in this period. One five-match T20I series against South Africa ended in a 2-2 draw.
India made the super-four stage exit in the Asia Cup 2022 despite being considered favorites to win the tournament as they lost back-to-back matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli got his 71st International century during the 2022 Asia Cup.
October 2022 to November 2022 - The Indian team won four out of five games in the group stage (super-12) and entered the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022 but unfortunately they lost to the English side by 10 wickets in a humiliating manner.
Virat Kohli played an iconic knock of unbeaten 82 runs in 53 balls against Pakistan in Melbourne.
November 2022 to present - India have won five out of six bilateral series in this period so far. They lost a T20I series to West Indies by a 2-3 margin in Aug 2023.
India currently have a lead of 2-1 against Australia in the five-match T20I series.