New Zealand’s Tim Southee has become the first bowler to reach 150 wickets in T20I cricket. Southee reached the milestone during the first T20I against Pakistan on January 12 in Auckland. Southee had 147 wickets in 117 matches ahead of the game and he finished with 4/25 to create history. The bowler’s historic performance also helped the Kiwis win the first ODI by 46 runs and take 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

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Southee now has 151 wickets in 118 matches – the most for any bowler in the T20Is. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is behind him with 140 wickets. Afghanistan T20I skipper Rashid Khan is third with 130 scalps and Southee’s teammate Ish Sodhi is fourth with 127 wickets to his name. Sri Lanka’s former pacer Lasith Malinga completes top five with 107 wickets to his name.

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) also shared a congratulatory posts on its official X handle for the Kiwi pacer. Have a look at the post below:

Southee, who made his debut for the Kiwis across formats in 2008, has been one of the champion players for them. He has played 96 Tests and 161 ODIs as well apart from 118 T20Is. The pacer has managed to take 374 Test wickets and 221 ODI wickets so far i his career.

In Tests, Southee (374) is second behind Richard Hadlee’s 431 wickets on the list of most Test wickets for New Zealand. In ODIs, the veteran pacer is third overall behind Daniel Vettori (297) and Kyle Mills (240). Overall, Southee has the most international wickets for New Zealand – 746 in 375 matches (Tests + ODIs + T20Is).

As for the match, New Zealand scored 226/8 in their 20 overs while batting first with skipper Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell scoring 57 and 61, respectively.

In reply, former Pak skipper Babar Azam scored 57 but failed to help his team win as the visitors got all out for 180 in 18 overs.

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