India's Top 5 wicket-takers in T20Is against England ft. Hardik Pandya

Team India will square off against England in a five-match T20I series, starting on Wednesday, January 22, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This will be Men in Blue's first white-ball assignment this year.

India now have a young side under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav after the retirement of senior cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja.

The reigning champions have already announced their squad for the T20I series. Senior fast bowler Mohammed Shami will return to action after a year-long injury layoff. He will be accompanied by Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana besides all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

The spin unit will be led by recently appointed vice-captain Axar Patel. Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, and Washington Sundar are the other three spinners in the side.

India will rely heavily on the bowlers to deliver the results on home conditions with wickets likely to assist spin. On that note, let's look at India's top five wicket-takers in T20Is against England.

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#5 Harbhajan Singh - 8 wickets

The former Indian cricketer has been one of the best off-spinners in the business. His ability to make something happen even on docile wickets made him stand apart from the rest.

Harbhajan Singh enjoyed a great deal of success against England in the shortest format. He played only three matches against the English side and picked up eight wickets at an average of under 10. The Punjab-born cricketer had a best figure of 4/12 against England in a World Twenty20 match in Colombo in 2012.

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#4 Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 9 wickets

The fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh occupies the fourth spot in the standings for most wickets picked up by an Indian against England in T20Is.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, played 10 matches against England between 2018 to 2022. The right-arm pacer scalped nine wickets with the best figures of 3/15. He has also been very economical, conceding only 6.80 runs per over in these games.

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#3 Jasprit Bumrah - 9 wickets

The ace speedster is arguably the finest fast bowler on the planet right now across formats. Be it Tests, ODIs, or T20Is, you hand over the ball to Jasprit Bumrah and he will make something happen.

Bumrah, who first grabbed headlines while representing the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has tasted good success against England. The right-arm pacer has played five matches between 2017 and 2024 against England and has picked up nine wickets at an average of 9.11 and a strike rate of 10.2.

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#2 Hardik Pandya - 14 wickets

The all-rounder from Baroda has been a game-changer for India for several years now. Barring the recurring injury concerns, Hardik Pandya has delivered with both bat and ball for the country in clutch situations.

The right-arm pacer has featured in 15 T20Is against England and has taken as many wickets, which places him second in the list.

Hardik will have a good opportunity to leapfrog Yuzvendra Chahal and occupy the top spot in the upcoming series.

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#1 Yuzvendra Chahal - 16 wickets

The veteran leg-spinner has the most T20I wickets for India against England. Chahal has scalped 16 wickets in 11 games against England at an average of 21.12 and a strike rate of 15.7. He registered the best figures of 6/25 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in 2017.

The 34-year-old single-handedly demolished the English batting while defending 202 runs and winning the match by 75 runs.