By making a comeback to the Indian T20I side after six years, Khaleel Ahmed set a dubious world record, going past Devon Thomas of the West Indies.
India included Khaleel Ahmed in their XI for the first T20I of their five-match series in Zimbabwe, on July 6. He returned figures of 0-28 in three overs, and India left him out for the second XI to boost their batting.
It was Khaleel’s 15th T20I appearance, but his first since the game against Bangladesh at Nagpur on November 10, 2019. It was a phase of only four and a half years – including the global lockown – but he ended up missing 104 T20Is between the two appearances.
Most T20Is missed between two appearances - Khaleel sets world record
This is now a new world record. Khaleel went Devon Thomas’s previous record of 102, though that spanned a phase nearly twice as long, between February 13, 2013 and December 13, 2021. Rony Talukdar (100) is the only other cricketer to have missed 100 men’s T20Is.
| Player | Team | Matches missed | Last date before miss | Comeback game date |
| Khaleel Ahmed | India | 104 | November 10, 2019 | July 6, 2024 |
| Devon Thomas | West Indies | 102 | February 13, 2013 | December 13, 2021 |
| Rony Talukdar | Bangladesh | 100 | July 7, 2015 | March 9, 2023 |
| Matt Henry | New Zealand | 93 | January 3, 2017 | April 8, 2023 |
| Sahibzada Farhan | Pakistan | 92 | October 31, 2018 | January 19, 2024 |
| Johnson Charles | West Indies | 89 | September 27, 2016 | October 5, 2022 |
| Fidel Edwards | West Indies | 85 | September 29, 2012 | March 3, 2021 |
| Zakir Hasan | Bangladesh | 82 | February 15, 2018 | October 4, 2023 |
| Joe Denly | England | 79 | February 20, 2010 | October 27, 2018 |
| Anamul Haque | Bangladesh | 79 | November 15, 2015 | July 2, 2022 |
Khaleel’s world record is a testimony to the increasing number of T20Is played by India. For perspective, Umesh Yadav has had two separate gaps of 65 T20Is – but of significantly different durations: while the first lasted from August 7, 2012 to June 29, 2018, the second was from February 24, 2019 to September 20, 2022.
Gareth Batty of England (142) holds the corresponding record in men’s Test cricket and Jeff Wilson of New Zealand (271) in men’s ODIs.
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