Bhutan left-arm spinner Sonam Yeshey has made cricket history in Gelephu on Friday, becoming the first bowler to take eight wickets in a T20 match, international or domestic, during the third men’s T20 international against Myanmar.
Yeshey, 22, returned remarkable figures of 8 for 7 from his four overs as Myanmar were bowled out for 45 in response to Bhutan’s 127 for 9 at Gelephu Mindfulness City. The performance sealed another emphatic win in what has been a one-sided series, with one match remaining on Monday.
No bowler, in any men’s T20 match, had previously gone beyond seven wickets. In men’s T20 internationals, only two players had achieved seven-wicket hauls before Yeshey’s spell: Malaysia’s Syazrul Idrus, who took 7 for 8 against China in 2023, and Bahrain’s Ali Dawood, who claimed 7 for 19 against Bhutan earlier this year. Outside internationals, the feat had been matched just twice, by Colin Ackermann for Leicestershire against Birmingham Bears in 2019 and by Taskin Ahmed for Durbar Rajshahi against Dhaka Capitals in 2025.
Yeshey’s display places him in rare company even when viewed across the women’s game, where the best T20 bowling figures remain Indonesia’s Rohmalia’s 7 for 0 against Mongolia in 2024. Only a handful of other women have taken seven wickets in a T20 international.
The series has underlined Yeshey’s growing importance to Bhutan’s attack. He now has 12 wickets from four matches, with the final fixture still to come, and has been central to his side’s dominance throughout.
Yeshey made his T20 international debut in July 2022 against Malaysia, announcing himself immediately with figures of 3 for 16. While the wickets have not always flowed so freely since, this performance marks a significant landmark in his career. He now has 37 wickets from 34 T20 internationals, and a place in the record books that no other bowler has previously occupied.
