1st T20I: Farooqi's 3/25 goes in vain versus Sri Lanka
Fazalhaq Farooqi was the pick of the Afghanistan bowlers against Sri Lanka in the first T20I in Dambulla. The speedster made the new ball talk and pushed the hosts onto the back foot. Farooqi finished with 3/25 from his four overs. Afghanistan bowled out SL for 160 in 19 overs. However, they fell short by four runs (156/9). Here's more.
Farooqi made a difference with the new ball
Farooqi has a knack for picking wickets with the new ball in the powerplay overs. He did that against SL in Dambulla. He dismissed Pathum Nissanka in the first over as Rahmanullah Gurbaz grabbed onto a sensational catch. In the fourth over, Farooqi deceived Kusal Mendis, who was caught after miscuing a scoop. He later removed Maheesh Theeksana with a slower delivery.
A look at his T20I numbers
Playing his 30th T20I, Farooqi has claimed 34 scalps at an average of 21.38. The speedster has developed a habit of picking up wickets in the powerplay overs. He has maintained an economy rate of 6.52. His best T20I figures of 3/11 also came against SL in 2022 at the Asia Cup. Farooqi claimed six wickets in four T20Is against SL.
Farooqi claimed 11 T20I wickets in the first over
Farooqi has been excellent in T20Is for Afghanistan. As per ESPNcricinfo, he has scalped 11 wickets in the first over of T20Is. Oman's Bilal Khan leads with 19 wickets in the first over of T20Is followed by India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who owns 18 first-over T20I wickets. Tim Southee (16), David Willey (14), Shaheen Afridi (13) and Angelo Mathews (12) are also ahead of Farooqi.
A look at the summary of the match
Sri Lanka were reeling at 55/4 when Wanindu Hasaranga and Sadeera Samarawickrama added 72 runs together. Hasaranga was sensational against the spinners. However, once he was dismissed, the hosts lost their way as they kept losing wickets. Eventually, they were bowled out for 160 in 19 overs. In response, Afghanistan saw Ibrahim Zadran fight hard with 67 but nobody else stood up.
Do you know?
Farooqi has been in sensational form as he finished the 2024 ILT20 season as the highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps from eight matches. He guided his team MI Emirates to the final of the tournament. Overall, Farooqi has claimed 86 wickets in 70 T20s.
