Fazalhaq Farooqi becomes first bowler with successive T20 WC four-fers
Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi scripted history as he became the first bowler to claim successive four-plus wicket-hauls in ICC T20 World Cup history. The left-arm seamer returned with 4/17 in 3.2 overs in his latest outing against New Zealand in Match 14 in Guyana. His efforts meant NZ were folded for just 75 while chasing 160. Here are further details.
A fine spell from Farooqi
Farooqi set the tone by shattering Finn Allen's stumps on the first ball of the innings. He also sent back Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell in the powerplay overs to dent the Kiwis even further. The pacer dismissed tail-ender Matt Henry in the 16th over to wrap up the NZ innings. Besides Farooqi, Rashid Khan also claimed four wickets (4/17).
Historic feat for Farooqi
In his preceding outing versus Uganda, Farooqi returned with 5/9 in his four overs. As mentioned, he has now become the first bowler to claim at least four wickets in successive T20 WC matches. Rashid is the only other Afghan bowler with multiple four-fers in the competition (2). Meanwhile, Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman is the only other left-arm pacer with multiple T20 WC four-fers (2).
Do you know?
Farooqi's 5/9 against Uganda are the fourth-best bowling figures in T20 WC history. With the four-fer versus NZ, the pacer has raced to 46 T20I wickets across 36 games at an economy of 6.57. Farooqi is now among the nine bowlers to take at least four wickets against NZ in a T20 WC game. Mustafizur is the only other left-arm pacer on this list.
100 T20 wickets for Farooqi
With his latest spell, Farooqi has raced to 101 wickets across 78 T20 matches as his economy rate reads 6.77. The one against Uganda was his maiden five-wicket haul in T20s. In T20 WCs, he has tallied 12 wickets across five matches (ER: 5.36).
How did the game pan out?
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (80) and Ibrahim Zadran (44) got Afghanistan off to another fine start as they added 103 runs. The former was the aggressor in the partnership as he hammered runs all over the park. Azmatullah Omarzai made a handy 22 as Afghanistan finished at 159/6. In reply, the Kiwis never got going as Farooqi and Rashid claimed four wickets apiece.
