Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq is in the news again, as he bowled a marathon rollercoaster over during his team’s first T20I against Zimbabwe. In an over that seemed like it would never get over, Naveen bowled as many as 13 balls to finally complete his over. Naveen bowled a whopping six wides, along with a no ball, culminating in the 13-ball over. But, while he was smashed for two fours, he also came back strong to pick up a wicket in the same over as well.
Bowling the 15th over to Brian Bennett, Naveen started off with a wide, before a single gave the strike to Sikandar Raza. Raza took advantage of a weak ball and slashed it for a boundary, and it was also called a no-ball.
Trying to nail the free-hit delivery, Naveen made error after error. He bowled four consecutive wides, every single time failing to nail a wide yorker. Once he finally bowled a legal ball, Raza slammed him for another boundary.
But here is where the tide swung. The ninth ball of Naveen’s over – the third official ball – resulted in a wicket, as Raza was caught at extra cover by a diving Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
The rest of the over included three singles, although another wide was also bowled.
Here’s how the over played out:
14.1: wd
14.1: 1 – Bennett
14.2: NB, 4 – Raza
14.2: wd
14.2: wd
14.2: wd
14.2: wd
14.2: 4 (free-hit) – Raza
14.3: OUT – Raza
14.4: 1 – Burl
14.5: 1 – Bennett
14.6: wd
14.6: 1 – Burl
Despite the 13-ball over, Naveen ended up as Afghanistan’s most successful bowler, picking up three wickets. However, that was not enough to ensure victory, as Zimbabwe chased down 21 in the final two overs and won off the last ball, achieving a target of 145.
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