25-year-old Sufiyan Muqeem etched history in just his seventh match with figures of 5/3, the best-ever T20I figures in Pakistan’s cricketing history. The left-arm wrist spinner achieved that feat during the second T20I against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, helping Pakistan reduce the hosts to their lowest-ever T20I total – 57.
After Zimbabwe opted to bat first, they got off to the best start possible, with 37 on the board in just the fifth over of the innings. But one wicket brought another, as they went from 37/1 to 44/4 in the eighth over of the innings. From thereon, it was the perfect platform for the left-arm wrist spinner to wreak havoc.
The 25-year-old struck to remove the dangerous Ryan Burl before dismissing Tashinga Musekiwa with the very next ball. In his next over, Muqeem accounted for both Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava to pick up his third and fourth wicket.
If that wasn’t enough, the unorthodox spinner completed the assault with a fifth wicket, registering figures of 5/3, the best-ever in Pakistan’s T20I history. Before this superhuman effort, Umar Gul was the holder of the record, with figures of 5/6, which he achieved twice during his career (in 2009 and 13).
It was also Zimbabwe’s lowest T20I total, even worse than their 82 all-out against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this year.
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