Shaheen Afridi displayed his famous fierce yorkers to take four wickets in the first over against Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast 2023 match on Friday, June 30. After the game, he became the first bowler in the world to take four wickets in the first over of the T20 match.
While defending 168 runs at Trent Bridge, the Pakistani speedster wreaked havoc over the Bears' top order. His first delivery was wasted for five-run wide but Shaheen made a sensational comeback with four wickets. He dismissed Birmingham's skipper Alex Davies with an unplayable yorker, leaving the batter stumbling on the ground.
On the next ball, he repeated the same delivery to bowl out Chris Benjamin to make it two in two. He missed the hat-trick but ended the over with two back-to-back wickets to create a world record in T20 cricket.
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire were bowled out on 168 runs while batting first. Tom Moores smashed 73 off 42 and Lyndon James added 37 runs for the hosts. Another Pakistani pacer Hasan Ali shone with a 3/25 spell for the Bears while Glenn Maxwell picked two for 20.
After Shaeen's unbelievable first over, Birmingham Bears batters Rob Yates and Glenn Maxwell added 42 runs for the fifth wicket. Maxwell scored 19 off just 12 but Yates smashed a fifty to bring Birmingham back into the game. He produced crucial partnerships with Jacob Bethell and Jake Lintott to pull off a crucial two-wicket win with five balls to spare.
Birmingham Bears stretched their lead at the top of the points table with 10 wins in 13 games while Nottinghamshire remain in fourth place with seven wins so far. Shaheen now leads the bowling chart for his team with 20 wickets in 13 games at an economy rate of 8.55 and has also contributed 76 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 155.10 in T20 Blast 2023.
