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Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 winner Gujarat Titans’ (GT) Afghanistan recruit Noor Ahmad created history in T20I cricket against Zimbabwe. The 17-year-old spinner took four wickets in his quota of four overs. The teenager became the first bowler to take four wickets or more in a T20I before turning 18 (full member sides).
Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi handed the ball to Ahmad in the seventh over on his T20I debut. He picked up the wicket of experienced Craig Ervine off the last ball of his first over. In his next over, he took the wicket of Tadiwanashe Marumani to derail Zimbabwe's run chase and reduce them to 48/5 in the ninth over while chasing 126.
He bowled his third over on the trot and ended any chance of Zimbabwe making a comeback. In the 11th over, Ahmad took the wicket of Clive Madande and Donald Tiripano. Zimbabwe were 56/7 after the 11th over. He could not complete his fifer in his last over. At the end of 20 overs, Zimbabwe could manage 90 runs for the loss of nine wickets and lost the match by 35 runs.
After a splendid bowling spell to help Afghanistan whitewash Zimbabwe in the three-T20I series, Ahmad also became the youngest to win the 'Player of the match' award.
Aged at 17 years and 162 days, Ahmad broke his Afghan teammate's record which was created in 2019. Rahmanullah Gurbaz won the award aged at 17 years and 354 days. He also became the second player to win the award in the T20I format before turning 18.
Ahmad was picked by Titans in the IPL 2022 mega auctions for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The former Under-19 World Cup bowler did not get to make his IPL debut as Titans had an in-form Rashid Khan in their side as their permanent spinner.
