Asif Ali was at his ballistic best once again as he helped Pakistan continue their dominance in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 with a match-winning cameo. Ali smoked four sixes in the penultimate over to finish off the run chase and remain unbeaten on 25 runs from just seven deliveries. With another destructive cameo, Ali broke Shahid Afridi’s Pakistan record for best strike rate in an innings in T20 World Cup.
Overall, Ali’s strike rate was the third-best in T20 World Cup over the years. Only Dwayne Smith and Yuvraj Singh have a better strike rate in a World Cup innings. Smith’s 7-ball 29 had a strike rate of 414.28 whereas Yuvraj’s iconic 58 off 16 deliveries against England recorded a strike rate of 362.50. However, Afridi held the record for Pakistan batters with a 15-ball 39 against Bangladesh in the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup.
On the other hand, in overall T20I cricket, Afridi played a similar innings in 2010 against South Africa where he scored 25 runs off seven deliveries including one four and three sixes. However, Afridi’s cameo ended up in a losing cause.
Ali’s purple patch
Asif Ali is yet to get out in the ongoing tournament. He finished off a tricky run chase against New Zealand as well with his unbeaten 12-ball 27 including one four and three sixes. So far, he has scored 52 runs from 19 balls including seven sixes. On the most sixes list in the tournament, he is joint-second with Evin Lewis on the list. Only Namibia all-rounder David Wiese has more sixes (8).
Unimpressive record before T20 WC
Ali has not been in best of forms in T20I cricket of late. In the last 10 innings before the mega event, Ali had crossed the double-digit mark only thrice. In 2021, he only had 13 runs from three innings against South Africa and Zimbabwe. After New Zealand’s last-minute cancellation of limited-overs series, his numbers in National T20 Cup made the difference. For Northern Pakistan, he scored 130 runs from six innings including a 43-run cameo which paved the way for his selection.
