Playing just his second game in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 season did not deter Usman Khan, who opened the batting along with his captain Mohammad Rizwan for Multan Sultans. The batter went on to create tournament history when he scored a record 36-ball century, faster than the record set by South African batter Rilee Rossouw against Peshawar Zalmi just a day before.
But the victim of his onslaught was Afghanistan spinner Qais Ahmad, who conceded 54 runs in his first two overs of the game for the Quetta Gladiators. 52 of these were scored in boundaries, which was exactly 6 sixes and 4 fours in 12 balls. This completely tore the bowler's confidence apart as Usman completed his half-century and his century in consecutive overs bowled by Qais.
Having taken 22 balls to hit 50, it took the batter just 14 more to complete his ton, making this achievement by Usman more impressive.
Qais was hit for 27 runs off his first over and 27 in his second over as well. Then, Rizwan decided to go after him in his third over in the 13th over of the innings. He ended up conceding just 23 runs in his next two overs, but the damage was already done.
He did bag two wickets in his remaining two overs, getting the crucial wicket of Rilee Rossouw and then Rizwan. But despite this comeback, he ended the innings with the worst figures in PSL history – finishing with 77/2 in 4 overs as the Sultans set a target of 120 runs.
The previous worst record in this tournament was in the name of former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi, who gave away 67 runs back in February 2022.
This is also joint-third in the most runs conceded in T20 cricket, sharing the spot with Ben Sanderson, during a match between the Northants and Yorkshire in August 2017. The record for the most conceded in an innings goes to Matthew McKiernan, during a match between Derbyshire and Somerset in Taunton on July 2022.
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