In the 2023 Vitality Blast between Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, Pakistan speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi breathed fire with the ball on June 30 (Friday) at Trent Bridge. The left-arm pacer, bowling the first over of the innings, unleashed consecutive fast and swinging howitzers that put two batters on the ground before destroying their woodworks. Afridi was not done as he castled another Warwickshire batter's sticks after forcing a batter to hand catch at covers. In the opening over of the innings, the Pakistan superstar bagged four wickets and social media went on an overdrive after Afiridi's sensational over.
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Despite Afridi's outrageous opening over, Nottinghamshire failed to win the match as Warwickshire secured a two-wicket win after being reduced to 7/4. Chasing a target of 169 runs, it was all gloom and doom for Warwickshire when Afridi produced one of the best overs bowled in T20 cricket. Opener Robert Yates (65 runs off 46 balls) held the fort at one end and brought Warwickshire's innings back on track.
Glenn Maxwell (19 runs off 12 balls), Jacob Bethell (27 runs off 21 balls) and Jake Lintott (27 runs off 22 balls) chipped in with handy cameos with the bat. As a result, Warwickshire chased down the target with five balls to spare. Nottinghamshire bowlers conceded 22 extras on the evening which also assisted Warwickshire in their run chase.
Afridi finished the game with figures of 4/29 in four overs while Jake Ball was the only Nottinghamshire bowler amongst the wickets. Â Ball picked up three wickets for 33 runs in his spell of four overs. Â
Earlier, Nottinghamshire were bundled out for 168 runs in 20 overs. Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Moores played an attractive knock of 73 runs in 42 balls while Lyndon James was the second-highest scorer with 37 runs in 27 balls.
For Warwickshire, Pakistan speedster Hasan Ali starred with the ball and bagged three wickets in his spell of fours overs and conceded just 25 runs in the process. Lintott bowled a terrific spell and finished with figures of 3/27 in four overs. Maxwell bagged two wickets while Henry Brookes chipped in with a wicket.Â
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