Hong Kong’s 21-year-old right-arm medium pacer Ayush Shukla equalled New Zealand’s fast bowler Lockie Ferguson’s record of bowling four back-to-back maiden overs in a T20I match. Shukla achieved the feat during Hong Kong’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier A match against Mongolia in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (August 31).
He is the first Asian and third bowler overall in the world to bowl all four of his overs without conceding any run in a T20I match. The 21-year-old Shukla finished the match with figures of 4-4-0-1.
Shukla opened the attack for Hong Kong and picked up a wicket on the last ball of his first over and then bowled 18 more dot balls in a row to enter his name in a unique list.
Canada’s T20I captain Saad Bin Zafar was the first bowler in the world to bowl four maiden overs in a T20I match. He achieved the feat during Canada’s match against Panama in 2021 and also picked up two wickets.
Ferguson equalled Zafar’s record during the T20 World Cup 2024 match played between New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He finished that match with figures of 4-4-0-3.
Thanks to a super show by Shukla, Hong Kong managed to dismiss Mongolia for just 17 runs in 14.2 overs and then chased down the required total of 18 runs in 1.4 overs for the loss of one wicket. For Hong Kong, Ehsan Khan picked up four wickets for five runs in three overs, and two Mongolian batters each were sent to the pavilion by Anas Khan and Yasim Murtaza, who conceded four and one run, respectively.
Hong Kong has managed to win both of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier A matches played so far, and with four points, they sit at the No. 1 position in the points table. The Nizakat Khan-led side will next be seen in action on Monday (September 2) against Singapore in Kuala Lumpur. Singapore has defeated Maldives by 47 runs in the last match played on Saturday.
Comments
0 comment