Mohammad Nabi creates history, becomes only second player in T20I cricket to achieve rare double

Afghanistan veteran Mohammad Nabi achieved a rare double in T20I cricket during his team’s clash against Pakistan in the tri-series in the UAE. 

Nabi, the former Afghanistan skipper, has etched his name into the history books as he has become just the second player in T20I cricket to have achieved a rare double of scoring 2000 runs and taking 100 wickets in the format.

Nabi achieved the feat when he completed his 100th wicket in T20Is, dismissing Fakhar Zaman in his first over in the second innings of the clash at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah. After being hit for a four on a full ball, Nabi got the Pakistan left-hander with a shorter one on the next one, caught at short third man. 

Meanwhile, Nabi joins Shakib Al Hasan as the only two all-rounders to have achieved this rare double. Apart from having taken 100 wickets, Nabi has scored 2240 runs in the format. Shakib has smashed 2551 runs and has taken 149 wickets in the shortest international format.

Coming to the match, Afghanistan had slammed 169/5 in their first innings on the back of half-centuries from Sediqullah Atal and Ibrahim Zadran. This was the second consecutive fifty for Zadran, who had hit 63 against the UAE in their last game.

Faheem Ashraf starred with the ball. He picked up his best career figures in T20Is when he scalped four wickets for 27 runs in his four overs. Ashraf removed four of the five wickets to fall. Meanwhile, Saim Ayub bowled a mingy spell of 1/18 in his four overs, but the Afghans put a decent total on the board. 

Pakistan’s Playing XI:

Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem

Afghanistan’s Playing XI:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi