Watch: Najibullah Zadran was forced to retire hirt last night (March 27) during Afghanistan’s third T20I against Pakistan after he was hit in the throat by a vicious bouncer by Ihsanullah.
The incident happened during an eventful 11th over Afghanistan’s unsuccessful chase of 181. Mohammad Nabi had hit Ihsanullah’s first ball for four before he was run out from the second delivery attempting a dangerous single. The wicket brought Najibullah to the crease.
Ihsanullah pitched the delivery halfway down the wicket. The 147.5 kph ball zipped off the pitch and bounced straight up towards Najibullah’s head. As he saw the ball flying towards him, Najibullah turned his head away in an effort to avoid its impact. However, the ball hit him just below the grill of his helmet, making impact with his neck and jawline.
Seeing how nasty the blow looked, both Ihsanullah and Mohammad Haris behind the stumps ran straight over to check the gravity of the injury. Najibullah stayed on his feet and Haris helped him to remove his helmet, revealing a nasty cut on his neck where the ball hit him.
The on screen graphics showed that the ball had been bowled at over 91 mph. On the live broadcast, the commentator said: “This doesn’t look good, it doesn’t look good. Najibullah Zadran had no idea about that…. That is a nasty delivery first up.”
Medics were quickly onto the pitch to assess the extent of Najibullah’s injury, with the Pakistan fielders also assisting. Eventually he had to leave the field and retire-hurt, walking off with a cloth pressed to the cut on his chin.
The drama of the over continued with Ihsanullah’s next ball. Karim Janat faced another short delivery and tried to heave it into the leg side. Instead, he got a top edge which fell safely into Haris’s gloves.
Afghanistan were eventually bowled out for 116 with eight balls left to spare in their innings. They lost the final match of the series by 66 runs but still claimed the series win 2-1. Ihsanullah finished his four overs with figures of 3-29.
Watch: Najibullah Zadran forced to retire hurt after being hit on chin by vicious Ihsanullah bouncer below
What a delivery by Ihsanullah, it had Zadran bleeding and also look at the reaction of Mohammad Haris behind the wicket, he has such a soft heart man! pic.twitter.com/GvAEoYKuLM
— KH SAKIB 🇧🇩 (@Crickettalkss) March 27, 2023
