Naveen-ul-Haq took 13 balls to complete a single over in Afghanistan's opening T20I against Zimbabwe today (December 11), including taking five re-bowls to complete his second legal delivery.
Zimbabwe were in control of the chase, having been set 145 to go 1-0 up in the series after Afghanistan posted 144-6. The two significant contributions in the first innings came from Karim Janat, who made 54 off 49 balls, and Mohammad Nabi (44 off 27).
In reply, Zimbabwe reached 88-2 by the end of the 14th over, needing a further 57 runs from 36 balls. Having only bowled two overs in the powerplay at that point, the first a maiden and the second claiming the wicket of Tadiwanashe Marumani, Naveen was brought back into the attack to attempt to get a second breakthrough in quick succession, Dion Myers having been dismissed for 32 in the previous over.
However, the over quickly went awry. Naveen sent down a wide from his first delivery, an attempted wide yorker pushed out beyond the tramlines. The re-bowl was better, Brian Bennett taking a single off it to bring Sikandar Raza on strike. Bowling the next ball - what should have been his second legal delivery of the over - Naveen served Raza up a waist-high full toss well outside off, which Raza whacked over short third man for four. The ball was called a no ball for height, meaning Naveen would have to re-bowl it as a free-hit. Going back to his wide yorker, Naveen once against strayed just too far outside the tramlines, and was again called wide and he was asked to re-bowl the free hit.
On the third attempt to send down his second legal delivery, he bowled a carbon copy of his previous attempt and was again called wide. His next attempt was another attempted wide yorker outside the tramlines, now on his fifth attempt to get through the second delivery of the over. Again not changing his plan, Naveen was once again called wide for a full ball outside the tramlines, bringing his total conceded off the over to 11, with technically only one ball bowled.
Virat Kohli and Naveen ul-Haq's stories on Instagram 👀
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) May 2, 2023
The clash is still going on 😑#GautamGambhir #ViratKohli #IPL2023 #Cricket #LSGvsRCB #NaveenulHaq pic.twitter.com/I3nRt2yAe7
Finally, off his sixth attempt, Naveen made Raza play, sending down a low full toss outside off stump, which was pumped back over his head for four. Off his next ball however, technically the third of the over, Naveen finally put everything together. He bowled a slower ball, enticing Raza into the drive, the ball ending up in Rahmanullah Gurbaz's hands in the field. That gave Naveen the second wicket of his spell.
While the next two balls went smoothly, Naveen again had to re-bowl the final delivery of his over, which he initially bowled well down the leg side. In total, Naveen sent down 13 balls in his over, which conceded 19 runs and got the wicket of Raza.
Zimbabwe went on to win the match in a last-ball thriller, Tashinga Musekiwa hitting the winning run off the final ball of the 20th over, giving the hosts a four-wicket victory.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
